Review responses:

Sarcasm15Key: Thank you, and I know, me too! But we've still got a few more chapters to go, and things are about to start ramping up.

Guest(1st): I try not to get too far ahead of myself in case I change things and it throws everything out of whack, but yeah, I do think about what I'd do with Legacies. I'm watching it myself and have to say I'm enjoying it a fair bit, it also helps with motivation for writing this story. So I do have a few ideas about what I'd do if I ever got that far with this series, but I'd rather not say anything just yet. Just in case I do somehow make it that far. You never know!

Guest(2nd): Season 3 will definitely have more of Elena and Sarah getting closer, but by the end of this season, I think Sarah's mind's going to be just a little too distracted to think about Elena unfortunately.

I have been SO looking forward to this chapter. Fun fact, I actually wrote this opening scene here way back in 2018 when I started writing this story ahead of publication. And I did think about adding this to the end of last week's chapter but then I thought it made more sense to have it in this one, as you'll soon understand why. And as you'll probably guessed from the title, I've got another OC character coming in here. She's going to be very important down the road so I hope you all come to love her as much as I do. So without further adieu, here is the latest chapter!

Chapter 35: Leiah

Being alone in a house with Katherine Piece was not fun. Being expected to babysit said vampire was even less fun. For one thing, Katherine hated her, not that Scarlett cared. But it meant she was getting insulted and mocked ever time she passed the vampire, making sure she wasn't up to anything. Katherine always tried to get a reaction out of her, but Scarlett knew better by this point. She'd fallen for Katherine's games one to many times now. So even when she brought up Jeremy and her betrayal, Scarlett just walked away…and then smashed something once out of sight as she screamed internally.

All she was supposed do was remain inside the house and keep an eye on Katherine. That was it. Make sure the Originals stayed dagger and try to think of ways to make it up to Jeremy.

Thinking about him once more filled her with guilt. The same guilt she'd been experiencing before she decided to shove the truth deep down. Only she apparently hadn't buried it deep enough, seeing as she'd spilled the beans the moment said guilt resurfaced. Now it was worse than ever before, and the secret was out there and Jeremy knew it all.

Love is just far to complicated, Scarlett decided. Especially if your supernatural. She just had to look at her friends relationships to understand that.

There was Sarah and Ronnie: Disaster and one dead. Elena and Stefan: One being hunted for some supernatural sacrifice. Damon and Rose: One dead again, and another in denial about it all. Caroline and Matt: Broken up because the vampire didn't want to hurt the human. Not to mention Katherine and the Slavatores: The most manipulative and abusive relationship of their lives.

Thinking about them all only confirmed Scarlett's thoughts on love. What she really needed was a restart, a new fresh relationship, preferably with Jeremy. A blank slate without any of this stupid supernatural drama – which had infected her relationship with Jeremy. Although, that was kind of hard when neither of them could forget about what she had done.

A knock at the front door caught Scarlett's attention. Being on the couch in the living room, she frowned, sat up and looked over to the front door. Who in this town knocked when visiting the Salvatores? The answer was very few people, most just barged in, friend or foe. So there could be just about anything behind that door. Sniffing the air, it wasn't a familiar scent that Scarlett picked up, which was something.

Another knock, prompted Scarlett to answer the door. She strode from the living room and into the hallway, opening up the door to find a petite girl grinning back at her. Taking in everything about her, Scarlett was more than surprised to say the least. The grin screamed impulsive and mischief, and her blue eyes seemed to light up just at the sight of Scarlett. As to why she had no idea, but as she looked the girl up and down, Scarlet could see her doing the same to her.

The girl's hair was dirty blonde, straight and below her shoulders on both sides. 'Simple,' was the word Scarlett might use to describe her dress sense. Or maybe convenient, like what she wore. Plain grey t-shirt, a light grey silk scarf loosely wrapped around her neck, jeans and laced up boots that stretched halfway up her legs. Not unlike Scarlett's own dress style.

Another subtle sniff confirmed that the girl was a vampire. Hardly surprising for this house. And since she was out in the daylight, Scarlett assumed that the little gold ring on her right pinkie finger, was in fact her daylight ring. A weak spot should this vampire cause any trouble. Although Scarlett knew her bite would kill, she didn't like to use it as an opening move in case of misunderstandings, or if the vampire had information. And this one clearly had a reason for being here, despite the casualness of her body lounge. Draped against the door frame with her left arm above her head, acting as a cushion for her head, as if she were posing for a magazine or something.

Their eyes met again, having finished sizing each other up. The girl's grin had broadened now, blue eyes filled with a hungry fire. "You're cute," she said simply. Scarlett opened her mouth to reply but the girl pushed her aside with clear supernatural strength and sauntered into the house, hips waving from side to side as she did. "So, where's Sarah then?" she asked aloud coming to a stop in the living room and have a look around, as if expecting her to appear.

"Sorry?" Scarlett said with a frown, following the mystery girl.

