Chapter 6: Holding on and letting go

When Damon woke up he quickly recognized the smell of incense as it stung his nostrils like vervain. He opened his eyes to find himself lying in a couch in the middle of a large room with old wooden furniture and dark interior. A chanting voice caught his attention and he snapped his head up to see the blonde girl Klaus had brought with him to the bar earlier.

"You're awake, good." the girl said without taking her eyes off of the spread-out materials on the table in front of her. "Now we can begin."

"Begin what?" Damon asked, still a little caught off guard by the fact that this woman seemed to be a witch.

"Finding Elena Gilbert." she said with a glance over to him before she grabbed a map and spread it out on the floor next to the table. "I tried to search your mind while you were unconscious since Niklaus preferred to take care of it all before you woke up, but it seems your thoughts are fairly guarded for such a young age."

Damon supposed he had torture sessions with the Augustine to thank for that as well as much else… Along with years of dysfunctional relationships too. "You need something she owned right?" he said as he dug into his jeans pockets before pulling out Elena's daylight ring and walking over to the table with it. "Here." he said as he handed it to the girl.

She nodded at him shortly before putting it in the middle of the map and then starting to mix some ingredients in a small wooden bowl.

"I thought witches couldn't trace ashes?" he said unsurely as he remembered Leila's words to him. "Is it because the remains are dead or something?"

The blonde glanced at him for a moment before returning to her task. "Most witches do not possess the power nor the knowledge of such a spell to trace something dead with the help of magic from the living. I, however, do." she explained with a shrug before she snapped her finger, resulting in the mixed herbs in the bowl to go up in flames.

"I see why Klaus keeps you around." Damon mumbled.

She froze at his words and studied him shortly, looking like she was about to scold him for his comment before seeming to change her mind. "When did she die?" she asked.

He gulped as he knew the amount of days passed since then by heart. "Seventeen days ago."

"Perfect." she said with a nod. "An odd number ending in 'seven', it will make the spell easier."

Damon watched as she blew the fire out and collected the ashes from the bowl in her hands. She crouched down to the floor, kneeling before the map, and spread the ashes out on it in a circle around the lapillus lazuli ring.

"Favilla et cinere." she chanted, the room starting to shake a little and a chandelier above them trembling. "Favilla et cinere."

A wind blew past them as all lights went out, she continued chanting. "Favilla et cinere… Favilla et cinere." she said as she spread the last of the ashes out and held her palms up above the circle. "Favilla et cinere!" she said a little louder before letting out a loud gasp. She was suddenly thrown backwards, away from the map and into a wall.

Damon hurried over to her as the room returned to normal and the lights were back on again. "What happened?" he asked in panic.

She shook her head as he helped her up from the floor. "I don't understand." she said and walked back to the map with wide eyes. "This can't be right…"

"What? What is it? Did you find her? Do you know where she is?" Damon nervously asked as he stared at the witch.

"No." she answered with another shake of her head. "I can't find her ashes anywhere since according to the universe… They don't exist."

Damon's heart fell into his stomach. "Wh-what?" he stuttered. "What does that mean? Did someone destroy them?"

"No." the girl said as she finally met his eyes. "They never existed. Elena Gilbert never had any ashes to find."

Damon stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. And honestly, she might as well have had since he couldn't comprehend a single word she was saying.

"It seems I know my past doppelganger well then." Klaus' voice suddenly appeared from the doorway to the room as he leaned against it with his arms crossed. He met Damon's still confused face with a shrug. "Elena Gilbert doesn't have any ashes because she isn't dead. She never was… Apparently not even you yourself can succeed in killing her, don't take it personally though. Far greater men have tried and failed before you as well."

The disturbing comment flew by unnoticed by Damon as all he could do was stare at the Original with wide eyes as his chest suddenly felt like it was filled with air after having been deprived of it for ages.

"She… she's alive?"


Julian was bewildered. He couldn't figure out why Tyler Lockwood had made so many trips to New York as of late and when some of his men told him what they figured out; he was even more confused.

What was Tyler Lockwood hiding away in that storage facility?

At first, Julian had hoped that Tyler would lead him to Elena's ashes. But surely he wouldn't be storing them in such a large space? So there had to be something else in there… The question being; what?

