Chapter 37: The Last Dance

April 26, 2010

It was strange for Ellie to realize just how much she missed Katherine and Elijah. The death of Dr. Martin and Luka had also left an emptiness in her that she didn't really want to think about. It hurt too much to do so. At least she maybe had a shot at saving Katherine and Elijah. Speaking of Elijah, Ellie hoped that he wouldn't be too annoyed that she'd taken up residence in his apartment. She'd grown to kind of like this place. She'd set up wards around the apartment to keep out any threat since she wasn't sure if vampires could come and go when they pleased.

On the plus side, Bonnie had gotten her magic back from Dr. Martin before he died as well as a plan for taking out Klaus. She and Bonnie had been working tirelessly together as well as with the witches. It had been a while since she'd visited Emily, so getting to go see her was really nice. It took a while to explain Ellie's connection to Emily and the other witches to Bonnie. The other girl had been shocked when she found out that Emily and Ellie had first met and talked way back when Emily possessed Bonnie.

The two of them had talked about whether or not Ellie should also take on the power of the witches, but both Emily explained that since Ellie had an object to channel her with, she didn't need to perform a ritual to get access to their magic and that Emily could channel her magic and the other witches into that bracelet if it became a necessity. Practicing with Bonnie, when it was an actual fight against another living with, was amazing.

It had been something new for Bonnie, the other girl hadn't really had practice fighting against someone. Ellie insisted on it being a common occurrence. If Bonnie was going to try and take out Klaus, she needed to be prepared to fight. Bonnie had improved a great deal. It made Ellie incredibly proud. It was nerve wracking though. Klaus was in Mystic Falls, or at least close, but they had no idea where he was or what he looked like. Katherine never got the chance to describe him for Ellie.

The past couple of weeks had been oddly therapeutic when it came to where Ellie stood when it came to Elena, Damon, and Stefan. She didn't particularly trust them, especially Damon, but at least now she could look at them without wanting to set something on fire. If she had to guess, part of that willingness to work with them, came from so many of their lives hanging in the balance. And no matter how mad she was at Elena, she couldn't let her sister

die. And no matter how much she hated Damon, he and Stefan would do anything it took to protect Elena.

In the time since Isobel's death, Ellie had especially bonded with Bonnie and Caroline more than they'd been before. Damon and Stefan weren't really keen on letting Elena out of their sight. So the group came to an agreement. Damon and Stefan would stay near Elena, keeping her safe. But Bonnie and Caroline stuck with Ellie to help keep her safe. Two witches with one hundred witches watching their backs, and an overprotective vampire, made Ellie feel relatively safe. The two Salvatores had even gone so far as giving Elena the house so that she could control which vampires could enter. It was a smart plan.

Where Elena was concerned, she seemed genuinely remorseful about having not told Ellie about Isobel. So Ellie forgave her, at least, she told Elena she did. It would be stupid of her to think that there wasn't going to be a part of her that was angry for all the lies Elena had told and all the deaths caused by either her or the Salvatores. But, Klaus was here, and for all Ellie knew, she or Elena could end up dead very soon. She didn't want her last memories of her sister to be ones filled with fighting and hate. So her anger and mistrust could wait until Klaus was dealt with.

That was how she ended up walking through the hall with her arms looped through Elena's and Bonnie's. Stefan was following behind them, not so secretly observing every single person they passed. She was sure he was keeping track of the faces they passed, looking for anyone unfamiliar. His diligence was appreciated. The four of them walked into Alaric's class and quickly took their seats.

Oddly enough, Alaric had been sick for a while, they'd had subs filling in for him while he was gone. From what Ellie heard, no one was really sure what he'd caught, just that he'd felt awful and didn't want to risk getting anyone else sick. She'd tried to call him, but all she'd gotten was a text back saying that he would be coming back to school soon and to not worry about him.

She was distracted from her thoughts about Alaric when Elena shifted towards Stefan, wiggling a poster for the dance in his direction. She tried not to laugh at Elena's pout when he shook his head no. Elena didn't let it get her down for long, because she turned to Ellie and Bonnie and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Bonnie grinned as she nodded in agreement and Ellie did the same. It was amusing to see the way Elena turned back to Stefan smugly. "Hello class." Alaric said as he strolled into the classroom, clearing his throat. "What are we learning today?"

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week." Dana supplied from where she sat at the front of the class.

"Right." Alaric agreed. "The sixties." Ellie turned to zip up her bookbag as he paused, and when she looked up, he was staring at her. Unsure of the reason, she gave him a small smile. She'd missed him after all. "The, uh… the sixties. I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but they actually kind of sucked." He told them. "Except for the Beatles, of course. They made it bearable. Uh, what else was there? The Cuban missile thing, the uh… we walked on the moon. There was Watergate."

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric." Elena corrected with an amused smile. She seemed to quickly realize that she was a little too casual by calling him by his nickname and as the class turned to look at her, she added, "I mean… Mr. Saltzman." To be fair, it was easy to sometimes forget that the other students weren't as close to the man as they were. He was maybe considered their step-dad. How would that work? Ellie still wasn't sure.

