Elena comes back to consciousness when someone picks her up. "Stefan?" she murmurs. Her head is throbbing, and she keeps her eyes closed, resting her cheek against his chest. She wonders why he's carrying her - why everything hurts.

And then she remembers. As everything comes crashing back to her at once, Elena struggles to open her eyes, to get out of his arms. She doesn't want Stefan to touch her - not ever again, not with the same hands that killed Matt, and helped Katherine.

But when Elena is finally able to focus, she realizes the man holding her isn't Stefan. She's never seen him before.

"Go back to sleep," he tells her, holding a cloth over her nose and mouth before she can react.

The next time she wakes up, she's lying - tied up - on a couch in the middle of what must have once been an impressive library. Her head is throbbing, and her mouth is dry, and her stomach is empty, and she's freezing, and the rope around her hands and feet is scratchy and tied so tightly it's cutting off her circulation.

She can't bring herself to care about any of it. It's only physical discomfort. It doesn't matter.

Nothing matters, anymore.

Aunt Jenna is dead. Ric is dead. Matt is dead. (And Jeremy, and Uncle John, and her parents…)

A part of Elena - a big part - just wants to close her eyes and go back to sleep, and doesn't care if she never wakes up again. At least then, the pain will be gone.

But she can't. She has no idea where Bonnie is - whether she's hurt, or in danger, or even still alive. Elena pushes that thought away - Bonnie has to be alive.

She has to be.

She has to be.

(Maybe if Elena repeats that thought enough times, it will make it true.)

And if Bonnie is alive, Elena needs to escape, and find her. Because if Bonnie's in trouble, Elena will do anything she can to save her - or die trying. And if Bonnie isn't in trouble, she's going to do anything she can to find Elena - and Elena doesn't want Bonnie running into danger to protect her.

Elena struggles to sit up, with her wrists and ankles tied together. The bottom of Tyler's jacket bunches around her stomach, exposing her legs entirely to the cold air. She tries not to think about how vulnerable she is right now - Katherine even took her shoes. She'll have to be careful not to step on a nail or something - this place is a disaster, and she can't let herself be injured or slowed down.

She needs to find Bonnie. But first, she needs to get out of these ropes, and out of this creepy, dilapidated house.

She tries to focus - to not let herself be distracted by anything but her immediate goal of getting free. (Once she knows that Bonnie is safe, she needs to bury Aunt Jenna. But she can't face another funeral - another goodbye. She just can't. And there isn't any room left in the Gilbert family plot, after Uncle John and Jeremy. She's going to have to find a new plot, and… Elena tells herself that she can worry about that later. Aunt Jenna won't be any less dead if she waits, but Bonnie might be in danger.)

She refuses to think about Stefan. She doesn't want to love him anymore - he betrayed her for iKatherine/i. But she can't just turn off her love for him, no matter how badly he betrayed her.

She doesn't want to be a vampire - she doesn't want to be iKatherine/i. But she does wish she could flip the switch - she wants to turn off the love she feels for Stefan, so she doesn't have to feel the pain of his loss - of his betrayal.

But then she would lose her grief, too - and she needs her grief. It's all she has left of her loved ones - of her parents, and Uncle John, and Jeremy, and Caroline, and Matt, and Aunt Jenna, and Ric. (Not Bonnie. iNot/i. iBonnie!/i)

Her grief is an awful, dark, endless emptiness in her heart, where all her loved ones used to be. She wouldn't be herself without that emptiness - without ithem/i. But she doesn't know how she's going to survive adding Aunt Jenna, and Matt, and Ric to her list. (She won't survive losing Bonnie. She iwon't/i.)

Elena briefly spares a thought for Tyler - and even Mason. She wonders if they caught up to Katherine and Stefan. She wonders if they're dead in the woods right now - their necks snapped, or their throats gaping open, or their hearts torn out - eyes blank and unseeing. She hopes not, but Katherine is ruthless.

(Bonnie is fine. Bonnie is ifine/i. Elena just has to find her.)

A man walks into the room. She's not sure if he's the same man who took her from her house - it was dark, and she barely got a look at him before he knocked her out again.