His men had spent all afternoon trying to break the magical seal put on the storage unit in the western docks of Brooklyn. Either way, whatever the werewolf was keeping locked in there had to be of utter most importance. And considering Damon was suddenly in such a hurry to find the Lockwood-boy, Julian was more than persistent in finding answers before Damon himself did. Especially if those answers uncovered Elena Gilbert's redemption inside a metal box.

Julian was already planning all of the ways that he could manipulate Damon by using such a leverage that his true love's ashes would indicate. Perhaps he'd force Damon to choose between his intended soulmate and his own baby-brother? Maybe he'd make Damon figure out a way to bring Julian's own lost love back as well? His chest tightened at the thought, at the image of Lily returning to life…

The cell phone in his pocket disrupted his nostalgic and dangerously hopeful thoughts. Quinn, one of the men sent to investigate in New York, had sent him a picture. As Julian opened it and stared at the sight on his screen; he was sure his jaw dropped to the floor as a menacing smile suddenly tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Whatever he had expected to find in that storage unit; Elena Gilbert's body still perfectly preserved in her coffin, was not one of them.

"She's alive." he breathed out in triumph as all of his plans started morphing into a splendid new way of manipulating both Damon and Stefan Salvatore to his own will. "Elena Gilbert never died."


Damon had left the Mikaelson compound quicker than he could even take the environments in.

She's alive.

He was running fast, headed towards Leila Gardiner's apartment as Klaus' witch friend had told him to do.

She isn't dead.

According to the blonde brit he needed a witch who already had a connection with Bonnie if he wanted to contact her without using magic on his own.

She's okay.

As he stormed into Leila's living room without any invitation necessary, she sat in the middle of the floor as if expecting him.

"Ya' do realize you could've been halfway to Virginia by now if you'd left when you were supposed to, right?"

"Change of plans. I need to leave a message for Bonnie." he said quickly as she stood up from the floor.

"Alright." she said with a shrug and held her hands up in front of her for him to hold. "Go ahead, then."

He grabbed onto her and immediately felt the flash of light hit him like the first time he'd done this. In a moment, he was transported to an abandoned version of the room he was currently in. He turned around but couldn't see Bonnie anywhere.

"Bon?" he called and began searching the room closer, entering different areas of the apartment. "Bonnie, you here?"

"Damon?" Her voice came out distant and foggy but he located it quickly and flashed towards it, grinning with relief when he found her standing in the kitchen.

"Damon? Are you alright?" she said worriedly as she stalked towards him with determined steps.

"Bon, listen to me. I need you to tell Stefan that I was wrong." he said as he held her arms in a light squeeze.

"Wrong?" she echoed with a confused shake of her head.

"She's alive but she's not safe. I think Julian had his men go to New York because they found her and now he's probably going to use her as leverage against me."

"Damon, slow down. Who are you talking about?"

"Elena." he breathed out. "I thought I killed her."

"You what!?" Bonnie gasped but he quickly continued.

"The visions, Bon-Bon! They made me think I burned her coffin to ashes but I was wrong. She's alive but we need to save her before Julian…" he shook his head as if to shake the thought off and dug into his jeans pocket. "Here. Track her with this." he said as he handed her the daylight ring that he'd gotten back just a few minutes ago.

Bonnie looked confused for a moment as she took the ring.

"I know you grabbed my bracelet, Bonnie, give me some credit." he said with an amused scoff. "So I assume you can bring this with you too, right?"

She nodded. "But Damon… You thought you killed her?"

"We'll have plenty of time for that later, just go back and tell Stefan what I just told you." he insisted with a reassuring smile.

"But what about you?" she asked with squinting eyes as she seemed to already know she wasn't going to like the answer.

"I can't leave Julian's side until I know Elena's coffin is in safe hands and far away from his."

"Wait, so you're going to keep helping him!?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." he smiled and squeezed her arms again. "Besides! Double-agent is always a role I've been dying to try out." he added with a wink and a shrug. "I'll get a burner phone and check in on you as soon as I can, okay?"

She pressed her lips together before finally nodding. "Fine. Just… Be safe." she said silently.

He studied her for a long moment before pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. "You too, Bennett." he said genuinely and held her close until she began fading away while the connection was ending.

Soon he was snapped back into reality and let go of Leila's hands with a jerk as the surge of energy coursing through him felt like a bolt of electricity.

"Thank you." Damon said earnestly as he looked into Leila's curious eyes. He turned around to leave but she grabbed his arm before he could get anywhere.

"I have the name of Julian's friend." she told him.

