Summary: After Damon and Stefan rescue Elena from Elijah, they forget to also rescue Maddison Bennett, also known as Maddie. Elijah ends up finding her and as time passes they grown an instant connection with one another. Maddie knows that it's wrong and she ultimately shouldn't be with Elijah, but she doesn't care. This is her story.

Review Responses to Chapter 47

NicoleR85 – Thank you so much for reading, as always, hope that you enjoy this chapter!

kineret – I have so much fun writing Cordelia. I am honestly going to be sad when the story ends because she is a blast to write. So glad that you enjoyed the chapter, I really hope that you like this one!

silentmayhem – Yes, Kol can tell he has a friend in the Bennett sisters. Klaus&Cord, I have a blast writing them. Same about Rebekah, I hope she got better in the originals. From part of the 1st season I watched she was alright. She was just to whiny and gullible in the vampire dairies for me. I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

The Battling Bard – You'll have to read to see what happens next lol, hope you enjoy!

guest – Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Guest – Here is more!

Atlafan1286 – Going to apologize in advance this chapter is not as long as the last one. The next one, or the one after that should be long, I'm trying to do a Valentine's day one (since at this point in the story I have it for January time. TVD doesn't really tell when dates are, like month wise so you kind of just have to go off on your own, sorry ranting) so hopefully I can make it a little lengthy. So glad that you are enjoying the story though. Hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Bella-swan11 – Yes, Klaus better get it together when it comes to Cordelia lol. Thank you so much for reviewing. Hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Guest - Thanks for reading. I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

Shaniia . anonymous - Yes, Bonnie sucks! I hope that you enjoy this chapter.

Before the Sun Sets

CHAPTER 48 ~ Explanations

I DO NOT OWN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

They walked for hours.

Maddie was so tired. Not to mention thirsty. Her pace was slow, but she kept up. She also tried not to draw attention to herself. She just wanted to preserve her energy. She would need it later. And if they thought they were using her as a human sacrifice or anything, she wasn't going down without a fight.

"Where are we going?" Bonnie wondered. They had just climbed a whole bunch of rocks. Now they were on a flat surface.

"Almost there," Shane called from the front.

As they got closer, Maddie noticed the cave entrance. She figured that this was where he was taking them. When they got inside Maddie noticed the whole in the middle of the floor.

"Where does that lead?" She wondered, although she already knew the answer. Shane looked up at her, not saying anything. "The well?" She asked. He smirked.

Massak, who she almost forgot about said, "This is as far as I go."

Shane looked at him as if he were crazy. "We're on the brink of a monumental event in human history. We're going to raise the most powerful immortal creature that ever was. Come on, our works note done yet."

"Mine is," Massak insisted. He glanced over to Bonnie, Maddie and Jeremy who were slightly to the side. "You said get the kid, the witch and the girl. I did. I wanna get paid now."

Shane bent down, opening up his backpack. He pulled out a huge rock. Leaning forward Maddie recognized it as the tombstone. That must have been what Rebekah said she and Stefan have, she thought to herself. She wouldn't be surprised if Rebekah had a fit after she found out it was missing. She would probably think that they set her up or something.

Massak's eyes were glued to the tombstone as Shane brought it over. As soon as it was in range he took it from him. Holding it closely. His eyes shot over to Maddie, Jeremy and Bonnie, then he looked back to Shane, "And the necklace."

"Right," Shane looked over to Maddie. "Your necklace, please."

On instinct, Maddie's hand touched her necklace, "This?" Shane nodded. She shook her head, "Absolutely not, it was my grandmothers." And one of the only things that she had from her. There was no way she was about to just hand it over.

"You needed the tombstone to pay off a mercenary?" Bonnie asked Shane.

"And I need your cousin for that, which you knew," he pointed out. Maddie sent a glare Bonnie's way. Shane then turned back to Maddie, "Stop being difficult and give it to him."

"NO!" She snapped, "I don't know what kind of deal you and Bonnie made but I am not a part of it!" She turned to her, "We might not have gotten along before but now all I feel for you is hatred. You needed me here to give away my necklace from grams?"

"I didn't know that was why."

She was lying. Maddie could tell. "Lying really isn't your strong suit, so please, stop it!"

Shane groaned, "As fun as this is to watch, which it is, we don't have time for this. I wouldn't be surprised if your friends were around the corner, plotting. Now, either give him the necklace or it will be taken from you."

"I guess he is going to have to take it from me then."

"Maddie, just give it to him," Bonnie said.