"Come on, Sarah!" the girl shouted teasingly. "It's rude to keep a girl waiting, you know!" She twirled around on her feet, evidently having fun as she shouted at the ceiling. Then her head dropped and her gaze landed back on Scarlett. Now further apart, she got a much better look at her whole body, since Scarlett was stood under the archway to the living room.

The girl bit down on her lip, fire reigniting once more. "Although, I wouldn't mind waiting around with you," she deiced as she took a step towards Scarlett. She stood her ground, unthreatened by whatever this girl was implying.

Apparently the girl liked that, judging by her chuckle as she stopped, keeping a large enough space between them. Scarlett continued to frown, which only seemed to make the girl enjoy this all the more. "Sarah's not home," Scarlett eventually said. She then decided to go that little bit further and asked, "Who are you exactly?"

Another chuckle, but no answer. The girl's eyes then moved down to the necklace on Scarlett's neck. "Nice necklace," the girl said before suddenly she was an inch in front of Scarlett, blue eyes compelling her as she said, "Give it to me."

Scarlett smirked, letting her eyes talk for her. The golden glow appeared from her eyes and the girl seemed gleefully surprised by that. Not exactly the reaction Scarlett had been hoping for. "Well aren't you full of surprises," the girl said in delight.

The wolf inside Scarlett was kicking up a fuss now. It'd shown itself and still the girl mocked her. The wolf wouldn't stand for it and nether would Scarlett. Impulse took over and she shifted halfway between wolf and human. That seemed to surprise the girl and Scarlett punched, thinking she'd caught her off guard.

And then suddenly she completely changed direction and found herself against the wall, gasping and struggling to breath. Her werewolf features all but disappeared in an instant, the agonising pain breaking her concentration and turning her back to human form. Her eyes shot down trying to locate the reason for such pain. The reason was pretty obvious once she saw it. The girl's hand had gone right through her ribcage and now had a grip on her heart. Scarlett could feel her whole body going into panic mode, even the wolf was shut up by that. It was surreal, feeling her heart quicken but unable to beat properly because of the girl's grasp on it. And still she smiled away, as if this was all normal.

She lifted Scarlett up, her feet dangling above the floor while keeping a tight hold on her heart. Her supernatural abilities were the only thing keeping her alive right now. Any human would be dead and if this girl moved or crushed her heart she'd be done for. No one could survive heart extraction, not even werewolves or vampires.

"Look at that, I'm literally holding your heart in my hand," the girl explained playfully, as if life and death was just that to her. A game. "Right now, I have complete control over your life. I can let you live to see another day, or I can make my beautiful face the last one you'll ever see." Her grin grew. "Now let's see, what to do… What to do to you…" She tightened her grip and Scarlett groaned in pain, blood beginning to fill her mouth. "Oh, that's right, heart extraction. Nah. Too boring. Decapitation, too messy. Compulsion won't work, you're a werewolf."

Again she bit down on her lip, but not in the same way as before. This time she was thinking, hard apparently about how to kill Scarlett. And all the werewolf could do was try not to move despite the agonising pain. To stay perfectly still and hope her heart didn't give up or move and kill her. She didn't want to die like this, not now. Not with things the way they were. She had so much still to do – to fix – this couldn't be how it ended. Not here, not now.

The girl looked up at Scarlett's pleading blue eyes. Scarlett hated to think of herself as pleading, but she couldn't help it, the survival instinct was too strong. In contrast however, all she could see in the girl's blue eyes was a cold hard stare. The fire was gone now, there was just a monster looking back at her, one who had so little care for life and death that it might as well be a plaything to her. This was a vampire that terrified Scarlett.

"Actually, you know what…" the girl then decided, tilting her head to the side. Scarlett braced herself. Eyes closing as her face contorted in pain, waiting for the final blow. She mentally got ready to say goodbye to everyone. Her new friends, the Salvatores, Elena, Caroline, Tyler, Sarah…Jeremy.

At least she'd finally get to see her mother again. A silver lining, she thought.

"You're too cute to kill."

Scarlett's eyes shot open, looking down to see if the girl was serious. She never got to know though, as next thing she knew she was on the floor, hands going to cover the wound over her chest as it began to heal. Not fast enough though as blood began to pour out. Her heart was still beating though, still in place and had been the first thing to heal up, making sure all the connections were still there. She was alive.

She looked up, finding the girl standing over her, a dark looming shadow making that grin of hers seem a lot more sinister. "What was your name again?" Scarlett hesitated in answering, visibly shaking from her brush with death just then. "It's not wise to keep me waiting. You're cute but that won't stop me from killing you if you really irritate me."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Scarlett sat up on her elbows and answered, "Scarlett."

The grin turned into a smile that somehow seemed just a little less sinister. "Nice name." And with that she turned, heading back towards the open front door with her hips swinging once more. Scarlett watched her go, still in shock at the whole event when the girl spoke up without looking back. "Make sure to tell Sarah I dropped by."

She was out the door and about to close it when Scarlett suddenly realised she didn't know the girl's name. She clambered up to her knees, chest still in the process of healing and called after her. "But I don't know your name?" It took so long for her to respond that Scarlett thought she'd just left with the door a crack open. Then it opened back up, enough for the girl to poke her head back through, her playful grin back once more.

