A/N: wow it didn't take me a quarter of a year to write another chapter who else is surprised? thank you to KimmyWSmith for proofreading! anyways I 'm really happy with this chapter and I hope you are too. as always would love to hear your thoughts! xo, eden.

Song: No Way Out

Artist: Rie Sinclair

You turn the room a shade heaven
And learn my name
The world asleep
While stone and sand keep shifting

Were the heart made of brass
Or I a bird inside a cage, waiting
Unfolded, hue and clay
Giving into your refrain and melody
The very thought unbinding me

No one ever will love me better
Than your everlasting love
I found only one way in and no way out

I had to wait, of course. It was days before I could spend five minutes alone outside of school, and even then Stefan was always nearby. As the days went on, the time between Damon's "just checking in" phone calls increased, and he stopped keeping his arms wrapped quite so tightly around me while I slept. Despite the creaks in the floorboards at the Salvatore house, I was able to slip down to the basement to get what I needed.

Getting out of school unnoticed was easy. There had been minimal casual conversation between me and Elena since we spoke to Katherine; she wouldn't be expecting me to wait by her locker or anything. All I had to do was breeze haphazardly through my math test last period and then I was excused from class, giving me almost an hour of uncharted time.

"Back so soon? I knew you'd come around."

From where I stood at the bottom of the steps, I could hear Katherine's shuffling footsteps accompanying her voice, but couldn't see her yet.

"Oh. It's you." She said when she emerged. "If you want me to thank you for kicking that bottle of blood towards me you can forget it."

"I didn't come for a thank you."

She crossed her arms. "But you did come for something."

"I had a brother, you know. He died." I said, stepping further into the space outside of Katherine's prison.

Katherine inhaled sharply. "I did not know."

"I was driving and upset and my car went off the road and . . . yeah."

"If you want to bond you could start by getting me out of this tomb." Katherine began to walk away from me, back into the depths of the tunnel. "We're not going to become best friends just because we're both responsible for the death of our sibling."

"You're deflecting."

Katherine turned back around. "And you are pretending that you know me just because I look like your sister. But you don't. I am not Elena."

"I know you're not Elena." I pulled at the straps of my backpack with my thumbs. "And for your information, I've not known Elena for that long either." I dropped the backpack, creating a small dirt cloud where it landed. "I was adopted. By a different family."

"Oh." Katherine tilted her head to the side, scrutinizing me in the light of this new information. "So that's why I didn't know you existed."

"Evidently." I sat down. "So it was all true?"

"I've said many things in my life, you're going to need to be more specific."

"Nikolina. Klaus. You running." I rummaged through the middle pocket of my backpack, shielding the contents from Katherine.

"I already told you, I have no reason to lie. But you know that,"—Katherine pointed into the air—"Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

The blood bags I had taken from Damon were both labeled B positive; there weren't any pre-filled plastic bottles in his stash when I looked. I pulled one out and tossed it to Katherine. After a long drink, she leaned her back against the stone wall and closed her eyes. She slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting, and licked the remaining blood off of her lips.

"What was she like?" I asked.

"Quieter than you."

"I'm serious."

"So am I." She dropped her head to the side to look at me. "Sometimes I wasn't sure if she ever had a thought of her own. If I wanted to swim in the river, so did she. When I went into town, she followed." Katherine picked at the label on the half empty blood bag.

"Though I suppose she started to grow out of that as we got older, seeing as I'm the only one who got knocked up."

The label peeled off of the bag with a smooth sound, and she stuck it onto the wall behind her before taking another sip.

"Don't drain that all in one night," I warned her. "I don't know when I'll be able to bring you more."

"What, can't rob the blood bank twice in one week?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's Damon's."

"You stole this from Damon?" Katherine eyed me. "Let me guess, you're the reason he wouldn't kiss "Elena"?"

"Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way. The visual is still burned in my mind."

"It's not personal, I didn't even know you existed." That was probably the closest I would get to an apology from her. "Interesting . . . one sister for each brother. That certainly gives them less to fight about."

