He could sense her, and she was in distress. At the end of the hall lied a room with an open ceiling and a stone table in the center. Damon looked into the room and saw Meredith tied down to the table and unable to escape.

"Why are you doing this? And why me," Meredith asked.

"There is a purpose, little human. When I returned to the 'living' as a vampire, there were a few conditions. One was I could choose any human body and take it over, but it was temporary. I found Virginia when she was on a trip in Italy. In order to stay here for good, I needed to find a male and female and kill them in a ritual. Of course, there are stupid rules and regulations I had to follow; I had to know them and they had to be married. Well, I knew two of you, and although the idea of killing Stefan and Elena for good had fiendishly crossed my mind, there was another issue; I also needed to kill a child. Now, I thought of little Margaret in Fell's Church, but she's almost grown up now. Then it happened to be the luckiest day of my life. Philip and Dante helped me to get back here. I contacted them in their sleep, and got them to do a ceremony in a field in Tuscany. It happened to be the same night that your pathetic husband showed up to do some paranormal research. I couldn't believe he was that stupid! We killed him that night in the ritual. Then, luck would have it; we found out that you were pregnant! It was almost handed to me on a silver platter! With you, I get two for the price of one, and you are going to help me stay here as a vampire again for all eternity."

"You're a monster, Katherine. Go to hell," Meredith screamed.

Katherine laughed and raised a silver knife over her head.

"Now you and your child are going to have the same fate as its bigmouthed father."

Damon listened and watched the scene but now he had to interfere. Katherine held the knife above her head and was about to drive it into Meredith's abdomen. He flew at Katherine with all his weight and knocked her over. Katherine rebounded by turning around and knocking Damon into the nearby wall. She held him against the wall and tried to scratch at his face while he strategically blocked her attempts.

Stefan ran passed the fighting duo to Meredith's side. The first thing he noticed was the small teeth marks on the side of her neck. Her pallor was abnormally blue and she was starting to lose consciousness. He held her hand as the fight ensued between Damon and Katherine.

As Katherine finally stumbled, Damon noticed his sister beside him in a fighting stance.

"Get out of here, Gena. Go help your friends," Damon yelled.

"Hey, I'm not leaving you. Plus, I have a score to settle with her too."

Gena moved towards her and kicked as she approached. She pinned her up against the wall with her boot.

"Is that all you got, Kitty," Gena mocked.

Katherine's eyes grew darker and she became enraged. She lunge at Gena and threw her against the wall. Gena could feel another bone in her arm break.

In the corner, Gena tried to get herself together for another attack, but it seemed to have already begun. Katherine was on her feet and canines out, ready to get rid of the girl once and for all. The scene was in slow motion and Gena knew that Katherine's raged face might be the last thing she saw. Her body finally started to feel the affects of her attack earlier. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something twinkle. It was a shine that was most associated with metal.

As Katherine came closer, Gena gathered all her strength and held Katherine's shoulders. Damon had picked up Dante's knife from the other room. She continued to hold Katherine, with the blonde vampire nipping at her with her teeth; then Damon threw the knife into Katherine's back and it went straight into her heart. Then she started to scream.

Her pseudo human body was dying from her wounds as she desperately moved to kill Meredith.

"NO! NOOOOOOOOOO! I WAS SO CLOSE!"

It was no use; the blood was seeping out of her heart onto the concrete floor. As she fell, Damon saw that the knife head gone straight through Katherine…and into Gena.

Gena's chest was oozing blood. She fell to the ground in a heap. As she fell, Gavin and Will entered the room. They'd heard the struggle and came to help out, but had to see her fall with a knife jutting out of her. Gavin held her head and tried to talk to her, while Will pulled the knife out of her chest; she hissed in pain. With tears in his eyes, Gavin moved some bloody hairs off of her face and kissed her forehead. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"Hey," she said faintly.

"Hey," he said back.

"I feel tired," she said with a sigh. "You know what Gavin, I don't think I'm going to make it this time." Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Sure you will; you always have."

Damon pushed the two men out of the way and held his sister's hand. He stroked her head with his free hand.

"Gena, I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

"Shh…it's ok. You did what you had to do. I'll be fine. Worry about yourself."

"No, you'll be ok. Hold on."

"He's right; you'll be fine," Stefan said next to her.

He was kneeling down with a limp Meredith in his arms.

Gena almost had to laugh at the scene; her brothers, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend were all together getting along and crying like babies.

"You know, I love all of you." Then she closed her eyes and finally could rest.

As the others stared in disbelief at the dying vampire, Meredith screamed out in pain as she started to go into labor.

Thanks to all of you who read this story. I had so much fun writing it, and I'm glad that people are enjoying it. I'm working on the sequel right now. Stay tuned for "Beyond Burden," which should be out sometime next month! Thanks again!