"It's Leiah," the girl answered, eyes locking with Scarlett's once more. That fire having returned but as a spark in the distance now. She winked at Scarlett, which seemed to surprise her yet again, before saying, "Catch you later, Cutie." Then her head was gone and the door was closed, leaving Scarlett injured and completely and utterly confused by what had just happened to her. As she sat on the floor and waited to be healed.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just as simple as grabbing the award and leaving. No, Elena was excepted to sit through the entire event that was being held before the award ceremony. Which in turn meant that Sarah and Stefan had to wait through all that as well. Something which Sarah wasn't very happy about. And even though she was hungry, Stefan and Elena had made it clear she wasn't to feed on anyone until after the event, which didn't leave her with a whole lot to amuse herself with as she listened to long winded speech after long winded speech.

Now, it had probably only been an hour really, but each fifteen minute speech felt like it had an hour of its own in Sarah's mind. And for a century old vampire to say that, a woman who knew a thing about time dragging on, that was saying something. Even she thought this was a waste, of her otherwise limitless time on this planet.

"I swear to God, if I have to listen to one more speech…" muttered Sarah, face in her hand as she leaned against the wall next to Elena, Stefan on her other side.

"I think we're almost done," Elena whispered as the final speaker concluded his talk on…whatever it was these historical people cared about. Alaric would probably know, though Sarah suspected even he'd have found it boring just a little. If not him, then Jenna certainly would.

And just like that, Sarah had reminded herself of her close friend's departure, putting her in an even more irritated mood. She began to scowl, while the audience before her clapped and the speaker departed from the podium at the front of the room, making way for Carol Lockwood. Finally, Sarah let out a tense breath, realising that things were almost over as Carol said, "And here to accept the donation to the Miranda Sommers-Gilbert scholarship fund, is Elena Gilbert."

"Please, don't give a speech," Sarah muttered, before join in the applause as Elena made her way up to Carol Lockwood with a smile. They exchanged the standard pleasantries for this sort of thing, Carol handing over the envelope with check inside before Elena took the podium on her own to address the Historical Society.

"The Historical Society was my mom's baby," Elena began, to which Sarah's head dropped dramatically, and the brunette had to fight to stop herself from grinning during what really should a serious and heartfelt moment. "She considered all of you family and would be honoured and touched by this gift," Elena went on to say before a series of loud thuds came from the main staircase.

Stood by the archway into the room, Sarah and Stefan naturally turned to see what the cause of such a loud noise was, only to find it was John falling down the stairs in an alarming way. They watched him tumble over himself, head bashing off the stairs as he gained moment. More people turned to look, some gasping as John hit the bottom of the stairs, the back of his head whacking of the tiled floors.

Unable to stop themselves, both Sarah and Stefan moved towards John's body, a crowd following them. They glanced up, trying to see if anyone had caused him to fall down the stairs, but if someone did, they were gone now. Not exactly impossible for anything supernatural, which if the cause of this, meant that John would be fine. Though from the smell of blood in the air, only picked up by her heightened senses, Sarah would guess vampire – and she already had several prime suspects in her mind.

Standing beside her brother, Sarah watched Stefan bend down to inspect John's body, rolling his head over to expose the bloodied bite on his neck. He looked up to Sarah who could only grimace, seeing as there was nothing they could do about it now, other than play dumb that is. They were just the little brother and sister of Damon Salvatore after all, the council's favourite vampire killer, and they weren't supposed to know anything. Which meant when the Sheriff pushed through they had to act all confused and shocked, stepping back as the adult took over from the teenagers who'd arrived on the scene first.

"Uh, he's-he's bleeding. Is he okay?" asked Stefan as the Sheriff bend down next to him to see it for herself.

Already knowing how she would respond, Sarah pulled out her phone and asked, "Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

"No. If we need one, I'll call it in. It'll get her quicker," the Sheriff said, glancing up to make sure Sarah didn't call said ambulance. It was a lie, but one Sarah had been expecting. So she nodded, frantically. Putting away her phone as she played the part of the shocked teenage girl, who her brother shielded from the sight of John as he lead her back through the crowd. It wasn't a part Sarah loved to play, but needs must.

Once they got through the crowd, they found themselves back in the room where Elena had been accepting her mother's reward. The room almost empty as the last of the attendants tired to get into the hallway for a better look at what was going on. That made it easy to spot Elena, stood by the podium with her phone in hand as she paced back and forth, other hand holding her necklace nervously. "I'm calling Damon," Elena quickly clarified, to which Stefan nodded, while Sarah kept her eyes on Elena.

She then glanced back, watching the last of the Historical Society members leave the room before she rushed Elena at vampire speed and pinned her to the wall. "You really think we're that stupid, Katherine?" snarled Sarah in a low voice as not to catch anyone's attention from the very next room – although they all seemed a little preoccupied with John's possibly dead body. "I know a distraction when I see one, now where's Elena?" demanded Sarah, holding Elena against the wall as the facade fell and the doppelgänger – turned vampire – grinned.