"They still find their reasons."

"I'm sure they do," Katherine rested her arms on her knees. "I'm not sure which one she would have liked. Probably both. Like me."

"Damon thinks you made her up," I said.

"Does he now?" She raised her eyebrows. As if she wasn't the one who made him distrustful. "And what do you think?"

"I think I know what that pain looks like, and it's not something that can be faked."

"Wonderful. I can rot happily in this tomb knowing I have your trust," She said, "Now do you have any further interrogations to make or will you leave me in peace now?"

I gestured towards the tunnel of ruins behind Katherine. "You're free to leave anytime. I'm not joining you in there." She didn't move. "You'd be curious too."

"I was curious, for about five minutes. But studying Elena provided me with little entertainment. She's about as boring as humans come."

"She's my sister."

Katherine shrugged. "You said it yourself, you just met the girl."

"I know," I said, "Which is why I have to find some way to protect her from Klaus. I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing; I can't lose her when I just found her."

"Spare me the sob story," Katherine replied.

"Please," I inched closer to the invisible barrier between us. "I know he's old and powerful and everyone is scared of him but there has to be something we can do to protect her."

"Don't waste your time," She said, "There's only one escape route and it's the one I took."

"You're really not going to help me?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Don't you wish there had been someone there to help you?" I asked.

When Katherine didn't answer, I stood up, threw the other blood bag at her, and left her alone in the tomb. Like she wanted.

By the time I finished having dinner with my parents, Damon still hadn't called me. So I retreated to my room, shut the door, and called him.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"That's my line."

"Well, you haven't said it yet."

"I'm driving," He said.

"Driving where?"

"You're not gonna like it," He replied, "Meet me at Elena's? We should be there in twenty."

"No, I'm not telling her!"

"You're with Elena?" I asked. "Damon, what's going on?"

"Oh, there's our exit. Gotta go!"

"Damon."

He had already hung up. I ran downstairs and grabbed my keys.

"Mom? Dad?" I yelled. "I'm going to Elena's."

"Are you spending the night?" My mom called back from the living room.

"Maybe. I'll let you know!"

I made it to Elena's house before Damon did, but the evening weather was nice enough that I could sit on the trunk of my car in her driveway while I waited for them. After about ten minutes, Damon pulled his car in behind me. Stefan got out of the passenger seat, and Elena pushed past him, avoiding my eye.

"Elena?" I stood up. "Elena what happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," She said.

"I'm not going to keep this from her!" Damon yelled after her as she ran into the house. "Stefan, control your girlfriend. Go make sure she doesn't run out the back door."

Stefan glared at Damon, but followed Elena inside. Moments later her bedroom light turned on.

"Damon?" I stepped closer to him. "What is it?"

"Elena and Rose went on a little field trip today," He said.

"Rose? I told you guys you shouldn't let her linger around."

"I thought you wanted me to be a good person, she doesn't have anywhere else to go," He said, "Besides, she's the one who tipped us off once she realized what Elena was up to."

"What was Elena up to?"

Damon sighed. "She was trying to contact Klaus. Turn herself over."

"What?"

"Rose's friend Slater, the one we went to talk to the other day, he has all this information on—"

"No, no. Why? Why would she do that? She said . . . she said . . ."

"I know," Damon pulled me into a hug. "She fooled us all. She thought if she went to Klaus directly, no one else would have to get hurt. She thought she could protect everyone."

"But . . . she's the one in danger. She's the one that needs protection."

"I know baby." He kissed the top of my head. "I know."

I hugged him back. Elena tried to turn herself over to Klaus. She hadn't even spoken to me about it. She lied to me about it.

"It gets worse," Damon said. "Elijah's alive."

"Elijah?" I pulled back to look at Damon. "But you killed him."

"Drove a stake right through his heart."

"Then how—"

"No idea," He said. "But he showed up right after Klaus's associates did."