"Right." Alaric smiled at her. "It all kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena."

Everything was going smoothly, but by the time lunch rolled around, Ellie was happy for the break. She was, however, a bit concerned about Alaric. He'd been gone for a while and as far as she was aware, no one was sure what had been wrong. "Hey, Elena, I'm gonna go check in on Alaric and I'll meet you in the cafeteria. Ok?" She said as she nudged Elena.

Once Elena finished putting her books in her locker, she nodded. "Yeah. Just keep an eye out for anyone that seems out of place." Elena warned.

"I'd be more worried about you. At least I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." Ellie assured her as she walked back towards Alaric's class. The last of the students were walking out of the room as she walked in. He didn't notice her immediately since he was wiping the blackboard clean. When he turned back, his eyes widened at the sight of her. "Hey, Ric." She greeted as she walked further into the room.

"Ellie. It's good to see you." He told her as he put the eraser down.

She smiled softly at him. "I could say the same to you. I've been worried. Had you gone much longer without being here I probably would have gone to your apartment to make sure you were ok." She told him. "What had you out so long?"

"I… I don't know to be honest." He said. "Maybe it was a bad case of food poisoning or something. I just didn't know if it was contagious and I didn't want to get anyone else sick."

She nodded along with what he was saying. "Yeah, that makes sense. But you're feeling better now right?"

"Much." He promised.

Ellie fiddled with Isobel's necklace for a moment, before she caught him staring at it. "It was Isobel's." She told him. "I've been wearing it since she died. It's all I have of her."

"How are you handling that?" Alaric inquired as he sat on the edge of his desk. "I know that couldn't have been easy for you to lose her."

She swallowed hard before replying. "It hasn't been easy. At all. But I've been trying to keep myself busy so that I don't think about it too much. I just wish I'd had more time with her you know? Or any time at all with the Isobel you married. She must have been pretty great if you married her." He had a strange look on his face, and she felt suddenly guilty. He'd lost her too. "How are you handling it? I know stuff was complicated, but she was still your wife."

"It's been easier than I expected, but really I lost her a long time ago, so this isn't as hard for me as it might have been otherwise." Alaric told her. Something seemed kinda off with him, but she just assumed that it was because he didn't want to talk about Isobel.

"Have you talked to Jenna?"

"No, I've been trying to give her space to cool down. I shouldn't have lied to her about Isobel for so long. I never wanted to hurt her." Alaric confessed.

"I'm sure she'll come around eventually. She cares about you a lot." Ellie assured him before glancing at the time on the clock. If she didn't hurry, the lunch line would be ridiculously long. "I should get to lunch, Elena's waiting on me, but I'll see you later."

He nodded as he stood. "Of course." He agreed. She started to walk out, before she turned and gave him a tight hug. They hadn't really hugged much, ever, but with the loss of Isobel and the issues with Jenna, she figured he could use it.

"Hopefully everything gets better soon." Ellie told him.

He gave her a small smile. "I think that it will."

Ellie was out the door seconds later and headed towards the cafeteria. She kept an out eye for anyone out of the ordinary, but saw no one. Luckily enough, she did find Elena still waiting in the line for food. "Hey, Ellie, I saved you a spot." Elena called as Ellie slid in behind her sister. They made their way through the line, picking up stuff to fill their tray, before heading towards the round table that Bonnie and Jeremy were occupying. "Hey, Jer. How you doing? Are you ok at the house alone with John?"

Jeremy was giving Bonnie a significant look as he grabbed his stuff. "It's not ideal."

"You haven't heard from Jenna, have you?" Elena asked.

"Looks like she's staying on campus. Look, I'm uh… I'm late for class." He left without saying anything else.

The twins sat down together as they watched him walk away. "What's going on?" Elena asked curiously. Obviously, Ellie wasn't the only one that picked up on the feeling that something was going on.

"I told him he had to dress up tonight and he got all uptight." Bonnie told them as she shook her head at his stubbornness.

"Oh." Elena said in understanding. "But Ellie, have you talked to Jenna at all?"

Ellie nodded. "Yeah. She's gonna be staying on campus, but I don't know how long for. She's really upset and hurt over being lied to about Isobel, understandably so. If you try and force her to talk to you, she's only going to stay away longer."

"You're right." Elena agreed sadly. "I just miss her."

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of Dana. "Hey, Ellie, there you are. Ok. This is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight."

The twins laughed in surprise as the three girls shared a look with each other. "Well who is it?" Bonnie asked curiously. "Maybe you can get a cute date for the dance."

"You could at least meet him even if you don't want him to be your date." Dana said. "He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus."

It felt like Ellie's blood turned to ice in her veins. She could see both Elena and Bonnie's amused smiles fall away as the three of them began frantically scanning the room. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Elena asked as Ellie scanned the room.

"His… name's Klaus?" Dana repeated in confusion. "I know the name's stupid but I swear he's hot."

"Where is he? Is he here?" Bonnie questioned.

"I don't know." Dana replied.

"She's been compelled." Ellie deduced.