"Well, done, Sarah. You're actually improving" taunted Katherine in mock congratulations. "But you're still too late." Before Sarah or Stefan had a chance to respond, Katherine turned the tables on Sarah. Grabbing her arm and twisting until she was free. Sarah fought to hold back a cry of pain, but only then succeeded in giving Katherine an opening to twist her arm completely behind her back, before kicking her into Stefan.

Neither fell, but it was enough of an opening for Katherine to vamp speed out the back door while everyone was still distracted. The Salvatores were right on her tail though, once they found their footing, rushing into the Lockwood's vast back garden by the woods where they spotted Katherine waiting.

It was bait obviously, but she was the only lead they had to Elena, so both Stefan and Sarah foolishly charged after her and into the woods where she stopped, turning to face them. They both stopped before her, facing her off as she stood before them in Elena's exact clothing and necklace. "Where the hell is she?" growled Stefan, barley holding himself back, while Sarah watched the confident Katherine more cautiously. Because when Katherine was confident, there was usually a good reason for it.

"Sorry, Stefan, but I can't have either of you following me just yet," Katherine declared before the sound of an electronic beep sounded from nearby. Next thing Sarah knew, she'd been hit int he back by three needles, all of which unleashed and wave of vervain upon her system. It wasn't enough to knock her and Stefan out, but it was enough to momentarily bring them to their knees. Their bodies weakened, and giving Katherine an easy window, to speed over and snap both their necks.

Sarah really should have known better than to follow Katherine into woods.

You'd think after all her time with the Salvatores, Scarlett would know a thing or to about cleaning up a mess. Truth was though, she hadn't done that much cleaning up in her supernatural life time, at least not in relation to blood. Whenever she'd been involved in a messy situation it had always been someone else who cleaned up, while she went home to lick her wounds. She was now both grateful, and annoyed about this.

Grateful, because she'd never had to have gone through the tedious and boring part after their adventures. But also annoyed because she had no idea where to start. Heck, she'd had to google, 'how to clean up blood,' – which she was sure would put her on some watch list somewhere.

She could have asked Katherine for some help, but she was pretty certain she knew how that would go. And it wasn't like she'd even cared enough to come down and see what was going on, when Leiah was threatening to kill Scarlett a good hour or so ago. In fact, Scarlett hadn't heard a peep from Katherine, which she was starting to find very odd, until the front door opened and Damon walked through.

Both paused to frown at one another. Damon, because he'd found Scarlett hunched over on the floor, with yellow gloves, a cloth and a bucket cleaning up a thinning pool of blood. And Scarlett because Damon had John Gilbert slung over his shoulder – dead from the looks of things.

"He dead?" Scarlett asked with a nod to John, sitting up on her knees as she threw the damp cloth into the nearby bucket of water.

"Uh huh," Damon replied, still frowning at the sight of Scarlett cleaning. Although he wasn't quite sure if he was frowning because she was cleaning, or if it was because he was curious about what she was cleaning up.

"He going to come back to life?" Scarlett asked casually, pulling of the rubber gloves with a snap.

"Probably," Damon said, before discarding John to the floor, tired of carrying him. "Sheriff found him with a vampire bite mark on the neck after he fell down the stairs. Had to tell her all about the ring to keep her and Carol Lockwood off my back, so now I'm stuck with him until he wakes up," Damon explained, before gesturing to the carcass now sprawled across the front hallway.

"Great," Scarlett sighed, as if John dying and coming back was just plain old normal now. When really it was a pain because he wouldn't just stay dead and out of their lives.

"Am I too hopeful in thinking you finally dusted off the other blood hound living in this house?" Damon said with a pointed look to the blood stains still on the floor, from where Leiah had stabbed her fist through Scarlett's chest. The thought brought back a shudder, but it past quickly enough as Scarlett went to answer Damon.

"Yeah, you are," Scarlett sighed again, catching his referral to Katherine, as she climbed up to her feet. "You know anyone named, 'Leiah?' Little shorter than me. Blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles, possible psychopath?"

"Leiah?" Damon said with a frown, before shaking his head. "Never heard of her." Scarlett would have been more concerned by this, except she was well aware that neither Damon, nor Stefan, knew everyone from Sarah's past. For example, she'd been the only one to know Rose when she'd first shown up in Mystic Falls. So it was equally possible that Leiah was just another vampire from Sarah's past, one that Damon didn't know about, just like Rose.

Their conversation was then put on hold, as Damon answered his ringing phone. He glanced at the caller ID before then answering. "Well, I hope you're happy, Stefan. 'Cause thanks to you, I've now got to deal with a dead John Gilbert – Oh, and thanks for the heads up on that by the way. You have any idea how annoying it is getting a call from the Sheriff, telling me everything that you should have told me before hand, because you were apparently the first one to arrive, and leave the scene–"

"Damon!" Stefan shouted over his brother, finally getting him to shut up. "Damon, listen to me. Katherine has Elena! She was behind what happened with John at the Lockwood's today. She's planning something and is probably working with Isobel. We need to find her right now!"