"He was there? You saw him? Did he try to hurt Elena?"

"Yes, yes, and no. The other guys weren't so lucky. He ripped their hearts right out of their chests and then left."

"That doesn't make any sense," I said, "He works for Klaus. He was coming to take Elena when you staked him. Where did he go?"

"That's the million dollar question. He could be anywhere."

"Doesn't that worry you?" I asked.

"No Lucy, I love that an apparently unkillable vampire with questionable morals and motives is lurking around god knows where," Damon said, "I'll just add it to the list of things on my plate, right next to rogue future sister-in-law with a death wish and baby werewolf roaming around town tonight."

"Oh my god. The full moon is tonight. Tyler's first full moon." That came up quickly. "Have you talked to Mason?"

"I was going to meet him at the grill. He said he likes to drink before the transition. But he can drink without me. I'll tell him something came up."

"No, you should go. You can come over afterwards, if you're sober enough to climb up to my window." I forced a smile. "Really, I'll be fine. Is Tyler going to be there?"

"Presumably."

"See? Who's going to compel the bartender to serve him if you're not there?"

"I just hate the idea of leaving you alone right now," Damon said.

"I won't be alone. I'll be talking to Elena." I looked up at the yellow glow coming from her bedroom window, then back to Damon.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"I'm trying to make sure your life doesn't revolve around consoling me everytime something bad happens. And if you see me cry one more time you might realize what a mess I am and break up with me." Damon didn't laugh. "I'm kidding."

"I love you." He kissed me. "So much. And I will ditch Mason the second you call me if you change your mind."

"Did Mason say why drinking helps?"

"Okay, now you're just stalling," Damon said. "Go. Talk to Elena."

"I don't know what to say."

"There really is a first time for everything." He kissed me again. "Now go."

I nodded, and trudged into the house. I found Elena sitting in her window seat with her arms crossed, and Stefan on the other side of her bedroom. They were completely silent.

"Great. Another person to yell at me," Elena said.

"I'll . . . give you two a minute." Stefan said. "I'll be outside."

Elena didn't say a word as I crossed the room and joined her on the window seat. She didn't even look at me.

"Elena, what were you thinking?" I asked.

"I was thinking that I needed to do something before everyone I love gets hurt trying to protect me."

"So you told me to give it a rest. Meanwhile, you run off and try to sell yourself to Klaus on craigslist?"

"Sell my- what?" Elena shook her head. "No, it's not like that. Look, I believe Katherine, I do. That's why I did this. The way I see it, either I die; or everyone tries to stop Klaus and a whole lot more people die. I don't want that."

"I don't want you to die." My voice was filled with the tremors that were always the predecessor to my tears.

"And you think I want to?" Elena replied. "I'm the doppelgänger, I'm the one he wants. If I do this he'll leave everyone else alone. You would do the same for me. Don't even pretend you wouldn't."

"That's not the point."

"It's exactly the point. You have all put yourselves in some kind of danger for my sake. Why is it that the moment I do the same thing everyone gets mad at me?"

"So what now?" I wiped my eyes. "Are you just waiting to run off again the first chance you get?"

"No."

"Are you lying to me again?"

"No, I'm not," She said. "Rose fled and her friend Slater is dead. I have no way of contacting Klaus."

"But you would if you could?"

Elena didn't answer me. I stood up and walked away from her. This wasn't a conversation I could endure.

Elena sighed. "Don't leave."

"Why?" I looked back at her, my eyes burning from my tears. "You were going to. You weren't even going to say goodbye."

"Lucy—"

I slammed her bedroom door shut and ran down the steps. Before going outside, I pressed my hands into my eyes in an attempt to quell my crying, but it was useless. Stefan caught my arm the moment I was out of the house.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Are you?" His face was as distressingly neutral as ever. "Elena was ready to die because some vampire wants to break a curse. Why is everyone just acting like this is normal?"

"Trust me, I am not okay with this."