"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?" Dana asked excitedly, the compulsion leaving her oblivious to the danger.

"Very. Thank you Dana." Ellie said politely. Thankfully, the girl took the hint and left. Ellie closed her eyes as she focused. From her readings in Elijah's grimoires, she learned that she had the ability to sense supernatural beings and concentrations of magics. Everything felt different, depending on what it was. Vampires felt different from witches and ghosts because it was a different supernatural being.

Luckily, Caroline had let her practice on her and they'd basically turned it into a magical version of hide and seek. When Ellie had gotten good at sensing Caroline, she tried it on Bonnie and found that the two felt vastly different. Maybe it was because Bonnie was channeling so many witches, but even if it wasn't as strong as it was, the energy at the core of it felt different. When she compared the way Stefan and Caroline felt, Stefan's energy felt stronger, probably because he was older. That meant that finding Klaus should be easy with how old he was. She'd yet to get the chance to use it to find Elijah. "What's she doing?" Elena asked, though she sounded far away.

"Shh… just give her a second." Bonnie insisted as Ellie focused. It was like the overwhelming noise of the cafeteria just faded away and within seconds, Ellie could feel Caroline's energy. She was outside. She found Stefan a second later in the library. It wasn't an exact location that she got, but she knew from the general and direction and distance where they had to be. But they were the only vampires that she could sense.

"If he was here, he's not now." Ellie told them. Bonnie let out a little sigh of relief.

"What did you just do?" Elena asked in confusion.

"I'll explain it later. I think we need to find Stefan. It's not safe if Klaus had someone compelled." Ellie insisted as she stood from her seat, pulling Elena up as well.

"She's right. Let's go." Bonnie agreed. Klaus was closing in on them and they needed to go.


They had stayed near Stefan and Bonnie as much as they could until school ended, and then they headed straight for the boarding house. Damon was waiting for them when they arrived and Elena launched straight into explaining what had happened. When Elena was done, Damon replied, "So we go to the dance, we find him."

"Really?" Stefan asked sarcastically. "How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like." It reminded Ellie that she'd yet to find Katherine. She'd even tried locator spells, since they were blood related. It didn't even move on the map. Which meant either someone had a cloaking spell on her or she was… Ellie didn't even want to think about the other option.

"Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply." Damon retorted.

"He could be anywhere at any time." Stefan reminded him. "He compelled somebody at school. I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh."

"Safe enough that he didn't just attack us." Ellie reminded him.

Damon turned to her. "What about you, Sabrina? What did you do at school to know that he wasn't there?"

She rolled her eyes at the reference but replied, "I found a spell that let's me locate supernatural beings. Think of it like a supernatural radar. As far as I can tell, witches feel different from vampires and I think even in one group vampires can feel different from one another." She explained. "I haven't been around another witch other than Bonnie to test the theory."

"Well how do you know vampires feel different from one another?" Damon asked.

"I was in class with Caroline and Stefan and tried it. They feel pretty different, but they're much more similar than Caroline and Bonnie. The way Stefan feels when I sense him feels a lot stronger. I just assumed it was because he was older. But if that theory is correct, Klaus should be way easier to spot since he's a thousand years old." Ellie explained.

"Can you control it?" Stefan questioned curiously. "How far out does your range go?"

"I'm not sure of the limit yet, but I could sense you in the library from the cafeteria pretty easily." Ellie explained.

"Would you be able to tell if Damon felt different from Caroline and I?" He asked and when she nodded, he suggested. "Try sensing us now, everyone in the room. The larger sample size you've got the more accurate it should be right?"

She closed her eyes and focused once more. She could feel all of their energies almost immediately. To her surprise, even Elena put out a magical signature. Hers was the most different from everyone else. Since she knew where everyone was standing, it was easy to tell them apart. Damon and Stefan were very similar, but even still she could feel the difference.

What caught her off guard was the fifth energy that hit her all of a sudden. It was strong and powerful, nearly overwhelmingly so. There was only one person she knew that would throw off energy like that. She'd found Elijah. He'd been in the house this entire time. She doubted that Stefan had expected her to sense Elijah when he was daggered, but she wasn't going to give herself away just yet. When she opened her eyes, Elena was looking at her expectantly. "Did it work?"

"It did. Stefan and Damon are the most similar, but it doesn't surprise me since you're so close in age to one another and you're brothers. But despite being similar, Damon's energy was like… how do I describe it. He's at a higher frequency… maybe faster would be a better way to describe it."

Damon made a face before asking, "Like playing the same chords in different keys?"

"That's actually a really good way to describe it." Ellie agreed.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. It opened to relief Alaric as he walked in. "There you are." Damon said. He must have called Alaric when they were headed to the boarding house.

"Sorry I'm late." Alaric apologized with a breathy laugh.

"Hey, I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move." Damon explained.

"Ellie, Damon could be your date to the dance." Bonnie said as she grinned innocently at the other witch.

Ellie made a face of minor disgust at the thought. "Pretty sure he's too old for that." When she saw the face he made in return she shrugged and said, "No offense, mostly."

He scoffed. "Offense taken."