"How's that possible, she's been here the whole…" Damon trailed off, looking to Scarlett who'd gone wide eyed. After hearing Stefan mentioning Katherine, she'd done a sniff of the house from where she stood, and one thing was clear to her – Katherine Pierce was no longer in the house with them. And if Katherine had Elena, there was only one other irreplaceable thing that she'd need to do what she'd originally come to Mystic Falls to do.

"Oh, Crap!" shouted Damon, before he and Scarlett bolted up the stairs, Damon running into his room with Scarlett behind him. He dashed into the bathroom, Scarlett skidding into the archway that separated the two rooms, watching as Damon rummaged through a soap tray before violently flinging it aside.

"You had one job, Scrappy!" snapped Damon as he swung around to glare at the werewolf stood in his bedroom, now glaring back at him after his outburst.

"Sorry, I got a little distracted by the nutcase who came through the door and tried to rip out my heart!" Scarlett shouted back sarcastically, to which Damon raised his hands, before curling them slowly into trembling fists of rage.

"Just…pick up her damn scent so we can find her. Now!" Damon grumbled, giving her all of three seconds to do so before heading down the stairs and out to his car. When he started honking relentlessly, Scarlett knew to go out and join him in his car once she had a good fix on Katherine's dying scent. So with the scent acquired and firmly held in her nostrils, she sped out and into Damon's passenger seat, before he floored it and raced back into Mystic Falls.

On the drive he asked if Scarlett still had Isobel's scent too, which she did. He then took a detour, based on a hunch that turned out to be correct, as they drove through the nicer up town part of Mystic falls. While prowling the streets in search of vampire scents, Damon had Scarlett texting Sarah and Stefan updates on their progress, alerting them to where they were and what Damon was thinking. They agreed, and were on their way when Scarlett finally caught Katherine's scent in the air.

She directed Damon, feeding another update to Sarah and Stefan, before they pulled to a stop at the side of the road, where she also caught wind of Isobel's scent, though Katherine's was much more recent than Isobel's. They climbed out the car, meeting on the sidewalk before Stefan pulled up behind them in his own car, he and Sarah quickly get out to join them.

"Is this where her scent leads?" asked Stefan hurriedly, panicked over Elena's safety.

"It's where she was," Scarlett clarified, before looking to Damon. "We didn't follow it directly here, so I have no idea how far along we are in relation to her." The point behind her words was that because Damon had taken a detour – rather than let her follow the trail in its entirety – she couldn't be as sure as she would've been, had she followed the scent up to this point. That was to say, she'd come to realise how close she was to a target when following a trail without short cuts. As she went along, she'd get a feel for her prey and how far ahead they where. But because they had taken a short cut here, Scarlett had no idea if this was the end of Katherine's trail or somewhere in the middle. But in doing it her way, it would have also taken longer to get there.

"Well, it's the nicest foreclosure in town, my guess is we're in the right place," Damon said, looking over the house before them.

"Certainly fits them MO," agreed Sarah, before they all set off in a line towards the front door.

Stefan went in first, practically storming through the hallway before heading right for the stairs. "I got the upstairs," Stefan called back as he went up.

"I'll go with him," Sarah said before looking to Scarlett. "Stay by the door and keep your nose open." Scarlett nodded, remaining by the door with her senses open and receiving, while Damon checked the down stairs. He came back with nothing, though they both noted the luggage that was waiting in the hallway, as Stefan and Sarah came back down the stairs.

"There's nothing upstairs," Sarah reported as they regrouped. "You getting anything?" she asked Scarlett.

"Katherine's trail stops dead here," Scarlett explained, pointing to a spot in the middle of the hallway. "I can't tell you why, but that's just what I smell. As for Isobel, she hasn't been here since a couple of hours ago, but I can probably find her scent again after I get a whiff of her luggage there."

"What about Elena?" Stefan asked urgently.

Scarlett could only look at him apologetically as she shook her head. "She hasn't been here, sorry."

"So where is she then?" Stefan pressed, though he knew no one had an answer for him.

"We don't know, Stefan," Damon answered him back crassly, before his little sister stepped in.

"All right, I'll go with Scarlett and find Isobel, you two try finding Katherine," Sarah said, before motioning for Scarlett to get what she needed. The young girl nodded before heading over to Isobel's luggage, kneeling down as she inhaled the scent that lingered all over.

"And how are we supposed to find her when Lassie there says her trail stops right here?" complained Damon.

"Well, she's not here is she? Which means she out there somewhere, so go and look," Sarah snapped back at her brother, gesturing to the outside. "I'll call you both when we've caught up to Isobel. Scarlett, you ready?"

"Yeah, this way," she said, before leading the way out the house, Sarah right behind her before Damon and Stefan shortly followed. Each of them then got into their own car before driving off while Scarlett and Sarah proceeded on foot after Isobel's scent.