"Then act like it!" I balled my sleeve up in my hand and used it to wipe my face. "Sorry. I just feel like I'm the only one who's ever falling apart."

"Hey, hey, no you're not. Come on, sit down for a minute," Stefan said. I sat next to him on the porch swing, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Let me call Damon, he'd want to be with you right now."

"No, don't; he's out. I'm fine." Stefan hesitated, holding his phone mid air. He wouldn't meet my eye. "If you can respect Elena's choice to sacrifice herself you can respect my choice to not call Damon."

"I'm not okay with her choice." He set his phone face down in between us. "Not even a little bit."

I kicked at the ground to move the swing, and tried to breathe in sync with the soft swaying. Every few swings my inhale turned into something in between a choke and a hiccup and threw off my rhythm.

"She's safe, for now," He said. "That's all I can really ask for tonight." The swing creaked. "I can't love her into wanting to fight. And neither can you."

I exhaled slowly as the swinging subsided. Elena was safe. She had tried to sacrifice herself, but Stefan and Damon stopped it. Or Elijah did. Elena was safe, for tonight. No matter how many times I repeated this to myself, my crying wouldn't cease.

"Are you sure you don't want to call Damon?" Stefan asked.

I nodded. "I'm just going to go home. He's coming over later anyways."

"Will you let me drive you, at least?"

"You're not staying here?"

"I trust that she's not going to do anything tonight and I think we both just need a minute," Stefan replied. "I was going to ask Jeremy to keep an eye on things, just in case."

"I can drive myself home," I said, "I need a minute, too." I got up. "But thank you, Stefan. Really."

"Anytime." Stefan's hand hovered over his phone for a moment before closing into a fist and resting in his lap. "Get home safe, okay?"

I nodded and got into my car. I couldn't really go home. I couldn't stop crying, and I couldn't tell my parents why I was crying. But that wasn't Stefan or Damon's problem, it was mine. My problem to fix.

"Back so soon?" Katherine asked when I reached the tomb. She was still sitting in the same spot, but was going through the Petrova book.

"Elena's given up," I said, plopping onto the ground.

"Mm, so she's smarter than I thought," Katherine replied.

"No. It's not smart. It's stupid, and it's reckless, and it can't be the only option."

"So when you say she's given up . . ."

"I mean she tried to contact Klaus and was ready to let him go through with the sacrifice."

"Ouch." Katherine flipped the page.

"She thinks it's the best choice. She doesn't want Klaus to kill anyone else, and she won't budge on it. She said I would do the same for her." Katherine didn't look up from the book. "She's right, I would do the same for her."

"How sweet," Katherine said.

"Maybe I can," I said softly.

Katherine looked up. "Excuse me?"

"Maybe I can do the same for her. The sacrifice requires a doppelgänger. Elena is your doppelgänger, and according to you, I'm Nikolina's. Klaus can use me instead."

"I don't think that's how that works."

"How would you know?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, are we talking about the same curse?" Katherine closed the book. "The witch who created it clearly didn't want it to be broken." She leaned forward. "Now tell me, Why would there be multiple doppelgängers available per generation?"

"Why would I look like her then?"

She shrugged. "Who's to say you're her doppelgänger? Maybe you don't look exactly like her. Maybe you have a freckle that she didn't, or something."

"Well do I?"

Katherine squinted while scanning my face. "It's so dark down here, how am I supposed to tell?"

"Look harder!"

Katherine tried to move towards me, but flinched when she hit the barrier of the spell. Had I been paying enough attention, I would have known exactly where the barrier was. I would have known that it was at least six inches away from the spot of air that Katherine had just pretended to hit. I would have known that I was crossing the line that held Katherine captive as I leaned in closer, hoping she wouldn't find any differences between my face and Nikolina's. Had I been paying attention, Katherine wouldn't have been able to grab my hair and pull me into the tomb.

She laughed into my ear as she wrapped an arm around my neck, pulling me to my feet. "Call Stefan."