"Ok, so we find him and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?" Elena questioned worriedly.

Bonnie looked at her and then at Ellie and Damon. "Me." Bonnie said simply. "I'm the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you find him, I can kill him." Bonnie said confidently.

"That's not going to be that easy." Alaric reminded her. "I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around."

"Alaric has a point. I mean, what if he…" Damon said before lunging at Bonnie. The witch held up her hand, flinging him across the room with ease.

"Well, I was impressed." Stefan said and Ellie couldn't help but snort in amusement. Damon didn't need to know that both Ellie and Bonnie had been practicing to protect themselves from that exact move. It seemed like the most logical way a vampire would try to take them by surprise. Caroline had very generously volunteered to be the vampire they slung around.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me." Bonnie assured them. "I can kill him, Elena. I know I can." Once they were done with their Klaus prep, Stefan had generously let Bonnie and Ellie search through the old clothes from past Salvatores to find a good outfit for tonight. It didn't take long to find something she liked and the two witches headed back to Bonnie's place to get ready. "So how are you?" Bonnie asked as they set out their makeup.

"What do you mean?" Ellie asked curiously as she plugged in the straightener.

"I mean, you and Caroline and I have been fine. But stuff still seems kinda funky between you and Elena, even though I know you're trying to be nice." Bonnie confessed.

Ellie sighed as she moved to sit on Bonnie's bed. "You and Caroline, everything's fine with the two of you. The secrets you kept were because Elena insisted that that was the best plan of action. But I don't trust her anymore, Bon. It makes me feel awful because you're supposed to be able to trust your family and I don't. But it's even worse because despite that I don't have it in me to fight her right now."

"Why's that?" Bonnie questioned.

"Because one of us is going to end up dead Bonnie. Maybe all of us if we're not careful." Ellie said tiredly. Bonnie looked shocked at Ellie's confession. "Bonnie, if I die, I don't want Elena's last memories of me thinking that I hate her. If she dies, I don't want my last memories with her being ones where we're at each other's throats."

"No one is going to die." Bonnie insisted. "I can kill him."

Ellie had a pained expression. "Bonnie, I know you're powerful, and I think you with the witches backing you up is our best shot without Elijah, but Bonnie… you're only seventeen. Klaus is a thousand year old ruthless vampire. I have to be prepared for what happens if we can't stop him."

Bonnie faltered, Ellie almost looked like she had already accepted her own death. "Ellie if it fails…"

"Then I will be the one Klaus sacrifices. I don't know if he's aware I'm a witch, so it shouldn't matter to him which one he sacrifices. Before mom died, I promised her I would always look after Elena and Jeremy, to the best of my abilities. I couldn't save my mom, and I have already lost too many people I care about. I don't think I could survive Elena's death weighing on my shoulders." Ellie explained.

"When did you promise your mom that?" Bonnie questioned.

"I'd told mom about the issues Elena and Matt were having, and how I tried to help but Elena wasn't listening to me. I told her I felt like a bad big sister because I didn't know what to do." Ellie told her. "Mom asked me to promise to always look out for the two of them, and that as long as I always did my best I would never be a bad big sister."

Bonnie reached forward and took a hold of Ellie's hand. "Ellie, I don't think dying was what your mom meant."

"Well she definitely didn't mean to do nothing and let Elena die." Ellie shot back. "Maybe we somehow make it through this and everyone survives, then I'll deal with my issues for Elena. But for right now, I just want to enjoy the time I have left with my friends and family in case it's the last chance I get."

It was painful to see her friend so resigned to her own death. But she understood what Ellie felt because it was the same way Bonnie felt. She was acutely aware that there was a good chance that she was going to die when she used all of her powers against Klaus. If she survived the night, she would tell Ellie about it. But like Elena, Ellie would never let her go through with the plan if she knew the odds of Bonnie dying. Ellie however, was more likely to trap in her house so that she couldn't go through with it. Elena could only be mad with her.

Thankfully, despite not liking it, Jeremy seemed to have kept his mouth shut about the warning the witches had given her. Emily also hadn't mentioned anything about it in the visits they'd had with her. She didn't want to think about the fact that she might die tonight, just like Ellie didn't want to fight with Elena. "Well, we might as well look amazing for tonight then." Bonnie said as she put on a smile for her friend.


After they'd gotten ready, Ellie had gone back to the house to pick up her camera. If tonight was the last night they were all alive, she wanted pictures together of the moments that they were happy. She'd agreed to meet the others at the dance, and in her few moments alone, several conflicted feelings stirred in her stomach.

Before Tyler had run off, whenever there was a dance and she couldn't go with one of the girls, he had always been her date. He would have been her date tonight had he not left. Even after he had left, she and Luka had planned on going to the dance together. Luka hadn't really made any true friends at the school other than her and maybe Bonnie. He'd told her he wanted the full Mystic Falls experience when he asked her to go with him. He had been looking forward to it. She could remember him telling her that he was looking forward to a night where they just got to be teenagers without the threat of their families safety weighing them down.