They got lucky in finding Elena when they did. As it turned out, even though Scarlett could now easily identify the scent of Isobel, because of the amount of time she'd spent in moving vehicles, most of her trails ended or started by the side of the road. That made it extremely hard for Scarlett to find and even when she did all of them had been cut off by her getting in a car.

That was until she caught something fresh on the wind, nearby and definitely recent. So recent in fact, that it turned out to be Isobel herself.

She was at the cemetery, with Elena. Stood in front of a grave talking to her daughter. There was no one else insight, but Isobel could easily prevent Elena from escaping on her own. But with three older vampires searching for her, plus one werewolf, it almost seemed foolish for her to be on her own with Elena. So Sarah proceeded with caution in case it there was a trap.

For starters, she texted Stefan the address and told him to pass it on to Damon – putting emphasis on the fact that they had Elena in their sights. After that it was a case of asking Scarlett to tap into her superior werewolf senses, but she got nothing, claiming it was just as they saw it. Isobel and Elena. So they hung back and listened to what was being said. Mostly it was just Isobel talking about the grave they were stood before. Her grave, that her parents had left for her after she went missing – presumed dead. Then there was more of that confliction between emotions and none, as Isobel confessed that she might have at one pointed wanted to know her daughter.

Elena was shocked by this, but Isobel hardly seemed to care, shrugging it all off like any vampire without emotions would.

Then her phone rang. She answered it. And Sarah was surprised when she heard Isobel say, "Let her go?" It was obviously in reference to Elena. However, part of Sarah couldn't help but feel it was bait, a way to lure her in. So she got Scarlett to do another search for anyone nearby but it came back the same. So Sarah told her to move to another place of cover, check again, and then text her with an all clear. Once that was done, Sarah stepped out of hiding, and made her way into the cemetery, with Scarlett watching her back in case it was a trap.

"Elena?" Sarah called out from the pathway, the mother and daughter stood a few meters away in front of the tomb stone that belonged to Isobel. Elena turned, relieved to see her friend, but what really surprised Sarah, was Isobel's relief as she hung up the phone. A genuine smile on her tire face.

"I'm so sorry, Elena," Isobel said, promoting Elena to turn away from Sarah and back to her, with tears beginning to form in Isobel's eyes. Tears of emotion. Sarah stared, eyes widening in thought that Isobel might have actually flicked her switch back on, although she couldn't help but be curious as to why she'd done it now. "I was such a disappointment to you."

Shame. There was shame in her voice. An emotion which confused both Elena and Sarah, more so just because they'd heard it.

Then she reached up, grabbing onto her daylight necklace, and ripped it off, discarding it to the ground. Elena gasped. Sarah gasped. Both taken aback as Isobel spread her arms and screamed in agonising pain, as her skin quickly began to blister and peel all over. Parts of her skin catching fire and quickly spreading while she burnt beneath the bright sun.

She wasn't on her feet long, collapsing after a couple of seconds, in which Elena stepped towards her. Her instinct to help unwavering, until Sarah stepped in. Within the blink of an eye, she was at Elena's side, holding her and turning her away from the sight. Isobel might not have been anything like a mother, but she still was Elena's birth mother. And she'd already lost the people who raised her, her parents. There was no need for her to see Isobel actually pass the line between life and death too – this time permanently.

So she forced her to look away, and Elena hurried her shocked and confused face in Sarah's chest, as a strange kind of tear found its way down her cheek. And while she struggled with what to feel, Sarah watched Isobel burn on the ground in front of her grave. Scarlett was approaching from the other side of the pathway, running up with just as much a shocked expression as Sarah imagined she had. She came to a stop, both standing and watching until there was nothing left of Isobel but black ash remains. Her entire being burnt down by the sunlight that Sarah and many other vampires took for granted at times.

After that there wasn't much left to do but to take Elena back to the Boarding house. They waited for Stefan and Damon to arrive, Stefan quick to console Elena and make sure she was okay – not just because of Isobel, but because of the whole kidnapping experience. Something which, unfortunately, Elena was getting used too.

When they arrived back at the house, John's dead body was lying in the hallway. None of them paid it any mind, though Sarah did make sure to give it a good kick on the way past. She, nor anyone else, committed. Instead, they settled Elena down in the living room with the fire roasting, before Damon took off, mumbling something about paper work. Stefan then offered to get her something drink. From tea to anything stronger. Elena opted for tea. And once he was gone, Scarlett gave Elena Isobel's daylight necklace, explaining that she'd picked it up off the ground when they were leaving in case she'd wanted it.

Elena thanked her as she took it, holding it in hands while slowly wrapping the chain around her fingers as Stefan came back in, checking up on his girlfriend while he waited for the water to boil. "Is that Isobel's?" he asked gently, sitting down on the couch next to her, while Sarah and Scarlett sat opposite.

"I never thought I would feel bad about her being dead, and yet…" Elena trailed off, thin tears shimmering in her eyes.