"Fuck you Bonnie! No wonder your own parents can't even stand to be around you." It was a low blow. She knew it, but she didn't regret it. When she looked at Bonnie all she could see was betrayal and anger. She was seeing red. Bonnie's hurt looked stayed there. Maddie held her eye, which was why she didn't see Massak. He grabbed her arm, grabbing her. She tried to fight it but couldn't.

"Don't fight it," Massak said. "I am older than you and I am powerful." He then turned to Bonnie and Jeremy, "I'll say a prayer for your souls." With the tombstone in one hand, and Maddie's wrist in the other he walked out, dragging her behind.

Maddie screamed at the top of her lungs as Massak dragged her. They were out of the cave and heading back down the way which they had come.

"Stop screaming."

"Why?"

"Because I have placed a silence charm, so no one will hear you anyways."

She stopped moving and he turned his head to look at her, "Now, the necklace."

"Why do you want it?"

"That necklace goes back to the beginning. It is very useful in witch circles."

"Isn't the tombstone enough?"

He shook his head, "The core of this tombstone is filled with Qetsiyah's calcified blood."

"Wonderful," she muttered sarcastically.

"I don't want to kill you. But if I have to cut off your head to get that necklace I will."

"I don't appreciate you threatening me," she noted, trying to buy some time. She needed to get away from him.

"You turned it into this."

She looked around slightly, they were a good space away from the caves. Which was a positive. She wouldn't be going back there. She definitely didn't trust Bonnie, and she just wanted to get off of this island. If she could find Damon, she knew he would kill the witch for her.

"You said earlier you're a witch," Maddie noted.

Massak shrugged, "Yes."

"Why do you call yourself that? Don't men prefer the term warlock."

He seemed to think about it. But, that was all the time that she needed. Catching him off guard slightly, she kicked him in the leg, he let out a small cry as he fell. Quickly, she grabbed the tombstone, throwing it as far as she could. It was heavy and she didn't wait to see how far it went before she began to run. They weren't too close, to the cave, but they weren't to far either. She climbed down the cliffs as quickly as she could. Seeing a clearing in the woods she made a break, for it running faster.

She was running so fast that her heart beat was racing. She could feel it hammering against her chest. She didn't care though. She just continued to run. As she made her way deeper into the woods she thought she heard footsteps behind her. For a moment she stopped, looking behind her shoulder. She didn't see anything, but she did hear something. Continuing to run she kept going until she saw a large tree. She decided to use it for cover.

At that exact moment the trees began to blow, the wind picking up.

Trying to even out her breathing, she looked straight ahead. She had no idea where she was. They had walked in the dark for part of the journey so she didn't remember everything. She was ready to run again when she heard a slight crunch. Closing her eyes tight, she glanced back. Nothing was there. She turned back around, her eyes going wide and she let out a scream.

There was Massak. And he was pissed. She tried to step back, but her back just hit the tree.

"I should have just cut off your head." He said, taking the step closer, anger in his eyes.

Her hands were against the tree. Moving them down, she felt something. Slightly feeling around her back pocket, she felt the stake Ric had given her before. She had forgotten all about it being there. It had been pretty small so she was able to stash it there.

Whoosh.

He stopped, "What did you do?"

She frowned, "I didn't do anything."

Whoosh.

"Enough of this," he took the final step to her but was yanked back. Massak let out a scream and his body jerked as someone grabbed him from behind. Maddie watched with wide eyes as his body continued to jerk. She could make out the outline of someone's face in his neck but she didn't stick around. Instead she ran.

There was another vampire on this island. And she just wanted to get away as quickly as possible. She could have sworn she heard a thud. Turning, she could make out Massak's lifeless eyes. She reached into her back pocket, as she heard a whooshing noise and then a crunch. Someone was in front of her.

Slowly, she turned her body, at the same time her hand in her back pocket was pulling out the stake. Grabbing it as quick as she could she swung, only to have her wrist caught.

"Gonna take me?"

"Elijah?"

She immediately opened her hand, dropping the stake, hugging him. He hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. She felt like crying at the moment. "I want to go home," she said into his chest.

Maddie was quiet the whole ride back to Mystic Falls.

When Elijah first rescued her, she clung to him. She did however mention Matt and Ric. Elijah told her that they were safe. He had seen them in passing and told them to get off of the island. He wasn't sure about everyone else. Everyone else was supernatural, with the exclusion of Jeremy and Shane, who she didn't care about. She figured they would all be fine anyways. She was just happy to be leaving. And as an added bonus, Elijah had her stuff.

The whole boat ride back she had her shoulder resting against him. She barley moved. He knew she was conscious through her breathing. When they docked, he took care of the boat. Seeing her car, he asked for her keys. She searched through her backpack giving them to him.