He looked over at her with furrowed eyebrows. "You do?"

"Yes. But I can't tell you."

"What? Why?"

"Because…" she said through gritted teeth and grimaced as she looked away. "I saw what he has in store for New Orleans… His plan is ludicrous and will be the death of many witches as a result. He needs to be stopped."

Damon frowned as he studied her. "If you don't tell Julian what you know… He will kill you."

"I'm not afraid of death, Mr. Salvatore." Leila said with a smile that scared Damon a little bit, reminding him of the look of someone hopped up on drugs. "My spirit will join my ancestors. It is nothing to fear nor resent. I'll be glad to go once my time comes."

"I do however hope you'll still hold up your end of our deal, even if mine just became obsolete…" she grimaced before continuing. "I've already constructed the basis for a spell." she explained and walked away to collect some papers from the spot on the floor where she had been sitting earlier.

"A spell?" he echoed in confusion, wondering how exactly she had imagined killing Julian… Not to mention; why.

"Like I said, I saw Julian's plot." she explained and handed the papers to him. "The spells he intends to use and the means he plans to use them for. I also know a way to use his own plan against him."

"How?" Damon said with furrowed eyebrows as he scrolled through the papers in his hands, there were lots of writing on them in languages he couldn't quite decipher.

"Julian wants to bind his friends to himself, to ensure they all remain loyal to him." Leila told him then, making him snap his eyes up from the materials in his hands. "If you can beat him to it, ya'll will be able to use that very same bond to end both him and his army in one strike."

"And he'll die with them?"

"No, ya will need to do a spell on his blood; which is partly what I've been working on since last night. The spell is rushed and incomplete but I don't doubt your friend Bonnie will manage to fill in the gaps. However, you will need a lot of power for the spell."

"And his blood." Damon guessed.

"Yes. That too." she agreed with a nod.

He folded the papers and hid them inside his leather jacket as he studied the witch before him. "Thank you." he told her seriously.

She nodded at him with a short smile. "You can thank me by killing that psychopath and makin' sure his plan doesn't work."

Damon nodded at her, studying her one last time as if expecting her to pull out another trick out of her hat and surprise him once more. She didn't and so he flashed out of the apartment and ran towards the Mikaelson Manor to do what he had avoided doing for far too long; get the Originals' help.


Caroline was feeling content and hopeful and was sleeping in peace with a smile on her face. She and Stefan had made things up between them, cleared the air and had even started talking about a possible move to Dallas together. They discussed living together, getting jobs or going to college and even made plans on helping Ric out with the babies… It all seemed too good to be true.

Which it turned out to be.

She had started waking up when she heard them talking… Bonnie was telling Stefan something about Damon. They were standing outside of Caroline's room so they couldn't blame her for overhearing the conversation… Although, all thoughts of guilt quickly washed away as she heard Bonnie mention Elena's name.

Not because she had anything against her currently comatose friend, but instead because of Stefan's reaction.

"You found her?" Stefan breathed out.

"Got the location just now thanks to Damon, he sent over her daylight ring. Along with photos of some spells that apparently are going to help us get rid of Julian once and for all." Bonnie explained.

"I need an address." Stefan said hurriedly as he started walking away.

"Stefan, wait!" Bonnie hissed, their voices not as clear as they were before when they stood just outside the door. "We still need to figure out what to do with this spell that Damon just suddenly found from out of the blue… We can't just go get Elena without a plan! What about Julian? Or Damon for that matter? … Or Caroline!?"

Caroline was fully awake now, holding her breath as her heart raced anticipatable in her chest. This was it, wasn't it? The defining moment in her and Stefan's relationship. He needed to choose once and for all; who comes first in his life? Caroline? Damon?

Or Elena?

"I'll go to Valerie; she'll know what to do. In the meantime, can you stay with Caroline? I don't want her to wake up alone."

Caroline pressed her lips together, gulping down the disappointment as it surged through her and made her want to throw up…

"Stefan…" Bonnie hissed. Silence signaled that he had already left.

In that moment, despite being an enormously pregnant teenager, Caroline felt smaller than she had in a very long time. And all she wanted was to get away before having to face Bonnie's sympathetic and pitying expression…

And so, just as Bonnie opened the door to the hospital room, Caroline flashed over to hide behind it until Bonnie entered.

"Care?" she said softly right before turning around to look behind her.

But it was too late, Caroline was already gone.