I nodded as much as Katherine's constricting grip would allow. With trembling hands, I dialed Stefan's number and held my breath while waiting for him to pick up.

"S-Stefan?"

"Hey, is everything all right?" Stefan asked. "Did you get home okay?"

"Um, not exactly—"

Katherine grabbed the phone from me. "Hello, Stefan. Surprised to hear my voice?" She said. "What else was I supposed to do, you haven't come back to visit me. I think that needs to change." She laughed. "Come alone. I only want to see you, and you don't want to see what happens if I don't get what I want."

She closed my phone, and set it back into my still-shaking hand. I should have never believed that Katherine could be human.

Within minutes, Stefan arrived at the tomb. He ran down the steps and stopped a few feet in front of us, his brow furrowing as he took in the situation.

"Katherine let her go," He said.

"Make me," Katherine replied. The corner of the book she was holding pressed into my side.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I think I've made what I want crystal clear, but if you still refuse to get over your Elena obsession then . . ." Katherine toyed with the collar of my shirt. "Out. I want out of here, Stefan."

"I'm not helping you unless you let Lucy go," He said.

"Okay." She released her hold on my neck, but immediately grabbed my arm and laughed at Stefan's stony expression. "If you want me to let her go, you're going to have to make me."

Stefan's eyes darkened as they locked onto Katherine. He looked ready to lunge at her.

"No, Stefan, don't!" I yelled. "You'll just get trapped in here."

"Yes Stefan, do!" Katherine laughed. "I'll let her go if you take her place."

"What? No. Stefan, stay out there." I wriggled, trying to twist out of Katherine's grasp. "What if something happens to Elena? Talk to Bonnie; maybe she can figure something out."

"Bonnie can't lift the spell on her own," He said. "Even with two people it was too much for her grams."

Bonnie could give a vampire a very debilitating headache on her own. But I didn't need to remind him of that while Katherine was already bruising my arm with her grip.

"Have her phone a friend. Ideally before I get hungry and Lucy here"—Katherine shoved me—"Starts to look more appetizing. Tick tock."

"I can't leave you down here alone with her," He said.

"Stefan, she's not going to hurt me."

Katherine jerked my arm, causing me to stumble and nearly fall into her. "Don't be so sure."

"I'm your only leverage. If you kill me, you're never getting out of here."

"That doesn't mean I'll make your stay here enjoyable," Katherine said.

"Stefan, don't!" I yelled when Stefan snarled at Katherine. "Just get out of here. Find Bonnie, and don't tell Damon."

"What, are you crazy?" Stefan asked. "I can't keep this from him."

"You have to," I said "There's not a single scenario in which you tell him and he doesn't immediately run down here and get himself trapped."

"Well that won't matter once the Bennett witch lifts the spell now, will it." Katherine said.

Stefan ignored Katherine. "I'm getting you out of here tonight. I promise."

"Then he doesn't need to know until then," I said. "Please, Stefan. He's with Mason right now. He won't be looking for me."

"Okay, party's over." Katherine pulled on my arm. "Goodbye, Stefan," She called over her shoulder as she dragged me further into the tomb. "See you soon!"

The tunnel ended with a cavern that must have been the crypt that the townspeople used to imprison the vampires in another century. There were some candles and a rusted iron gate, but the room was mostly occupied with dirt, dust, and crumbling stone coffins.

"So Damon still behaves like a reckless puppy when he's in love?" Katherine tossed me into a corner.

"Shut up." I said.

"You know, we could be in here a while." She walked away from me, running her hands over the pointed pickets of the fence. "It's going to get awfully boring if you're not speaking."

"You had your chance to talk to me before you dragged me in here." I sat down. "Now shut up."

"You're angry with me." She stopped pacing and faced me. "You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you?"

"You were ready to offer yourself up to Klaus in Elena's place. I saved you from your own stupidity."

"You said it wouldn't work, anyways."

"I said I didn't think it would work. That doesn't mean it wouldn't. Is that really a chance you're willing to take?"