"Would you like to go home or to my place?"

"Home." She responded, getting in the passenger seat. Normally she would have drove but she was in no mood to drive. Not after the time she had just had on that island.

The moment she got into her car, her phone began buzzing. She wasn't that shocked thinking about it. The reception had been terrible on the island so messages were probably just coming in now.

Mom – Hey, I know you're busy with Matt and school but check in! Miss my baby girl.

Cordelia – What's going on?

Cordelia – I know service is bad but are you okay?

Katie – Hey, anyway you'd be able to help me with math? I have a test coming up and I really need to pass.

She let out a small sigh of relief seeing the dates. Her mom's text was sent last night so she could get away with texting now. Cordelia and Katie's were from today. She quickly responded to them all, her mom first, then Cordelia and then Katie. Looking at the time she could see school was still in session. Her phone began buzzing within minutes. Looking down she could see that it was her mom.

"Hey mom," she answered.

"There's one of my favorite girls," her mom said. "I know you're helping Matt but your mother still wants to see you."

"I'll be home tonight."

"Oh good. How was school?"

She frowned. She didn't enjoy lying to her mom but she had no plans on telling her what she had been doing. "It was fine."

"That's good. I have to go get back, I just wanted to hear your voice."

"I'll see you later mom."

"I love you."

"I love you too." She said. She let a moment go by before she hung up the phone.

She could feel Elijah's eyes on her but ignored it. Resting her head against the window she sighed, closing her eyes. The past few days had her mind on overload. Not only that, but what had happened earlier kept replaying in her mind.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He murmured.

"Not really." In fact, she wanted to forget all about it. Looking out of the window, she noticed how slow he was going. They technically should have been back at her house already. "Where have you been?" She finally asked.

"I was away on business."

She turned her head to look at him, "I have been calling you non-stop."

"I saw."

She raised an eyebrow, I saw. That was all he was going to say, "Well why didn't you call me back? And how did you just magically show up on that island?" Elijah stared ahead at the road. She moved in her seat, to face hi fully. "Elijah!" She snapped, "So much has happened that I need to tell you about and you have been no where to find. I haven't seen you since that day in the library!"

He let out a small sigh of frustration, "I know and I apologize for that. I had an urgent matter to take care of after."

"And what's that?"

"I had to go and see Katerina."

Her mouth opened in shock and then it closed. Katerina. As in the doppelganger. As in his ex lover, girlfriend, or whatever the hell she was to him. Not even caring about her actions, Maddie balled up her first, and began to hit him on the arm. Elijah didn't even try and fight her off as she hit him. It wasn't hurting him, but he did want her to stop before she hurt herself.

"Stop it," he told her, eyes still on the road.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

Instead of answering her, Elijah pulled off into a road that led into the woods. He didn't stop the car until they were far away from the road. Maddie was still hitting his arm. The minute he had the car stopped he turned towards her, clasping her hands in his. "Stop."

"NO!" She snapped. "I have been worried sick about you and you've been with her!" The thought made her even more angry than she had already been. Because his grip on her hands wasn't tight she moved them out of his grasp and began to hit his arms again. She noted in the back of her mind that if anyone was walking by they would probably try to intervene, but good thing her car was hidden in the woods. And even if someone did see, she wouldn't care. She was beyond pissed with him right now.

"It's not like that."

"So then why don't you tell me what it's like!"

"If you could stop yelling and hitting me, I would."

She stopped temporarily. Elijah studied her face. Her eyes were wild. As was her hair. He liked the way it curled around her face. It looked good on her. After a moment, when he still didn't speak she noted, "I stopped yelling and hitting you."

A small smile came to his face. He went to cup her face in his hand but she just flinched away from him, "I missed you."

She glared, "Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Very well, Katerina approached me a while ago."

"Define awhile."

"A little after Christmas."

"Before New Year's?"

He nodded, "I spent the whole night with you. Shit, I slept over! And then I spent practically the whole next day with you and in our time together you couldn't mention it." He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "Not to mention, I saw you plenty of times after that and you didn't mention anything about her."

"I didn't deem it of importance."

"Well I do!" She snapped, annoyed. "How would you feel if I stopped talking to you and I was off with my ex boyfriend."

"She isn't my ex girlfriend."

"But you cared about her." Her face softened a tad. She was still angry, but now she was hurt.

"Yes," he said moving close to her. "Once upon a time I did love Katerina. But anything I felt for her is gone now."

"So why were you with her?"

"She came to me, wanting to bargain."

"Bargain what?"

