Lake Of Fire

Jenna doesn't wake up immediately but Elena isn't worried yet, reassured by the steady rise and fall of her aunt's chest. Her attention is drawn away to a conversation she can hear so clearly it sounds as if there are people in the room with her. She looks around frantically, expecting to find someone in the room with them, but they are still alone. She spots a vent and realizes that it's carrying the voices into the room. She listens intently, straining for any information that might prove useful later.

Sloan is talking to a group of people when their heads turn as their leader, Markos, walks in flanked on either side by Matt Donovan and the Passenger inside Caroline Forbes. Matt keeps glancing uncomfortably at Caroline who ignores him.

"Good evening and welcome to your new home. Thank you to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for my safe return." Marko's hands extend out wide before he brings his hands together and closes his eyes. In return, the group repeat the gesture. "I believe I have the solution to our problems and our dear Sloan has offered herself in service to ensure our future prosperity."

Markos walks up to Sloane and runs his fingers along her cheeks and down her jaw. "Beautiful, brave Sloan." She smiles and Markos gestures Caroline forward with two fingers. She bites into her wrist and offers it to Sloan who accepts her fate with no hesitation. Markos reaches out and wipes the blood from her mouth, a strangely tender gesture right before he slides his knife across her throat.

Matt steps forward as if to do something and Markos turns around swiftly. "You wanted your vampire problem gone. Dealt with? Isn't that right, Mr. Donovan?"

"Ye-yeah."

"Then have step back, watch and wait."

Several awkward minutes pass with no one talking, Matt can't help but stare at Caroline. "Could you stop? You're kind of creepy," she mumbled.

"Me? You are the one inside my friend. How do you even sound like her?"

"Her vocal chords are still the same." The scowl on Caroline's face turned into a smile and she brushed her hair off her shoulder. "Matt, with enough practice even you didn't know she wasn't her."

"You said you were going for Damon Salvatore," Matt retorted.

"Yeah well, she was easier to get close to. Much more trusting of strangers."

When Sloan jolts awake it startles everybody except Matt. She starts frantically describing to the group how different she feels as she bends over, shielding herself from the light and noise as much as she can. Someone hands her a blood bag and she drinks greedily. Her face is fanged and distorted when she faces the group again, her face dripping red.

"Drink this." When she looks up at Markos with a question he clarifies. "The doppelgängers' blood."

She obliges and as she does, Markos leans in and whispers a spell as he strokes the back of her head. When he pulls back, her extended fangs recede back into normal canines. She smiles for just a moment before the wound on her neck opens back up again and she dies, utterly human.

"You killed her!" Matt sounds shocked and a little outraged.

"I cleansed her, Sheriff," Markos corrects him. "With their blood combined, we can reverse our own curse among others. We've spent the last two thousand years at the mercy of those who dare challenge us, knowing their only advantage is how they've managed to keep us apart. Cast us out into the world alone with the threat of destruction and plague stopping us from coming home to each other. Thanks to Sloan's willing sacrifice, we have our answer. We will purify those who have stood against us and re-shape this world for our benefit." His face is neutral and controlled, only the hint of violence in his tone.

Elena tries to blink away her tears as she swallows several times. She's heard enough to make sense of a good part of their plan. When the door opens later and Matt is on the other side, she is overwhelmed and the tears spill over.

"Matt! Hurry. Untie me." Despite everything, she still can't believe he's capable of hurting anyone, especially not her.

"I'm not here for you, Elena." He can barely look her in the eye.

"Matt. C'mon. We've got to get out here. Warn the others."

"I can't do that. I'm sorry. I've spent too long trying to straddle the line with vampires in this town and it always ends with innocent people being killed."

"Matt…"

"I'm sorry, but if all they need is a little bit of your blood to get rid of all these monsters then I can't get in the way of that."

"You think all they want is a little bit? No one ever wants just a little bit!" The anger rises in her throat like bile, threatening to spill over.

"That's all they needed for Sloan, Elena. You'll be fine in the end. After all this is over, you'll see. Our lives will be better for this." It hurts how deeply he seems to believe his words.

"No, Matt. You're wrong. What if this doesn't just stop at the vampires? What if this reverses what their blood has done for anyone it's ever saved? How many of those innocent people are you condemning right now because of your hatred for vampires?"