"Wouldn't you?" I asked. "If it was Nikolina, wouldn't you take that chance?"

Instead of answering my question, Katherine chose to perch atop a coffin on the other side of the crypt and resume going through her family book.

"I'm bored," Katherine said, after thumbing through the yellowed pages for some time. "Aren't you even going to try to run?"

"What's the point?" I replied. "You'd catch me before I could even see the other side of the tunnel."

She tilted her head. "Entertainment value."

"Is this all a game to you?" I asked. "Me, Klaus, Elena, Stefan?"

"Stefan isn't a game. I love him."

"No you don't. Manipulating him and threatening people to get what you want isn't love."

"And what is love?" Katherine asked. "Sneaking around and stealing from your boyfriend? Asking his brother to lie to him because you got yourself into trouble? Hm?"

"Stefan and Elena. That's love," I said. "And if you really loved him, you'd let him be happy, even if it wasn't with you."

Leaving the book discarded face down on the ground, Katherine sped across the room. With the full weight of her body, she pressed me against the wall, digging her knee into my rib cage.

"Listen here, Lucy." She wrapped a hand around my throat, bringing her face close to mine. "I've known Stefan for longer than you'll ever be alive, and I'll know him long after you and your sister are dead. So if you think for one second that some seventeen year old nobody has a clue what I feel for him"—She slammed my head against the stone—"Think again."

"Get off of me!" I tried to push her away. "Ugh. Katherine I swear—"

"Quiet." Katherine shushed me and angled her head towards the tomb entrance. "We have company. Let's go see which one of our boyfriends came to save us."

After pulling me up by my neck, Katherine dragged me towards our visitor.

"You'd better be here to get me out," Katherine yelled, "Though I will say I'm impressed if the Bennett witch managed to—"

Katherine stopped in her tracks. It was neither Stefan or Damon standing before us, but an unfamiliar man who's sleek presence felt out of place amongst the dust and rubble of the tomb.

Katherine took a step back. "Elijah."

"Katerina, thank you for having the good sense to be frightened." He brushed some dirt off of his suit. "Now let the girl go."

Katherine scoffed. "Not a chance."

"I said"—Elijah sped into the tomb and with one hand slammed Katherine against the wall of the tomb, and with another pulled me out of her restraint—"Let the girl go."

"Well that was incredibly stupid," Katherine said.

"Stupid?" Elijah pushed me to his side but kept a hand on my shoulder.

"Now you're stuck here. This tomb is spelled so no vampire can leave."

"This is untrue, for you see, Katerina, I have had the spell on the tomb lifted. I am free to leave whenever I like."

Katherine attempted to step by Elijah and make her way towards the entrance of the room. Immediately, he reached out an arm to bar her passage.

"No no, I said I am free to leave whenever I like." He forced her to meet his eye. "As for you however, you should not exit until I say so. When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are."

"You're making a mistake." Katherine shook her head as she backed away from Elijah. "She was safe and you know it. He never would have come after her in here."

"She is no longer any of your concern," Elijah replied. "Now, Lucy, I believe the Salvatore brothers and your sister will be waiting on you. Allow me to escort you to them?"

I nodded. The chain that held vervain around my neck was but a strand of thread to a vampire that couldn't be killed, and his request wasn't really a request.

"Did she mean safe from Klaus?" I asked Elijah when we reached the top of the steps.

"Worry not, you are in no danger," Elijah replied, "She was merely desperate to not be left alone in there."

"She's just going to run the moment you're gone."

"No she will not." Elijah ushered me towards a black sports car that was almost hidden in the dark of the night. "She doesn't have a choice."

"But you said that the spell was lifted. You were able to leave."

"I'm well aware of what I said, however I do not need a spell to keep her in place as I have compelled her." Elijah opened the passenger door and nodded for me to get in. The leather seats smelled brand new.

"Vampires can't be compelled," I said when he got into the car.

"Typically that would be correct, however I am a vampire who can compel other vampires."