"The cure."

"She wants to give you the cure?" Maddie questioned.

"She wants me to set up a deal for her with my brother. The cure for her freedom."

Maddie frowned, "No one even has the cure. No doubt they are all going nuts over it." She told him. "And I haven't seen Katherine."

"She's there," Elijah said. "She's the one who informed me that you were on the island." She could see the disapproval all over his face. She could care less about though.

"Oh great, so your mistress is keeping tabs on me," she said, bitter laced throughout her tone.

"Katerina isn't my mistress. She isn't my anything."

"Then why couldn't you answer my phone calls?" She almost let him answer but then she began talking again, "I mean god Elijah so much has happened. So much you should have been here for. Kol for starters-."

"Is dead," he finished for her. "I know."

"How do you know?"

"I have my sources."

She gave him a sarcastic smile, "Right. Well I guess I wasn't one of them since every time I called or texted you didn't answer your phone."

"I apologize for that."

"Not good enough."

"I have no romantic feelings for Katerina."

"As far as I'm concerned you shouldn't have any feelings for her." She made sure she was giving him eye contact. "NONE!" She yelled that part.

Elijah rubbed his temples. This wasn't how he wanted this conversation with Maddie to go. "I met Katerina after she called, yes. She told me what she wanted. When I asked her if she had the cure she said she did not. She then told me she had an inside source who told her that a group would be traveling to go get it." Maddie looked away as she listened. She looked out of the window, staring into the trees. "She called me two days ago to let me know that you were there as well. I came to get you."

"So, you're telling me that Katherine has been there this whole time?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"To get the cure?"

"Yes."

"And then she wanted to exchange it for her freedom?"

"Yes."

She began slowly, "Someone attacked Jeremy the other night. I believe it was an islander, well that's what Shane said. The first night that we were there actually. Someone threw a hatchet at them and killed them. I'm going to take a wild guess it was Katherine."

"Probably. She wants this. She wants to be free of Klaus."

Sarcastically Maddie began, "Well maybe if she sleeps with Damon he'll give her some of it."

"It isn't that simple."

She raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"There is only one cure."

His revelation shocked her. Elena wanted the cure and Rebekah wanted it. "Only one?"

"So it is written."

She let that sink in. Only one cure. She was glad she wasn't there. They were certainly all going to fight and most likely kill over it when they found out. She was still annoyed. More so at the fact that Elijah and Katherine were speaking. She knew that if anyone would make the trade with Klaus, it would have been Elijah. But, just because she understood why Katherine came to Elijah, didn't mean that she liked it. In fact, she hated it. Hated all of it.

"I wish this stupid cure had never been brought up in the first place," she murmured. "Does Rebekah know that you were there?"

"No. I didn't see Rebekah. The minute Katherine told me that you were there my sole purpose was finding you."

"And it took you that long?" An attitude was laced in her tone. She wouldn't have minded if he had come to her rescue earlier. Before she had to meet Massak.

"She only told me yesterday."

"Of course. She probably wanted something from you."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"That still doesn't explain why you didn't answer your cell phone."

"I didn't want you involved." He said honestly. "The less Katerina knew about us the better. Yes, she had her suspicions but she wasn't aware of the real depth of my feelings for you. Of course, I'm sure she knows now."

"Great, now I'm on Katherine's hit list."

Elijah visibility tensed. "Katerina is many things but she is not that stupid. I would torture her myself and then kill her if she ever came after you."

"She stole a moonstone from Klaus," Maddie pointed out.

"I'm not Nikaus." Elijah's tone was hard. She found it sexy. She quickly washed those thoughts away from her head. She was still upset with him.

"It's still not an excuse."

"If it's any consideration I did come right back to see you when I got back. But you were no where to be found, neither was your sister."

That's because she was helping Kol, Maddie thought to herself. And I was off on that stupid island.

"It's not enough," she insisted. Pissed off.

He had deliberately ignored his calls. And if he were with anyone else, she probably wouldn't have cared, as much, but because he was with Katherine it made her more furious.

Time passed. The two continued on in silence. Elijah stared at Maddie and she looked away, only looking at him every once in awhile to make sure he was still looking at her. She was upset. Not as pissed as she had originally been but upset.

She looked away, "So, you have no romantic feelings for her?" She wondered. "At all?" This time she looked his way.

"None."

It looked like he was telling the truth. She couldn't help but wonder about it though. She knew that when Katherine was human he loved her.

"Say Katherine does get the cure and she takes it and she's human, would you change your mind."