It was painful to know that he would have been in the car with her, laughing about the stupid music the dance was sure to play. Caroline had witnessed more than a few of Ellie's breakdowns following his loss. As her eyes began to water, she cranked the music loud in her car. Maybe if she played the music loud enough, she could drown out the sound of her memories.

When she arrived, it looked like everyone else from school had already arrived. The decorations looked amazing, but with Caroline in charge that was no surprise. As she walked towards the entrance, she saw Stefan, Elena, Jeremy, and Bonnie all talking together. "Hey!" Jeremy called and she walked over to them.

"Ellie, you look great." Elena complimented.

"So do you. Stefan's relatives had pretty good fashion for their day." Ellie joked as she let Elena pull her into a hug. Ellie held her tightly as she willed away the tears. She would not let Elena die. She gave Elena one last quick squeeze before pulling away.

"You guys ready to do this?" Stefan asked.

Everyone nodded, but Ellie paused. "Wait! We need pictures!" She insisted. Jeremy groaned, but no one stopped her as they took turns taking pictures near the hippie van. Ellie was aware they were all nervous, but for just a moment, they forced their fears away so that they could take the pictures before heading inside.

"We saw Damon just a second ago, he's probably still close by." Bonnie said.

Ellie hadn't even needed to use her magic to sense him. She spotted him and pointed him out and the group moved towards him. "Well don't you all look so… groovy." Damon said with a grin. Both Ellie and Elena rolled their eyes at him, but they didn't reply. "Let's get this show on the road."

They all walked inside and when they made it to the gym, it was absolutely packed. A slow song had been playing, but it cut off as Dana made her way up to the mic. "Thanks for being here, everybody." The crowd cheered in response. "We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Ellie, from Klaus."

Once the song started playing, Damon rolled his eyes. "That was a lame, cheap shot." He scoffed. Even though they weren't best friends, him being supremely unimpressed made her feel a little bit better. "He's just trying to bait us."

Elena glanced around the gym before supplying, "I know everyone here."

"Maybe he's not here. He just wants us to believe that he is." Stefan suggested. "Ellie, do you think you could scan the room and sense him?"

"Yeah, his signature should stand out if he's here." Ellie said. It was helpful that she now knew what Elijah felt like. That should make finding Klaus easier. Scanning the room didn't take long. She found an unfamiliar energy and jerked her head towards it, but relaxed when she saw Alaric standing there. It was strange though, that he put off a signature. But when she felt the energies of the people around her, Jeremy did as well. So she brushed it off as their magic rings being the cause of it. "I don't feel anything."

Both Bonnie and Elena seemed to ease up a bit. "It's a party people, blend. Let him come to us."

"Good idea." Bonnie agreed.

"No, no, I really don't feel like dancing." Jeremy denied.

"Too bad." Bonnie said as she pulled him further onto the dance floor.

"There's Ric." Damon said. "I'll be back."

Ellie looked at Elena and Stefan before saying, "I'll come with you."

He gave her a look but didn't stop her from tagging along. "What? Didn't want to be a third wheel?" He asked sarcastically.

"Did you?"

"Fair enough." He replied as they walked over to Alaric.

Alaric was staring into the crowd as they approached. Ellie moved to stand on his left while Damon stood on his right. "Special dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted. You must be spooked." He said as he spared a glance at Ellie.

"I'm not impressed." Damon scoffed.

"No?" Alaric asked in surprise.

Damon shook his head. "Let me know if you see anything out of whack." Damon instructed before walking off, leaving Ellie with Alaric.

She watched Damon as he scanned the crowd. Not so far off, she could Elena and Stefan dancing together. Bonnie and Jeremy weren't far from them. When Stefan turned to look at someone in the distance, Ellie also turned, and let out a small sigh of relief to see that it was just Caroline and Matt. "If you'll excuse me, Ric. I have pictures to take." She said. "Oh! You look nice by the way."

"Hey." Stefan said as he fell in step with her. "You headed over to Caroline and Matt?"

"Yeah. They don't know what's going on, plus I need my pictures with them. Caroline and I have taken pictures together at every dance we've ever been to. I'm not letting Klaus mess up the tradition now." Ellie told him.

He smiled at that and nodded as they walked towards the couple together. "Hey, guys."

"Hey." Caroline greeted.

"Hey man, what's up?" Matt said. "Ellie you look pretty tonight."

"Thanks, Matty." She grinned.

Stefan looked to Matt and asked, "Hey, do you mind if I steal your date for a moment?"

"No, not at all." Matt replied. "I'll get us something to drink."

Ellie stopped him before he could walk off. "Wait, wait, you're not getting out of pictures that easily." She informed him. He gave her a small smile once she was satisfied with the pictures, she let him go. "Ok, to the drink you go."

Matt laughed at her antics, but went off towards the drink station. Once he'd walked away, Caroline looked at them seriously. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Klaus is here." Stefan confessed.

"What?" Caroline asked as her voice dropped lower and she nervously scanned the room.

"Yeah."

"Where?" Caroline questioned.

Stefan told her, "We have no idea. But keep your eye out for anything that might be weird, ok?"