The man doesn't say anything - he just leans over her and rips the ropes from her ankles, and then from her wrists. She scrambles to sit up. She's pretty sure he's a vampire, by the way his gaze focuses on her temple - she can feel the dried blood pulling at her skin, all down the side of her face where Katherine knocked her out.

Her eyes flicker to his hands. She doesn't see a daylight ring. The windows of the room are mostly boarded up, but not entirely. If she can get into the sunlight…

"What do you want?" she asks, staring into his dark eyes. If he doesn't have a daylight ring, maybe he wants her blood to break the Sun and the Moon Curse?

"Just a taste," he murmurs - the whites of his eyes bleeding red and his veins turning black as he opens his mouth, showing his long, sharp incisors. He bends over her, and her struggles are useless against him, but she has to try - and then before he can slip his fangs into her neck, a woman appears behind him.

"Trevor!" she says sharply. "Control yourself!"

The man - Trevor - lets his vampire face slip away with a put-upon sigh. He stands up and walks away from the couch, leaving Elena facing the woman. She's pretty, with short dark hair, and light eyes - eyes that are staring at Elena with fascination.

"You look just like her," she says, as she walks closer to where Elena is sitting on the couch. Elena struggles to stand, wincing as her bare feet touch the cold, dirty floor.

"I'm not Katherine," Elena tells her - even though she's sure it will be of no use, she needs to try. She notices that this woman isn't wearing a daylight ring either - and it isn't iKatherine's/i blood that will break the curse for the vampires.

"Be quiet," the woman barks, her voice harsh. Elena ignores her.

"I can get you a daylight ring. You don't have to do this," she says, staring into her eyes - trying to make a connection. The woman just yells at her again to be quiet.

Elena tries again. (She has to try - she has to get back to Mystic Falls and find Bonnie.). "I have a friend - she can make you a ring so you can walk in the sun without burning," she explains, in case the woman doesn't understand what she's offering.

Elena isn't sure whether Bonnie can do the spell to make a daylight ring, but that doesn't really matter - all that matters is that this woman believes her, and takes her back to Mystic Falls. She can figure something else out then.

The woman raises her arm, and Elena's world goes black yet again.

The next time Elena wakes up, she's alone in the library again. She takes steady breaths, trying not to let on that she's awake, as she listens to the woman and Trevor arguing in the next room. It sounds like they're talking about offering her to someone else.

Who's Elijah?

Elena quietly stands up, worrying her lower lip. It stings - Elena touches her hand to her mouth, and it comes away wet with blood - the woman must have split her lip when she hit her, and Elena just reopened it. Elena looks at one of the boarded up windows, which has just enough of a gap for Elena to see the trees surrounding the house - it looks like they might be on the second floor.

She might get hurt if she jumps out the window, but at least she'll be in the sunlight - and she'll have until dark before the vampires can follow her.

Elena makes up her mind to try - but as she approaches the window, the floor squeaks beneath her bare feet. The woman vampire is before her in a flash - getting in her face, and telling her that there's nowhere to run.

"Who's Elijah?" Elena asks, not expecting an answer.

"He's your worst nightmare," the woman responds.

Elena doubts it. iKatherine/i is her worst nightmare. And she doesn't have time for this. She needs to find Bonnie, before Katherine… (It isn't too late. It can't be.)

The woman doesn't leave Elena alone again. She ignores Elena's questions, as she further boards up the windows, stopping any sunlight from getting inside, and completely blocking Elena's view of the outside. Elena asks her about Elijah again.

"He's one of the original vampires," the woman tells her. She says they're going to trade Elena to Elijah, because of the Sun and the Moon Curse.

"Because my blood is the key to breaking the curse," Elena says.

"The sacrifice needs to have Petrova doppelgänger blood - and you're the Petrova doppelgänger," the woman confirms.

"The sacrifice?" Elena asks. The legend they read said nothing about a sacrifice.

"The sacrifice of a Petrova doppelgänger, by draining her blood to the point of death, is what breaks the curse," the woman explains.

"That's not… the legend just says that my blood is needed to break the curse for the vampires, and the moonstone is needed to break the curse for the werewolves. It didn't say anything about a sacrifice," Elena tells her, thinking desperately back to the book with the sketch of her face - the face of the Petrova doppelgänger.