Elijah offered no further explanation for this ability. At the turn of his hand the car was filled with the ambient grumble of the engine.

"I might need your number in case Damon ever steps out of line," I said.

In the blue glow emitting from the dashboard, I could just make out Elijah's mouth twinging slightly before returning to it's neutral default state.

"You're very brave, making jokes with someone your friends tried and failed to kill."

"If you wanted to hurt me you could've disposed of me before we hit the main road." I leaned further into my seat, letting it's smooth curves swallow me. "Or you could've just saved yourself the effort and left me in the tomb."

"Well observed."

"Why did you get me out?" I asked. "I mean, thanks. But I don't think Stefan was asking you for any favors, you know, given the whole trying and failing to kill you thing."

"The lovely Elena drives a hard bargain," He said.

"Elena?" I sat up a bit. "What do you want from her?"

"She will answer all of your questions. But for now, I assure you I do not wish to bring any harm upon you or your sister."

"Well, thanks," I said, "For getting me out. Wasn't really sure how that one was going to work."

"The pleasure was all mine." Elijah turned into Stefan and Damon's driveway. "Here we are."

Here we were. At the house where Damon, Elena, and Stefan were all waiting to reprimand me for my recklessness. Maybe staying in the tomb wouldn't have been so bad.

"Stay there, in the light." Elijah instructed when I got out of the car. "Just for a moment."

I stood in front of Elijah, dimly lit by the yellow haze coming off of the porch light. He circled around me, scanning me with his dark eyes, before stopping directly in front of me and bringing a hand to my face.

"What are you doing?" I recoiled from him.

"Making sure that you are unharmed." Elijah's hand hovered inches from my face before cautiously pushing my hair behind my shoulder. "I do not wish to return you to your friends with any injuries."

"Well I'm fine." I pulled my hair back in front of my shoulder, covering my tender neck. "She didn't hurt me. Can I go inside now?"

"Of course." Elijah removed his hand from my shoulder.

Damon answered the door, and it took him all of three seconds to whisk me inside and tuck me under his arm.

"What are you doing with her?" He asked.

"You know, Damon," Elijah said, entering the foyer. "Were I to wish her harm, bringing her into the house would do little to protect you seeing as you have no living resident here."

"That didn't answer my question," Damon said.

"Lucy, I trust you will be safe from here?" Elijah asked.

"Yes. Thank you."

"Not that she's really any of your concern," Damon muttered.

Elijah nodded. "Goodnight, Damon."

Before Damon could question me, Stefan came into the living room, followed by Elena and . . . Rose.

"He's not coming back, is he?" Rose asked, sitting in an armchair.

"Some offense, but what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I haven't really got anywhere else to go," Rose replied.

"You can compel literally anything you want why—"

Stefan cleared his throat. "Rose could you give us a minute?"

"You know what? Sure." Rose stood up. "Looks like I might be staying here a while, might as well see what this town has to offer when the sun isn't up."

"Might want to rethink that," Damon said, "Full moon."

"Okay then, I will see what your liquor cabinet has to offer."

"Stay away from the good stuff!" Damon yelled after her.

While Stefan sighed and sunk into one of the sofas, I stared at the archway that Rose had just retreated through.

"What did she mean 'looks like I might be staying here a while'?" I asked.

"She wants to help." Elena took a seat next to Stefan and he rested his hand over hers.

"Help?" I yelled. "Last time she tried to help she ended up chauffeuring you on your death mission!"

"Okay Lucy- let's not get off topic. Why were you with Elijah?" Damon asked.

I smiled sweetly at him. "It's a funny story, actually."

Damon did not laugh once as I recounted the events that led to Elijah escorting me out of the tomb. Stefan really hadn't told him anything. As I spoke, Damon sat on the opposite end of the couch, and by the time I finished speaking he was rubbing his hand along his forehead.

"Great," He said, "So you completely ignored us and decided to go to continue interrogating the world's most dishonest person, that still doesn't explain why Elijah intervened."