"Then how do you know he's here?" Caroline questioned.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "He gave me a special song dedication, and earlier at lunch he compelled Dana to ask me to save him the last dance." Caroline frowned. "I haven't seen or sensed him anywhere. Just… just stay with Matt, it should be fine."

"Well, I guess we should leave you guys to it." Stefan said as Matt returned. She followed him to where Elena and Jeremy were standing, but she made a face as Jeremy started to walk away. "Hey, is everything alright?"

"I'm not sure." Elena confessed.

Ellie watched after him worriedly. "Something's bugging him. I should go check on him."

"We need to be sticking together." Elena reminded her.

"That's fine. I'll go with her, you stay here where Damon can see you." Stefan suggested. Elena nodded before Ellie and Stefan went after Jeremy. "You got any idea what's up with him?"

With a shrug, she replied, "No clue. But something is definitely bothering him." They caught up with him in an empty hallway. "Jeremy!" Ellie called.

He turned around reluctantly and Stefan asked, "What are you doing? Elena thinks we should stick together."

"Yea, I'm fine. I've got my ring." Jeremy said as he held his hand up to display it. He knew better than to think that Ellie couldn't read him like a book. She gave him a significant look before he sighed and confessed, "It's… it's Bonnie."

"What is it?" Stefan asked worriedly. "Hey, you got something on your mind, spit it out."

"Jer…" She said as she squeezed his hand.

He swallowed hard before he told them, "If Bonnie takes on Klaus, channeling all that energy's going to kill her."

Her breath caught in her throat. The witches had never told her that. They hadn't said that Bonnie may die. "What?" Ellie asked in shock. It suddenly made sense why Bonnie had understood her fears so well. She had also accepted death to protect everyone else.

"But she didn't want Ellie and Elena to know, cause if they knew, you guys were going to try to stop her." Jeremy said. Bonnie wasn't wrong. "And then it's you guys that could end up dead, so… what am I supposed to do?"

"Stefan, Elena needs to know. Go tell her, now." Ellie insisted. Once Stefan was gone Ellie turned to Jeremy and hugged him tightly. "You should have never been in that situation Jeremy, I'm so sorry."

He looked defeated. "What was I supposed to do, Ellie? It was either have yet another girlfriend die, or have more of my family die. How was I supposed to make that choice?"

"You did what you could, Jer." Ellie assured him. "Listen, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Why don't you head back to the dance?"

"Yeah, ok." He agreed and Ellie walked to the bathroom and resisted the urge to vomit. Out of everybody's deaths she had tried to prepare for, Bonnie's hadn't been one of them. Bonnie was supposed to be one of the safe ones. Once again, she wished Elijah was there. He could help them. But she didn't have the time to get to the boarding house and undagger him. Klaus could make a move any minute and her leaving could end up with someone really getting killed.

When the pressure in her chest eased up a bit, she forced herself out of the bathroom and down the hall. She started to run when she heard the sounds of a struggle and Damon's call of, "Hey, idiots!" She rounded the corner right as Jake from math shot an arrow into Damon's shoulder, only barely missing his heart. All three boys pulled out weapons as Damon asked, "Let me guess, Klaus says hi."

Her hand shot out and closed sharply and she watched as the three boys fell to ground, unconscious. "How'd you do that?" Jeremy asked in shock.

"Magic." She said simply. "But what does Klaus get from attacking Jeremy?"

Stefan's eyes went wide with panic. "The whole thing is a distraction. Go find Bonnie and Elena. I got this. Go." Stefan insisted.

"Come on, Sabrina. We need to move fast." Damon said and she didn't hesitate to run after him. They rushed through the halls, but Damon couldn't hear them. "Use your radar, now!" Damon said, but it was hard to focus when they were running. She'd never tried it before. "Give me something!"

Everything felt shaky, but a sudden burst of magic caught her attention. It could only be Bonnie. "Come on, this way!" She told him as she ran faster, trying hard to reach the source of the burst.

Damon yanked open one of the doors right as another set slammed shut. "What happened?" Damon asked as they came across Elena and Bonnie, both looking frightened.

"Klaus is in Alaric's body." Elena panted.

"What?"

"He's possessing it or something." Bonnie explained.

"Ellie, take Elena and get back to Stefan, now." Damon instructed. "Now."

She took a hold of Elena's hand and they ran back in the direction Ellie and Damon had come from. "We need to move fast, come on." Ellie's blood was racing in her veins and her heart was pounding violently in her chest. At least if he was in Alaric's body, he couldn't use his vampire speed to chase them down. It gave them a slightly better chance of survival.

Elena's grip was brutal on her hand, but they were both too scared to let go. When Stefan wasn't in the hall where he and Jeremy had been, Ellie pulled Elena back into the gym. Klaus wouldn't get the chance to kill them in a crowd before Stefan could find them. They were speed walking through the crowd when Caroline approached them. "Hey, are you guys ok?"

Matt walked up behind her and Elena lied, "Uh, yeah. I'm just… we're just looking for Stefan."

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Caroline asked worriedly.