The woman tells her that the legend is wrong. "I was there, the last time the sacrifice almost happened. The moonstone binds the curse, and the Petrova doppelgänger has to die to break the binding - iyou/i have to die to break the binding. You need both the doppelgänger and the moonstone to lift the vampire curse," she says. "But why am I even bothering to explain this to you," Elena hears her mutter to herself.

When Elena tries to push the woman for more answers, Trevor walks into the room and interrupts. He seems more willing than the woman to answer her questions - except when Elena asks how Trevor upset these "originals," it is the woman who tells her the answer.

Katherine.

It always comes down to Katherine.

They order Elena to sit on the couch, and to stay quiet, and to not move. Elena spares a quick, longing look at the sunshine trying to peak through the boarded up windows, but obeys. She knows she doesn't have a chance against two vampires - especially two vampires that are each over 500 years old.

Older than Katherine. Stronger than her too, maybe.

And this "Elijah" is older and stronger still. Trevor and the woman - he calls her Rose - are iafraid/i of him.

Trevor wants to run. Rose wants to negotiate. Rose wins, but both vampires are clearly on edge.

A loud knock sounds, and Rose leaves Elena alone with Trevor. She watches him, staying as quiet and still as she can - careful not to draw his attention to her. He's more than afraid - he's iterrified/i.

Elena tries to calm her own nerves. She reminds herself that if Elijah wants to sacrifice Elena to break the curse, that means he needs her alive - human - until everything is ready for the ritual. She tries to focus on the reasons why Elijah isn't going to kill her - at least right away.

He'll need a witch, and the full moon, and the moonstone, too. Elena doesn't know if he has a witch, but the next full moon isn't for another few days, and she's pretty sure he doesn't have the moonstone.

She remembers that Stefan said that he thought Katherine was running from something - someone. She wonders if Elijah is that someone. If Elijah scares Katherine, just as much as scares Trevor and Rose. Is Elijah the reason Katherine so desperately wants the moonstone? To trade it to him, for her own freedom?

If she's lucky, the moonstone is still in the vervain-filled well at the edge of the old Lockwood property. If Elijah doesn't have it before the full moon, that will buy Elena at least another month. If she's unlucky, Katherine has it - and worst-case scenario, Katherine has already given it to Elijah. (Elena feels like she's due a bit of luck, as she pushes away the memory of finding Aunt Jenna and Ric, of finding Uncle John, of iwatching/i as Jeremy…)

Elena wonders if Elijah is truly "old school," as Rose told Trevor? Is he really the sort to make deals - and honor them?

When Rose finally walks back into the library, there's a man with her. Elena stands and looks up at him - and then suddenly he's right in front of her, so fast she never even saw him move.

They stare at each other.

The first thing she notices is the suit. It fits him perfectly, and is more fit for a board room than for this dirty, decaying house.

The second thing she notices is that he's handsome. He looks to be in his mid-twenties, with dark hair, and intense dark eyes.

Elena tells herself she's trembling from the cold, as he steps forward, leaning into her space. For a moment, she thinks he's going to kiss her - but instead, he ducks his head to her neck, and isniffs/i her.

"Human," he announces. "It's impossible." Elena can feel her heart racing. He smirks - she knows he can hear it. "Hello there," he murmurs - and something in his voice is almost seductive.

"Hello," Elena says back, staring into his eyes. She watches as he takes in what she is - and isn't - wearing. His gaze is hot as it skims over her bare neck, and her breasts (peaking out from her strapless bra and the deep v of Tyler's tuxedo jacket), and down to her legs (bare, and shivering), before he locks eyes with her again.

"What's your name?" he asks, his tone soft. He reaches up to push a stray piece of hair behind her ear, where it's come loose from the updo that Bonnie helped her with the night before.

"E-Elena," she murmurs back, her voice barely a whisper - but she knows he can hear her.

"You look like you've been mistreated, lovely Elena," he says, his eyes fingers brushing lightly over her temple. She winces even at that gentle touch, and she feels the dried blood pull with the movement. "Who did this?" he asks, looking into her eyes again.