"That's not what they're doing…"

"God! Can't you see what the outcome is of all of this? All magic will be destroyed. What about Caroline?"

"What about Jeremy? He could have a normal life again."

"That's not fair, Matt. I can't hurt everyone I love just for Jeremy and you know that."

"Whatever. It's for the best, Elena."

"You can't believe that," she whispers and when he doesn't answer she yells, "Don't be such a fucking coward, Matt. Look at me when you tell me that you're signing off on killing the people I love."

"Monsters, not people," he says, looking at her the same way he looks at vampires.

"You're a murderer."

"I'm not! I'm doing what I wish I could have done ten years ago. Caroline died years ago when your boyfriend came into town looking to kill you. How can you possibly judge me? I'm finally picking a side."

"Yeah well…it's the wrong one, Matt." He turns and starts to walk out of the door when she yells after him. "Wait! Take Jenna? Please. She hasn't done anything wrong. She shouldn't be involved in this. Matt? Please! What about Grace?"

"I can't, Elena. I can't get involved like this." He closes the door on her and her screams turn into hysterics as she thinks about her niece. She can't let Jenna get hurt and she won't even entertain the idea of her dying because a little girl should never grow up without her mother.

She calms down a little when she sees Jenna stirring awake. Even more so when she starts crawling towards her. She's terrified and Elena can't let both of them break down so she swallows her fear, bitter and unflinching.

"Jenna? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replies as she stands her face barely reaches Elena's chest. "Are you?"

"A little sore, uncomfortable. I'll be fine, but Jenna you have to get out of here. You have to leave and get help."

"I won't leave you," she shakes her head and winces, her fingers at her hairline come away with blood.

"If anything ever happened to you…"

"Elena! It's not your job to protect me. That's my job. Ever since your parents died, you and Jeremy are my responsibility. I don't care how old you get or that protecting you means something drastically different than for most people." Jenna brings her hand up to cradle Elena's face and she leans into her aunt's touch, tears streaming freely down her face again. "We are all getting out of here, okay? I promise."

"You have to leave, Jenna. What about Grace?"

"I'm getting out of here, Elena. I'm sure Ric has already got the cavalry coming. We just have to wait. I'm not leaving them either. We are getting out of here, Elena. You and me." When she says it so confidently, Elena can almost believe it. It's such a nicer world to live in than the one she exists in.

"While your optimism sounds lovely, I do beg to differ," a man stands in the open doorway and it isn't his physical appearance that intimidates Elena. It's the power emanating from his body. It crawls along her skin like a snake, wrapping itself around her throat. If Jenna can feel it, she doesn't show it. "I'm Markos."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that."

Jenna moves to stand in front of Elena as Markos approaches them both. He laughs and reaches out to stroke her cheek and she flinches. "Oh dear. Best not try to be brave in this situation. If you step back and stay out of my way, then you are welcome to go home in one piece."

"Please, Jenna. It's okay, just do what he says. Getting home is more important," Elena begs. If there is any way that Jenna can survive this, Elena will take it. Jenna begrudgingly moves to the side of the room and watches on.

"Good girl," he says, eliciting scowls from both women. "Though I have to disagree, Elena. Nothing and no one is more important than the doppelgänger. Your blood will finally free us. Give us the life we are owed."

"She hasn't done anything to deserve this." Jenna can't help but interject.

"She exists. That's enough." Markos has a hand at her throat, tracing the bite mark Klaus left on her months ago. "You were never meant to exist. You are not a person, merely an aberration of blood has already done enough damage in the wrong hands. Even if it wasn't needed to break our curse, I would still insist on killing you. You are too powerful to chance falling into the wrong hands. With your blood and Stefan's, we will erase all that's been done and start over."

"You don't want to fix anything. You just want to have the most power. You want to be the biggest bully on the block again."

"This isn't about ego, Elena. This is about finding a home for my people and restoring order. Vampires and werewolves? These things don't exist in our world without the bastardization of magic. Your hybrid is the biggest sin of them all." She squirms with his hand still at her throat. Moments like these make her wish she was stronger, faster, better. Right now she would trade her tricks and subterfuge for Klaus's gnashing teeth and claws.