"Uh, just, uh, just stay with Matt, ok?" Elena asked and Ellie quickly reached over and squeezed a pattern into Caroline's hand. A code they'd made up years ago to signal danger. Caroline immediately understood as she stiffened, but Elena spotted Stefan and was pulling Ellie along with her.

"It's Alaric, Stefan." Ellie said as she tried to keep her fear in check. "Klaus is in Alaric's body."

She could see the surprise that washed over his features. "We need to get out of here."

"No, he's after Bonnie, not us." Elena insisted.

"What?" Ellie asked as her voice squeaked.

Elena looked frantic as she explained, "He told us that we weren't on his hit list tonight, but that Bonnie was. We have to find her."

Stefan nodded along. "Ok, ok let's go." They speed walked out of the gym before they took off running again. Her chest was aching painfully and she wasn't sure if it was from the physical exertion of running all over the school in her heeled boots, or the fear that one of her best friends was about to die.

The three of them nearly skidded to a stop as Damon rounded a corner casually. "There you are." Damon greeted them.

"What are you doing? Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked in a panic.

"She's doing what she has to do." Damon replied.

"What?"

"Where is she?" Stefan demanded.

Damon gave him a look. "Stefan, let her do this."

"Damn it, Damon! Where is she?" Stefan shouted.

Ellie's magic flung Damon into the locker with ease. "Where the hell is she, Damon?" The panic had gone from her voice in that moment, replaced with an icy threat. Katherine would have been proud. Even without trying to sense it, a powerful burst of magic down the hall caught her attention. She released Damon, letting him fall roughly to the ground. "I don't need you for that, I suppose."

"You know where she is?" Elena asked.

"This way." Ellie said. She could feel the pull of Bonnie's magic as they ran through the hall. The sound of strong winds and exploding lights caught their attention and they ran towards it. "Bonnie, no!" Ellie's shout mixed with Elena's. When the other witch turned around, she had blood pouring from her nose and Ellie's eyes widened.

Never had she seen such a bad reaction to using a large amount of magic. At worst, Bonnie had only ever had a small spot of blood but now her face was covered with it. Stefan was trying to slam the doors open, throwing his whole weight into it as Ellie tried to force it open with her magic. But Bonnie had a hundred witches backing her up, and without Emily's bracelet to help Ellie channel them, she couldn't overpower the magic keeping them out.

Klaus let out a scream of pain as the lights overhead exploded, and Bonnie's scream followed his as all three of them frantically beat against the doors. Bonnie turned back to look at them, her expression somehow peaceful and remorseful at the same time. Suddenly, Bonnie's body contorted at an unnatural angle before collapsing. "No!" The twins screamed as she fell. Ellie could feel the sudden loss of magic as the lights went out and they slammed the door open. "Bonnie, Bonnie! Bonnie, Bonnie, hey, hey!" Elena pleaded as she searched frantically for a pulse. "Stefan, she's not breathing! Stefan, Stefan, I can't find her pulse! Stefan, do something, please! Stefan, please just give her blood, do something please!"

"It's too late. I'm sorry." Stefan said sadly.

"No!" Elena cried.

She couldn't stop the scream that tore from her throat, the rest of the lights exploding violently as glass shattered. "Bonnie!" Ellie screamed.

There were hands on her and she fought against them. "Ellie, Ellie calm down it's me! It's Stefan!" He shouted as he pulled her into his grasp. As much as he knew Elena needed comfort, Ellie's pain was dangerous and she could accidentally hurt one of them without realizing it. Her eyes were glossy but she finally stopped fighting him and he held onto her as they were plunged into darkness once more. Klaus was nowhere in sight.

"Stefan get them out of here. I'll deal with the body." Damon said.

Stefan was pulling her to stand as Elena demanded, "What do you mean 'deal with it'?"

"The sheriff can't know about this." Damon said without looking at them. "Last thing we need is another mysterious death."

"This is Bonnie!" Elena shouted.

Rage filled Ellie as she broke free of Stefan's hold and slammed Damon into the vending machine. "You were supposed to protect her!" Ellie cried. "We left her with you! We trusted you! How could you let her do this?" The rage and grief were nearly debilitating. "She's dead Damon! She's dead!" Her cry was enough to make the vampires wince. It wasn't entirely intentional, but Damon started to choke as she cut off his air flow in her anger. "Jeremy was afraid of something happening to her!"

The thought of her brother broke her out of her rage. What if something had happened to them. "Jeremy." Elena gasped as Stefan helped her stand. "Oh my god, Jeremy. What about Jeremy?"

"I'll find him." Damon choked out as he brushed the glass off.

"No!" Elena's cry was broken as Stefan took a hold of them both and tried to make soothing noises as he led them out of the cafeteria. Stefan could feel Ellie shaking from the arm he had wrapped around her. After all of the death that she'd gone through, he'd never seen her break like this. Both of the girls fell silent as he led them to his car and they climbed in without a word. The ride to the boarding house was painfully quiet.