"Katherine," she tells him. His eyes darken, and then his gaze lowers to her lips.

"And this?" he asks, ghosting a finger over her lower lip - where it split earlier. She worries it with her tongue, watching as his pupils dilate, until his eyes look nearly black.

"Rose," she admits. He doesn't react.

"We have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going," he tells her, before turning around to look at Trevor and Rose. "But one last piece of business before we go."

Elena watches as Elijah turns his focus to Trevor. She watches as Elijah grants Trevor forgiveness - and then slaps Trevor's head from his body. She watches as he commands Rose - and Rose cries, but listens.

She watches as he pulls a handkerchief out, and wipes Trevor's blood from his hand. Calmly.

He does everything so calmly, even as his gaze nearly sears her skin, every time he so much as glances at her.

"Come," Elijah tells her. Elena doesn't move. He blurs - and then he's standing in front of her, gazing down into her eyes again. "Come," he says again, his pupils expanding.

She realizes that he thinks he's compelling her. (Was he trying to compel her when he asked her questions earlier?)

"N-no," she tells him, hating the tremble in her voice. She gathers her courage. "I want a deal."

"You have nothing to bargain with," he tells her, frowning. "What is that vervain doing in your pocket?" She stays perfectly still as he reaches down - and pulls a sprig of vervain from Tyler's jacket.

He doesn't see her necklace.

He ican't/i see her necklace. (She silently thanks Bonnie, and her foresight.)

"I know where Katherine is," Elena tells him, before he tries to compel her again.

"What do you know about Katerina?" Elijah asks her.

"I know that she's running from you - that she's afraid of you," Elena says.

Her guess must be right, because Elijah doesn't disagree. "Yes?" he says, as if inviting her to continue.

"I can help you catch her," she tells him. If she can get him to bring her back to Mystic Falls - if she can get ihim/i to kill Katherine…

Bonnie will be safe. (And even though it won't bring back Aunt Jenna, or Ric, or Uncle John, maybe it will make Elena feel a tiny bit better - a little less like screaming until her throat is hoarse, and crying until her body runs out of water, and…)

"Tell me where she is," he orders her, staring down into Elena's eyes.

"Only if you let me help," she tells him - realizing a beat too late that he was trying to compel her again, and she probably should have let him think that he could.

"You're trying to negotiate with me," Elijah responds, smirking. Thankfully, he seems more amused than anything else. "How long has she been with you?" he asks Rose, barely turning his head.

"Since last night," Rose answers.

"Lovely Elena - whatever vervain you ingested will soon be out of your system, and then you will tell me whatever I wish to know. So I repeat again - you have nothing with which to bargain," he tells her.

"I haven't ingested any vervain," she tells him - because if she doesn't, he might just try to wait her out. And while Elijah may have all the time in the world - Bonnie doesn't.

He blinks at her, tilting his head. "You're telling the truth," he murmurs, something like wonder in his voice. "How are you resisting compulsion?"

"I'm not going to tell you that," Elena replies - ignoring the cold sweat that drips down her back at the thought of how he might react to her refusal.

He chuckles. It does nothing to relieve the fear she feels. She knows he doesn't need to be angry to be violent - Trevor just taught her that.

"What am I going to do with you?" he asks, his tone still amused. She thinks the question is rhetorical - but she answers anyway.

"Negotiate with me," she says. "I'll tell you where Katherine is. I'll help you catch her." Elena looks at Rose, still crying over Trevor, but not moving to leave - perhaps because Elijah hasn't dismissed her?

Elijah seems unmoved.

Elena doesn't have time for this. She needs to get back to Mystic Falls. She takes a risk: "And I'll help you break the curse. I know where the moonstone is, or at least where it was last night. I'll help you find it."

Elijah looks at Rose. "It's the first I've heard of it," she says. His dark eyes turn back to Elena. She just focuses on breathing, trying to stay calm as she meets his gaze.

She won't give in. She ican't/i.

"And in return?" Elijah asks her. Elena doesn't let herself sigh in relief. He seems willing to negotiate - but they don't have a deal yet.

"In return, I want your word that you'll kill Katherine."

Elijah smiles.