Elijah leaned over, invading her personal space. Her heart picked up a bit. His face was so close to hers. He was staring at her intently. "Never in my life will I be in love with Katerina Petrova again. Yes, once upon a time I loved her. But that was a very long time ago and I would like to think that I've learned from my lessons." She continued to stare into his eyes, but she also watched his face. It appeared that he was telling her the truth. "I am in love with you Maddison Lynn Bennett. Only you."

She continued to look at him. Eventually she nodded and he kissed her forehead, moving back into his spot.

"Can you take me home now?" She wondered.

"Of course."

Elijah pulled up to the Bennett house. No one's car was home. She figured her parents were working and her sister was probably out somewhere, enjoying time with her friends before she had to go back to Stanford.

The minute the car was off she went to get her car door but he was out in a flash opening it for her. He even had her backpack. "Come over tonight."

She shook her head, "I haven't been home in days. I'm sure my mom wants to see me."

That was just an excuse. She knew it and so did he. If she really wanted her mom would let her go wherever. Especially when she mentioned getting into Maryland. She really just wanted time to think and away from him. Had he just rescued her and not mentioned Katherine she would probably rush over to spend one on one time with him, but now she just wanted to be alone.

Elijah nodded, taking a step closer to her. He wasn't going to push her. He cupped her face in his hands, making her look at him, "I love you Maddison. Only you. I don't want anyone else."

She would have been lying if she said that her heart didn't melt a bit by his confession. It did.

"I love you too," she murmured back. Her face, which had been slightly hard, softened.

He nodded, leaning down and brushed his lips over hers. He moved away, looking at her before leaning in to kiss her again. She let him. It was nothing at first, just the brush of his lips over hers. When he tried to make it into something more she brought up her hands pushing my away form her.

"You don't get a real kiss from me. You have to earn the right to do that again."

A smirk came over his face, "Very well, challenge accepted. I will see you later."

She nodded, grabbing her backpack from him. He handed her the keys afterwards since they had taken her car. "Bye." She didn't wait for him to respond. Instead she just hurried into the house and went straight to her room.

The call came in the next day in the middle of the night.

Maddie only woke up because her sister had rolled over and hit her.

"Make it stop," Cordelia groaned. Sleep laced through her voice.

"I'm right next to you," Maddie groaned back. She wasn't going to be able to make anything stop.

It was quiet for a moment. The whole house was silent. They couldn't hear any murmurs. Finally, they heard what sounded like the front door slamming shut.

"What do you think it was about?" Cordelia asked.

Maddie shrugged, closing her eyes, "Maybe nothing important."

"No one calls at almost two in the morning for nothing. Unless they're on drugs."

Her sister had a good point. But she didn't want to deal with it. At least not right now. No, right now she just wanted to go back to sleep and act like nothing was wrong. Because in sleep she didn't think about Elijah and Katherine. When she saw dreaming she thought about the summer and laying on a beach somewhere in a bikini with Elijah staring at her with hungry eyes.

"If you get up and find out don't wake me unless it's important."

It was quiet for a moment before Cordelia noted, "That's a long walk downstairs. I can wait until the morning to find out what happened."

"That's what I thought," Maddie muttered. Within minutes both girls were back to sleep.

Cordelia was dreaming about scoring a winning goal in her college lacrosse game and Maddie was dreaming about Elijah taking a bikini off of her.

The next morning Maddie got up a little earlier than usual. She was going to make sure she went to school today. She had already missed three days which was not good. She was lucky her sister deleted all of the phone calls the school sent or else her parents would've asked questions.

When she went downstairs that morning after getting dressed her mom was sitting at the table, looking down. She looked stress.

"Morning mom."

Janette looked up shocked, she hadn't heard her come down, "Hi sweetheart."

"What's with the sad face?"

Janette shook her head, "Nothing."

Maddie just stared. There was definitely something, "If I am going to find out regardless just tell me."

"There was an accident last night."

"With who?"

"The Gilberts."

She frowned. She wasn't really all that shocked. Something had probably happened on there search for the cure. "What happened?"

"The Gilbert house burned down last night."

Burned down? She was shocked. She hadn't been expecting that. "Wait, what?"

"Jeremy was in the house. He died."

Thanks for reading! I am hoping to have this story completed by late August, early September. Possibly earlier than that. We shall see. I'm trying to write more now that school is over so hopefully I can get 4-5 chapters out a month. No promises though. Have a great day everyone! :)

In this chapter … Shane, Massak, Jeremy, Bonnie and Maddie enter the cave. Massak takes Maddie since she won't give up her necklace to him. We have a surprise rescuer.

Next chapter … Elijah takes Maddie away for a bit.