"It's part of our deal," Elena said.

"What deal?" Damon asked.

"The deal where Elijah protects everyone I care about while I lure out Klaus."

I stared at her. "While you lure out—"

"Are you insane?" Damon asked.

"Wait wait," Stefan held up a hand, "Let her finish."

"Elijah wants to kill Klaus," Elena said, "Klaus has a lot of enemies and apparently doesn't come out much, but he's guaranteed to come find me once he catches word that there's another doppelgänger. Elijah doesn't want the sacrifice to happen, he just wants Klaus dead."

"Sounds like a very elaborate lie to turn you into a willing victim," Damon said.

"How do you know he's not just lying and prepping you to be handed over for the sacrifice?" I asked.

"The sacrifice can't happen," Elena replied.

"The moonstone doesn't work anymore," Stefan explained, "Bonnie met another witch at school, they removed the spell on it."

"See," Elena said, "Elijah never wanted to break the curse. Which he would have explained to us earlier, if you two hadn't staked him."

"Damon and Stefan are not the bad guys here," I said.

"Well neither is Elijah." Elena replied.

"I'm sorry, may I interrupt?" Rose asked from the doorway.

"You just did," I said. Rose took a sip of the whiskey she was holding, and Elena glared at me.

"I don't think you should trust Elijah." Rose said.

"That's interesting coming from the person who was ready to hand me over to him," Elena said.

Rose stepped into the room. "Elijah wanting to kill Klaus, it doesn't make any sense. Klaus is—"

A crashing noise from upstairs interrupted Rose. I jumped up, and Damon immediately sped to my side.

"What was that?" I asked, latching onto Damon's arm.

"I don't know." Damon looked at Elena, who was white-knuckled on the couch. "Were surprise visits part of your arrangement with Count Creepy?"

The first crash was nothing compared to the sound of the shattering window as a wolf burst into a living room. Calling it a wolf didn't quite feel correct; I had never seen a wolf the size of a lion.

"Go upstairs. Now." Stefan said to me and Elena.

Elena grabbed my hand. She tried to pull me towards the stairs. I stayed frozen in place, watching as Damon slid an antique sword out of its wall mount.

"Damon!" I yelled when the wolf pounced at him.

Rose pushed Damon away, and the wolf tackled her to the ground. She screamed, and then the wolf fled, leaving Damon and a blood soaked sword standing in its place.

Rose stayed on the floor. Her spilled whiskey wasn't the only warm toned liquid trickling amongst the broken glass.

"It bit you," Elena whispered.

Still clutching my hand, Elena walked over to Rose. Rose pulled her tattered shirt away from her shoulder, and we all watched as the wound got smaller and smaller, until it was just blood soaked skin.

"Oh my god." Rose exhaled and closed her eyes. "It healed. I thought a wolf bite was fatal. I thought . . . I thought . . ."

I shook Elena's hand off of mine, and wrapped my arms around Damon. He dropped the sword, and we stared at Rose as she started to cry. I thought a wolf bite was fatal too. Rose had pushed the wolf away from Damon.

"I'm fine," Rose said, breathing heavily. "Everything's fine."

"Yeah, except for the fact that there was just a werewolf in here," I said.

"I thought Mason had everything under control." Stefan kicked a piece of glass into the fireplace. "What the hell was that?"

"Yeah," Damon scratched his head as he took in the pieces of window that were now scattered around the room, glittering in the light from the fireplace. "We may have a bit of a wolf problem."

Will time illuminate the stains
And stop the pain
The night you held me under a spell
You know I cannot hide
You're the very thing unwinding me

No one ever will love me better
Than your everlasting love
I found only one way in and no way out

Tear my soul like paper
Carefully breaking off a bitter tonic of lies
You cut me deeper inside
Only to sew me back up

You turn the room a shade heaven
You know my name

No one ever will love me better
Than your everlasting love
I found only one way in and no way out