When they arrived, he had to help them out of the car and Ellie might not have even made it inside had he not kept her upright. He'd felt her legs give out underneath her and if he hadn't been a vampire, he might not have been able to catch her weight and keep Elena steady. The twins sat in two of the chairs and he hastily wrapped thick blankets around them. He wasn't sure how long it had been when he came back into the room to see them both still shaking. "Hey." He said softly. "Here, drink this." He offered them both a glass.

Ellie's gaze flicked down to the cup, but she made no move to take it. Elena didn't even spare it a glance. "I can't." Elena told him.

"Yeah, yeah, you can." Stefan assured her as he knelt down next to her. "Please drink this."

She slowly took the cup and raised it to her mouth, but her hands started to shake as she told him, "This is my fault." Ellie felt like it was her fault, but she understood where Elena was coming from. They were the doppelgängers, Klaus was supposed to be after them, not their friends.

"No, hey, this was Klaus. Listen to me." Stefan insisted. "Klaus did this." She longed for Katherine or even Elijah. Katherine had comforted her over the deaths of Luka and Dr. Martin when she didn't have to. She'd gone to the lengths of giving them a funeral. Katherine didn't have to be a saint to give Ellie comfort. Even Elijah, despite having never comforted her in a situation like this, his presence was calming and she needed that desperately.

The door opened and when Damon walked in, Elena demanded, "What did you do with her?"

As Elena pushed herself out of the chair, Damon looked over at Stefan and said, "Will you please calm her down?"

"Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you!" Elena shot back.

"Please calm down."

"You knew!" Elena cried. "Didn't you? You knew that if she harnessed all that power, that she would die? Didn't you?"

"Yes." Damon confessed. "Yes, I knew." Elena's hand flew out and struck him hard against the cheek, his head snapping to the side. Ellie was too numb to really react to it. "You need to listen to me, and prepare for what I'm about to say. Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that. And he wasn't going to stop, and we weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to believe it."

Ellie shakily stood from where she sat. "What are you saying?"

"She cast a spell. Bonnie's ok." He explained.

A weight lifted off of Ellie's chest as Damon walked out of the room, followed by Stefan. Elena was shaking just like Ellie was as she turned to face her sister. "She's ok." Ellie breathed.

"She's ok." Elena repeated as she fell into her sister's arms and they dropped to the floor, crying in relief. They had made it through the night without losing someone they loved. After they'd talked to Bonnie, Elena had lent Ellie a change of clothes and once she was clean, Ellie knew she couldn't wait any longer.

When Elena went upstairs to talk to Damon, Ellie made her move. She rushed as quickly as she could to the basement. It was surprisingly large and she might not have been able to find him had it not been for her sensing. She came to a door, which looked eerily like a prison door, and she forced open the latch, flinching at Elijah's dirty body. His suit looked like it had been burned and his skin was an unnatural grey. The dagger was lodged firmly in his chest and she knelt down next to him and with a rough yank, pulled the dagger free. Elena came into the room a second later looking wide eyed. "Elena!" She said in surprise. "I had to."

For once, she and Elena seemed to be on the same page. "I know."


Author's Note:

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

To RiRi: Jenna and Katherine absolutely deserve everything! I think Jenna is a pretty understanding person, and like Ellie said, she'd have put up with Katherine for her sake either way. But I can definitely see Jenna getting to a point where she's sick of the stupid stuff the three of them do. Ric needs to get his shit together.

To Mimi: Yes! We love an understanding Jenna. Bro her defending Katherine to the Salvatores would be so good. It's probably going to end up being something big with Ellie, I just don't know what. But Liz would also be a really good way. Listen Ellie just keeps getting traumatized. She's now seen several people she cared about die, I know it's not easy for her. She really never got a chance to know Isobel.

To Guest: Getting to see Jenna be a badass would be really cool! I haven't written it in yet, but I do like the idea. It's definitely a possibility.

To afralmazouei: I'm so glad you liked the Kat, Jen, Ellie scene! The three of them would be a badass team. Elijah will be back next chapter! I don't always do cliffhangers, but it happens sometimes. Ellie isn't sure what she feels yet, but Katherine is definitely paying attention. Love you too!

To Oz: Elijah's full reappearance is next chapter! But you're right, Ellie's going to be incredibly relieved to have him back. Little bit of Ellie vs. Damon in this chapter, but there's more to come! I feel like Damon is kind of petty, and I think him not liking her just because she doesn't like him is pretty in character for him. Bro Ellie telling Elena she trusts Katherine more would be bad enough, just imagine if it was Jenna that said that? You're absolutely right. Katherine and Elijah have done more to keep them safe. When I originally wrote the Jen, Kat, Ellie scene, I wasn't thinking about it as Kat having a family again, but I really like the idea of it. I'd love to add Jer and Care to the mix of it though!

To Ingwe Greenleaf: I'm so glad my fanfic has drawn you in! And I'm glad you liked the Kat, Jen, Ellie scene! It wasn't intentional Elena bashing, except on Katherine's part because she hates Elena. Elijah will be back next chapter! You're right, it's not bluntly romantic yet, but I love writing them together. I don't know when it'll happen but there's going to be a breaking point where Ellie isn't going to be able to forgive Elena again.

-Madame Magic

Posted: 10/24/20