"What do you want?" Elena asked the man looming over her. Another figure sat near her, identical to Elena, only dressed in a black suit with a pixie cut.

"Shh." The man replied, moving his head towards her neck.

"Please, I'm hurt." Elena explained, feeling the ache of sore muscles and the dried blood on her back.

"I know." Came the whispered response. The man's eyes darkened and black veins emerged from under his eyes. "Just a taste."

"Lex." Elena whimpered, glancing at the figure next to her in alarm. Lex had stood up, eyes blazing

"No! Trevor. Control yourself." An unfamiliar voice called out to the man.

"Buzzkill." Trevor responded, finally moving away from Elena.

"What do you want with me?"

"My God, you look just like her." Lex looked at Elena, while Elena glanced at Lex quickly.

"But I'm not. Please, whatever you-"

"Be quiet."

"But I'm not Katherine. My name is Elena Gilbert. You don't have to do this."

"I know who you are. I said, be quiet."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to be quiet." With this, Rose backhanded Elena, causing her to pass out. Lex watched wide eyed as Rose and Trevor both ignored their presence.


Elena woke up to Rose and Trevor talking.

"How is the girl?"

"Still passed out."

"You didn't touch her, did you?"

"Give me some credit. So, did you call him?"

"No, I called one of his contacts. You know how this works."

"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?"

"They say he got it."

"Wonderful and what?"

"So that's it."

Trevor. He either got it or he didn't. We just have to wait." Trevor replied before stating, "Look, it's not too late. We can leave it here. We don't have to go through with this."

"I'm sick of running!"

"Yeah? Well, running keeps us from dying."

"Elijah's old school. If he accepts our deal, we're free." As Rose spoke, she heard a floorboard creak. She spun around to see Elena and Lex trying to leave. "You! There's nothing around here from miles. If you think you're getting out of this house, you're tragically wrong. Understand?"

"Who's Elijah?" Elena and Lex asked in unison.

"He's your worst nightmare."


"Lex…" Elena whispered, trying not to alert their kidnappers.

"Yeah, Lena." Came the response from her twin.

"Why are we here?" Elena asked, looking at her twin who had walked silently towards her and rested their head on her lap.

"I don't know. But what I do know is they can't see me. So… You have to ask questions yourself and about yourself. If they know about you, then I can take your place later."

"Why am I here?" Elena asked Rose after she entered the room.

"You keep asking me these questions like I'm gonna answer them."

"Why won't you?"

"That's another one"

"You got me, okay? It's not like I can go anywhere. The least you can do is tell me what you want with me."

"I personally want nothing; I'm just a delivery service."

"Delivery to whom? Elijah?"

"Two points for the eavesdropper."

"Who is he? Is he a vampire?"

"He's one of the vampires, the originals."

"What do you mean the originals?"

"I think she means one of the first vampires to ever exist. But ignore me." Lex explained from their place still resting on Elena's lap.

"Again, with the questions. Haven't the Salvatore's been teaching you vampire history?"

"So, you know Stefan and Damon."

"I know of them. A hundred years back, a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan. She said he was one of the good ones. I'm more a sucker for the bad boys though but I digress."

"Who are the originals?"

"Trevor and I I've been running for 500 years. We're tired, we want it over. We're using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess."

"But why me?"

"Because you are a Petrova doppelganger. You're the key into breaking the curse."

"The curse? The sun and the moon curse?"

"Oh, you do know your history."

"What do you mean I'm the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse."

"No, the moonstone is what binds the curse. The sacrifice will break it."

"The sacrifice?"

"The blood of the doppelganger. You are the doppelganger. Which means, in order to break the curse, you are the one who has to die." With this, Rose left the room and Elena shivered.

"I don't want to die."

"You're not. Not on my watch. If anything, they don't know I can swap places with you as we are identical."


"Just let her go" Elena said, causing Damon to smile. She smiled too and went down the stairs to go to Stefan's arms.

"Hey come here. Are you hurt? Are you okay?" Stefan asked concerned. She embraced him and looked at Damon. Elena mouthed a "thank you" and Damon replied with a "you're welcome".

"Come on, Lex. Let's go home." Elena said, holding a hand out towards her twin standing next to Damon. Lex placed their hand in Elena's and squeezed reassuringly. Damon and Stefan looked at each other in confusion before looking at the empty space next to Damon.

"Who's Lex?"


"Little Gilbert."

"Damon."

"Do you know a Lex by any chance?"

"Where did you hear that name?"

"Elena said it, when we went to rescue her."

"What? Did… Did she see them?"

"Uh… Yeah. Held a hand out and everything. Why?"

"Lex… Lex is… was Elena's identical twin."

"Identical twin? Another Katherine?! Seriously?! Wait… You used past tense."

"Yeah. Lex died, they died in the car accident. The one that killed Mom and Dad." Jeremy walked towards his dresser, picking up a photo frame of three kids, two identical twins and him. He pointed out the twin with a pixie cut, a hoodie and glasses and said, "That's Lex. Lex Lucifer Gilbert."

"But if… if they're dead… How is Elena seeing them?"

"There's something wrong with Elena."