"She was your mother," Stefan said simply, making sure Elena knew it was all right to feel sad about Isobel's passing, even if she didn't see her as her mother. Accepting this, Elena nodded, lowering the necklace down onto her lap. Taking a moment to mourn for her birth mother and the person she could have been to her, had she not become an emotionless monster instead.

"Why did they let me go?" she then asked when the moment of silence was done with, brushing away what little tears there were in her eyes.

"Good question," Scarlett muttered, still not feeling up to involvement beyond a few words apparently. When they'd been looking for Elena, she was focused on her actions, pushing aside her thoughts. Now that they were slowing down and talking, thinking even, Scarlett couldn't be as involved. Because whenever she thought, Sarah thought it likely she thought about one thing.

Reaching over, she placed her hand on Scarlett's shoulder, pulling her in to a half armed hug as she smiled sympathetically at the girl. She turned the corner of her lip up slightly, but other wise just leaning into Sarah while Stefan brainstormed for a moment.

"Well, anything John told Isobel, we have to assume that Klaus knows, right?" Stefan proposed.

"So then he'd know about the deal with Elijah and Amelia," Sarah pointed out.

"He'd also know that we've taken care of them. And that we're now protecting you, and keeping you safe," Stefan added.

"He knows I'm not gonna run," Elena said, as they all realised why Klaus had let her go. Because there was no need to take her. Why deal with all the hassle of kidnapping, holding her captive, fighting off her friends and family when they came to rescue her, when he can just leave her with them and she'll be safe anyway. Safe until he could easily get at her for his sacrifice, because he knew exactly where to find her. And he knew she wouldn't be leaving either. Everything was going perfectly for Klaus – and other than Isobel, he'd hardly even made a move yet.

"Which is why we need to take some precautions, 'cause we got played, all of us," Damon declared as he came back into the room, a handful of papers in hand, which he thrusted towards Elena before throwing a pen onto her lap. He then made his way around the coffee table, throwing himself down on the couch opposite so that Scarlett was squished between him and Sarah, while Elena shifted in her seat to see what she'd been handed.

"What's this?" Elena asked as she looked up, frowning at them all.

"It's the deed to our house," Stefan said with a pleased smirk from next to her. Sarah couldn't help but smirk too, and Damon wasn't even trying to hold it back. She had to admit, it was a good idea. "It's in Zach's name. As soon as you sign it, it'll be in your name," he explained.

"You're giving me your house?" Elena said in shock.

"More like, we're give you the power to control who enters it," Sarah corrected, allowing for wiggle room. It would always be her house anyway, no matter which human owned the deed.

"By the way, if you lock me out, I'll be super pissed," Damon added with a mock warning glare over to Elena.

"Although, no one would blame you if you wanted to keep him out in the yard for a few nights," Scarlett spoke up, earning a chuckle from Sarah.

"Look who's talking," Damon shot back, turning his now very real glare onto Scarlett who looked back with a small smirk.

"At least I don't need an invitation to get in," she teased.

"Oh, no. You just walk into any old house and make yourself at home, don't you?" Damon mocked in turn, before Sarah flicked him in the ear.

"Shut up, Damon," Sarah said with a laugh, as Damon rubbed his flicked ear. Four out of the five of them enjoying the peaceful moment until John rudely ruined it by awakening. Damon went to grab him, but Sarah got past him and made it to John first, hoisting him up into the air by his jacket as she glared up at the man through suddenly furious green eyes. A fury she'd been keeping down until just the right moment.

"You give me one good reason not to make sure you stay dead right now?" Sarah growled angrily.

"I swear, I had no idea what she was gonna do!" John pleaded feebly.

"You think I give a damn. Far as I'm concerned you do more harm than good. You've driven Jenna away, you've tried to have me and my family killed – all because of what we are, and now you've give Klaus everything he needs to know in order to get to your daughter – the one you're claiming to protect," snapped Sarah, holding John closer as she rage-fully shook him back and forth like the pitifully man he was.

"I know! I know and I'm sorry!"

"Sorry, ani't gonna cut it, John," Sarah snarled, ready to permanently finish him off until Elena stopped her.

"Wait, Sarah, let him go." She didn't but she did turn around to hear Elena out. "He and I need to have a talk," Elena said firmly, and Sarah could tell she wasn't going to be going easy on him. Something of which she greatly approved considering his track record. And right now, he just might listen to her too.

"Do I get to kill him afterwards?" Sarah asked as threw John down on the floor. She wasn't entirely playful about her question.

"Depends on how well he listens," Elena answered back, the firm look still planted on her face. Her answer not entirely playful either. Sarah approved of that too.

"We'll give you the room," Stefan said, taking the paper work and passing it off to Damon as they walked out. "We can deal with that in the morning. Still want that tea?"

"Please," Elena answered, sitting herself back down, awaiting John who was climbing back up after a heavy fall.

Damon, not getting any fun out of the situation, left to go to the study with the deed paper work, while Stefan went to get Elena her tea. Sarah was on her way to follow Damon into the study, when Scarlett came out of the living room after her at a brisket pace. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked, both stopping in the hallway as they turned to meet.