"What about the witches? You aren't restoring any order for them."

"No, I'm not. The witches need to be punished for their arrogance. Immortality defies nature. Life and death are not opposing forces. They are the same, viewed from two different sides. Immortality doesn't just avoid death, it corrupts life. I am here to fix that."

"What about you? Your people made a sacrifice for you to be here. Wasn't it a sin against nature for you to return from wherever it was you came?"

"The Other Side. Do you not know of all that was created for your predecessors? It was said our leader, Qetsiyah so loved Silas that she was willing to break our rules for him. She was powerful enough to stand unopposed and so the first immortality spell was created."

"Yes and he betrayed her to be with whoever was my ancestor."

"Don't interrupt Elena. It's rude." If she wasn't strung up, she might have laughed at being lectured by an enemy. "He was in love with Amara. Terribly so and never wanted to be separated from her, even by death. So yes, he deceived his betrothed and gave her gift to Amara, her own handmaiden. That's the stock you come from, Elena. A sneaky, underhanded servant. A nobody. You and Stefan are nothing but shadows of their lies."

"I am my own person."

"You'd like to believe that, but we both know you don't. Qetsiyah didn't take the betrayal well. Who would? She created a purgatory for the supernatural, the Other Side, and she condemned Silas's love to an eternity of torture."

"And him?"

"She gave him a choice. She created a spell to reverse what she had done. He could take it and be with her on the Other Side or he could spend the rest of his unnatural life alone."

"She forgave him? She still wanted to be with him?" Elena scoffed.

"I do not pretend to know what lies in a woman's heart. I let her actions speak her truth. None of that matters now that I've finally found a way to reverse the perversion that's been done."

"Let my aunt go. Please? She has a kid and she can't do anything to stand in your way," she pleads, there is no limit to how many times she will try to save Jenna.

"How can a flicker of a person tell me what to do?" Markos reaches back to his belt and produces a knife, long and serrated. He kicks the bucket into the stool, knocking it over and Elena hangs freely. The ropes pull at her skin and she winces, lancing pain shooting down to her shoulders. It is replaced by a sharper pain when Markos plunges the knife into her thigh. He's not satisfied with the flow and so he stabs her a few more times until he is.

In between his cold, calculated violence, Jenna makes an attempt to disarm him. He throws her back with little regard. To him, she means nothing. Elena's screams turn into cries for her aunt. She stops when Markos grabs her mouth, fingers pressing on either side of her cheeks. Elena has had vampires look at her like she's nothing more than food, but Markos looks at her like she's nothing more than a tool. To him, she isn't even a living thing.

"I grow tired of listening to you," he says as he leans in to her ear and whispers a spell. Her mouth tingles and the soft skin inside begins to stitch itself together. It feels impossibly tight and she tries to open her lips, but the pain is excruciating. "You can keep trying, Elena. You'll only end up hurting yourself. Your choice."

He turns and walks out of the room, but pauses as if a thought had only just occurred to him. He walks back in to Jenna, on the floor, and picks her up to her feet. Elena can only muster noises from her throat and she knows it is useless, but she struggles against the rope nonetheless.

"Do you have anything to say to your niece?" he asks and the question comes out calm and almost curious. It's how composed he seems that scares her the most.

Jenna looks over, tears in her eyes. "Tell Jeremy, Ric and Grace that I love them, And Elena? You're gonna be such a great mom." Her eyes widen as the knife plunges into her neck. Markos is quick in his movement and Jenna crumples on the floor, holding her wound tight and shaking.

He looks back to Elena and smiles, delighted. "You have little time together from the looks of it. You should really be saying your last goodbyes."

Elena doesn't watch him walk out of the room or close the door. She only has eyes for Jenna. She tries again to open her mouth, but the pain is so overwhelming. She doesn't have it in her to think about what Jenna said. All of her focus is on making her eye contact as meaningful as possible as she watches her aunt bleed out on the floor, struggling to keep pressure on her neck.