"Of course," Sarah said openly, ready for whatever Scarlett wanted to talk about. Be it Jeremy or anything else.

"Today while you were all out, a vampire stopped by. She was looking for you, said her name was, 'Leiah.'"

"Leiah?" Sarah frowned, "I don't know anyone called, 'Leiah.'"

As Katherine slowly came too, the sound of distant words floated into her ear. She tired to focus on them, to understand them, but they were so soft and quiet she couldn't make any sense of them. Very quickly she started to groan, irritated by the repetitive noise that would not cease. Over and over, the same foreign phrase, driving Katherine insane until finally her eyes opened up.

The room was blurry, but she had enough sense of direction to tell were the speaker was standing. She rolled her head on to her other side, the blurry shapes becoming clearer as she saw someone sat in a chair across the room and someone stood over him. With a frown, Katherine pushed herself up slowly, still aching from whatever witchy trick she'd been hit with. The same witch that'd gotten her, was now stood over the person in the chair, hands held out on either side of the man's head, while the witch chanted out his spell over and over again.

Taking a closer look, as everything else came into focus, Katherine saw that some kind of homemade blood transfusion device had been rigged up. A vase on the ground, full of blood, with a tube that reached up around the chair and into the man's arm.

Ignoring the spell – and the irritably loud words coming from the witch – Katherine glanced around the room, having nod idea where she was. It was then she looked down and found Elena's necklace was gone. Confusion flashed across her face, unsure as to why this witch would take the necklace. It would have meant nothing to him and had more value to her anyway. She looked across the floor, but the thing was nowhere in sight, and Katherine slightly cursed for the inconvenience of this whole damned day.

Then she looked back across the room, to the witch and his project. His words were growing in strength, and Katherine could tell he was near the end of his spell as she started to push herself up to her feet. The witch finished the last few words and then fell silent, arms lowering as the head of the man sat before him lifted up. Katherine watched, poised between standing up and kneeling down. Worried to move in case she drew too much attention and was suddenly attacked again.

But the witch paid her no mind, and instead stepped back from man who was sat down. That man then looked over to his left arm, before pulling out the bloodied tube that had been used for the blood transfusion. With it now gone, he stood up, and the witch opposite him bowed down. It was then Katherine realised who it was that had been in that seat.

"Alaric?" Katherine said, voice dry as she stood up and Alaric turned to face her. But those weren't Alaric's eyes. Something was different about those eyes. The same colour yes, but there was something…not human in them. Something only someone as old as Katherine could see.

The witch stood ready at Alaric's side, but he waved him down and the witch obeyed. Katherine frowned, watching as a very un–Alaric smile formed on his face. A sinister devilish smile that made Katherine's subconscious think of only one word. Run! And so she did. As fast as she could she vamp speed past Alaric, and his new witchy friend, and right towards the door. Only to throw it open and find a face from her past stood before her.

She gasped in shock, jumping back as she found a freckled face, blue eyed petite blonde stood in front of her, blocking her exit. She looked no more than sixteen, but even so, Katherine was shaken to her core by the mere sight of her. And knowing who wouldn't be far behind if she was here.

"Leiah…" Katherine breathed out, unable to do anything other than gape at the woman who grinned back at her, obviously enjoying herself.

"Katerina," Leiah purred, grin turning into a smirk. Katherine then realised what she was doing. She tired to look away, but by then it was already too late. "You're going to stay inside and do everything I tell you to." And just like that, Katherine had been compelled, now trapped in an apartment and unable to escape. All she'd done was trade the tomb for another prison, and while that horrifying realisation settled in, she could only stare helplessly at the grinning blue eyed Original.

Taking in Katherine's terrified expression, Leiah began to chuckle sinisterly, smiling away as she stepped into the apartment. Katherine stepped back to allow her the space to enter, and once she was in Leiah closed the door behind her. "Where's Klaus?" Katherine asked shakily, prompting Leiah to chuckle once more.

"Zdravei, Katerina," came the voice of Alaric from behind, but notably different to his usual tone. It sounded more foreign, in an accent like… Katherine's eyes widened even further as she realised what had happened. She didn't dare turn around to confirm it, knowing that if she did it could very well mean her death. And personally she didn't want Alaric's ugly face to be the last thing she saw.

And yet, as if reading her thoughts, Leiah began to smirk once more. "Go on, Katerina," Leiah began, eyes locking with Katherine's once more. "Turn around," Leiah ordered, sinister mirth all over her face as Katherine slowly turned to face Alaric, unable to stop herself, no matter how much she fought the compulsion. She took one step, then another, feet moving beneath her until she was face to face with Alaric. But she could see what was really underneath now, and for her, it was like coming face to face with the man himself.

"I have missed you," Alaric said, still in the foreign accent as he took Katherine's face in his hands.

"Klaus…" Katherine said, trembling in his hands while Alaric's face twisted into a smile that horrified Katherine to her core. Because she could see his smile. Klaus's smile. And she could hear his laughter too, as he and Leiah laughed at her. And there was nothing she could do about it. After five-hundred years, they'd finally caught her.