She doesn't get to say goodbye or tell Jenna how much it has meant to her that she stepped in to be her mom when she needed one the most. She doesn't get to tell her that she and Jeremy are better people because she was such an amazing mom. She doesn't get to say how she admires her strength and her resilience or her beauty and the ease with which she laughs in the face of adversity. All she gets are these short moments of looking into Jenna's eyes before her aunt slides down the wall, blood spilling between her fingers and down her chest. There is never enough time to say goodbye to someone you love, but it feels especially short now.

Although Jenna lies on the ground, unmoving, Elena still looks at her hoping to see any sign of movement. Her eyelids become heavy with her own blood loss as the bucket fills up. She fights against it. She wants to be there for Jenna when she wakes up, because she will. Elena can't let any other reality exist in this moment. Jenna will be fine but only as long as Elena fights to stay awake.

She isn't sure when she passed out or how long she was out. She just knows that the room is dark and cold when she comes around. Too cold for spring in the South. Her blood has stopped dripping into the bucket, at some point having coagulated enough to close the wounds. It's too dark and her vision too blurry to make out much, but she assumes the dark shape in the corner is Jenna. Her head bobs up and down, she's too weak to hold it upright.

She opens her eye wider when she hears her name carried out in a roar from somewhere on the other side of the door. She strains to try and understand what is happening outside of this miserable room. There's too much yelling, it's a cacophony of fury and pain. But one voice rises above them, Klaus.

She tries again to open her mouth, but the spell is still holding it tight. Each time she tries, the skin of her mouth tears. Her eyes well up with the pain, but she persists. She has to let him know where she is and get Jenna help. If she can scream for him, he can find them and heal Jenna.

Her mouth rips open with her efforts, her skin shreds and the blood pooling on her tongue make her want to throw up. She screams as loud as she can for Klaus. It pales in comparison to the noise coming from outside, but she knows he can hear her. Knows that he will be listening for her.

She's never seen a more beautiful sight than Klaus ripping the door off its hinges. He stands there looking at her, savaged and enraged. His yellow eyes are a stark contrast from the blood splattered on his face. His curls are wild and this composition of him as her savior is one that would imprint on her brain forever.

He moves toward her but she shakes her head and nods to Jenna. He ignores her and lifts her wrists up and off the hook holding her up. He secures her arms over his neck, her bound wrists resting on his shoulder. She swallows and murmurs, "Jenna."

"She's already gone, sweetheart." He says it so softly as if he's worried he might break her.

He kneels down on the ground with her in his lap as Elena keeps whispering no like a spell that could bring her aunt back. Klaus bites into his own wrist and offers it to her. She twists her head to the side, away from his bleeding wrist.

"Love, please." His own voice holds as much pain as she feels in her chest and she turns to look at him. It's the first time she's ever seen him afraid so relents and drinks from him. She can feel her skin repairing itself, but the pain in her mouth remains present as a reminder of Markos' cruel power.

She struggles a little in his arms when he stands, carrying her out of the room. "Please Klaus. I can't leave Jenna."

"She's gone, Elena. Someone else will retrieve her body."

"No, she's not. We can still save her."

"I have to get you out of here. Ric will help her. He'll get her out of here." Klaus moves a hand over her head, pressing her into his chest in an attempt to shield her from the fighting, but she can still catch glimpses.

Liv and Bonnie are moving together, back to back, and it is impressive how powerful they are working together. Their magic moves the air around them and Elena imagines that it pushes out the rotten smell of the blood magic from Markos. They do their best to stay on the defensive and Elena can only assume that most of the bodies on the floor are from Klaus.

Tyler keeps a watchful eye over Liv as he keeps a wide perimeter around the witches, not allowing anyone to get near either of them. Anyone who tries ends up being slammed into the ground. He paces like the wolf he is, his eyes constantly roving to detect any threat to Liv.

Damon has Stefan slumped over his shoulder and he struggles to drag his little brother out of danger, skirting just around the action. His head keeps flitting between his brother and Bonnie.

Caroline comes for Elijah, but the Passenger inside her doesn't know how to properly utilize a vampire's strength and even if she did, she's no match for Elijah. Elena breathes a sigh of relief when he snaps her friend's neck and hoists her body over his shoulder.

She grimaces when Ric races into the room and she finally closes her eyes. She wants to run in with him, be at his side when she hears his anguished screams. She knows then, by the way his voice breaks that Jenna is dead.