Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter please :)

Rose

As the morning sun reigned brightly above in the midst of a pale blue sky, a black SUV moved off of an abandoned main road to pull into a side road. A heavily tinted smaller vehicle waited patiently for its presence, and upon the SUV's halt beside the car, a man climbed out of the passenger side and went up to the SUV. The darkened window rolled down just far enough for the man to see the other man's sunglasses and cap.

"Where is she?" asked the owner of the SUV.

"In the trunk," said the other man. "I did exactly what you said."

"Good. Put her in the back."

The man moved away from the SUV to the trunk of the car, where his companion inside of the car popped the trunk and allowed the man to take the unconscious human teenager in his arms. The man transferred Elena from the car to the truck in a matter of minutes before walking back to the owner of the SUV.

"Thank you for your help."

"Is there anything else?"

"One more thing. Come closer. Please." The man stepped forward into the shadow of the SUV as the owner of the vehicle rolled down his window less conservatively. He beckoned the other man. "Closer…"

And the minute the man was close enough, the vampire inside the vehicle attacked the man's neck with his fangs, tearing into the human flesh. The vampire sucked every last drop of blood out of the man's body until the human fell down onto the gravel beside the truck, dead. The vampire in the vehicle wiped his mouth free of blood as the driver in the smaller car rolled down her window and surveyed the damage, all while staying out of the light.

She looked up at the other vampire, though it was not visible through her blacked-out sunglasses. "Was that entirely necessary?"

"No," the other vampire confessed. From inside the passenger car, the female vampire let out a frustrated sigh.

"Rose won't be happy."

"Rose won't have to know." The SUV owner paused. "Besides, she won't be happy you decided to take your own initiative, either."

The female vampire turned and looked in her back seat at the unconscious Claire King who rested across all three seats in the back. She turned back to the male vampire and shrugged.

"She'll make an exception."

And the two cars pulled out of the side road and headed back on the main road again.

"So Sarah attacks Tyler and he pushed her away and she tripped…and she fell, and she hit her head."

Caroline glanced up at Damon through the mirror she was applying her makeup into, watching his expression as she told him the truth. Damon frowned.

"Does Matt remember anything?"

Caroline applied her lip-gloss and shook her head. "He thinks he blacked out." Damon slowly nodded. "But I think they were both compelled by Katherine. That's why I covered for Tyler and said it was an accident."

"Yeah, I don't understand that. The guy's a tool."

"Well, gee, duh!" Caroline exclaimed as she started to put her shoes on. "Tyler getting blamed for Sarah's death just opens up questions that he can't answer. And do you really think it's a good idea for him to tell his mom he's a…werewolf?"

Damon smirked. "Well, no."

She scoffed. "And that werewolf road leads straight to vampire boulevard! I thought I was thinking fast on my feet."

"Where's your mom?" He changed the subject.

"Leading the search party for Aimee Bradley," Caroline answered as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. "They haven't found her body yet."

"Oh, teens today and their underage drinking…" Damon sighed disappointedly. "Tragic. Wait. Did you see Tyler's eyes turn yellow?"

"More…gold with amber highlights." The dark-haired Salvatore let out a groan. "Can he turn into a wolf now?"

"Only on a full moon," Damon grumbled. "But now he has increased strength and who knows what else. I wonder how much Mason told him. Does he know about us?" But Caroline wasn't listening to him; she was texting on her phone. "Hey! What'd you tell him?"

"Nothing…really," she replied. "I-I don't think he knows much of anything! He seemed…reallyfreaked out and…honestly, I felt kinda bad for him."

The compassionate Caroline sighed and brushed past Damon, who was incredulous upon hearing the words out of her mouth. He turned and followed her out of her room to the hallway.

"He's gotta know something," Damon argued.

"All right! I'll ask him."

Before Caroline was able to get out of the house and go to school, Damon flitted over to her and stopped the blonde right in her tracks. He pulled her collar close and growled, "No, you won't Caroline! He cannot know about us. A bite from a werewolf can kill a vampire so don't be his friend! Do you understand me?"

"I understand," she agreed meekly. Avoiding his eyes, she attempted to get out of his grasp with a weak, "I'm late for school."

"Right." Damon smiled and released his hold on her collar with a reassuring pat to her shoulders. Caroline sighed.

"And…where's Claire, anyway?" she asked, frustrated. "I tried to call her first but she wouldn't pick up."

Damon shrugged. "If I had a dollar for every time that one disappeared on me…all I know is that her phone is at home and she didn't come back last night." He moved towards the door and opened it for the young vampire. "If you want to drop the hint to your mom that Aimee's body is at the bottom of a ravine with a cracked spine, it might save your mom some time."

He smirked at her and held the door open so that Caroline could step outside and he followed.

"Excuse me." There was a tap on Stefan's shoulder in the hallway, and upon feeling it, the kind teenager closed his locker and turned around. "Can you tell me where to find Mr. Saltzman's History class next period?"

But instead of some run-of-the-mill Mystic Falls High student, when Stefan turned around to face the newcomer, his eyes seemed to deceive him. Stefan scoffed in disbelief as his mouth practically dropped to the floor.

"Amelia!" he exclaimed, surprised. She gave him an innocent smile. "What the…what are you doing here?"

Amelia shrugged. "Well, I've never really tried the whole 'being normal' thing," she admitted with a grin. "Besides, I figured it was a nice way to get to spend some time with you. School seems to take up a lot of time." Stefan smiled, but for some reason, Amelia felt it was forced. Her smile instantly dropped. "What's wrong? Did you not want me here or something?"

"No!" Stefan protested as they started to walk in the direction of the hallway. "No! I think it's great. I really do."

Amelia laughed. "Good. Because I sure as hell can tell you I'm not here to learn about history."

Stefan scoffed. "Trust me, it's more entertaining if you engage in the class. Otherwise, you'll find yourself dozing off."

"I already see myself dozing off." Amelia grinned at Stefan for a moment and then sighed. "Okay, but I actually have to go to the office and compel my way out of some forms first. I'll see you in class?"

Stefan nodded at her and watched her walk away, but as he started to walk in the direction of the crowd flow to their first class, Jeremy came up beside him. Stefan smiled at the kid Gilbert. "Hey, Jeremy."

"Look, Elena's got to let me know if I'm supposed to cover for her," he chastised Stefan. "Jenna's cool with the two of you but you guys are pushing it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Elena. Look, I'm glad you guys are back together but if she's gonna sleep over…"

Stefan pulled them to a stop in the middle of the hallway shaking his head. "Wait, wait…hold on a minute. We're not back together."

Jeremy paused. "Wait…she didn't...she didn't stay at your place last night?"

Stefan shook his head again. "No. I haven't even seen her since volunteering at the Lockwood mansion. She hasn't slept over since we broke up."

"'Cause her bed hadn't been slept in and her car's still at the house…" Jeremy trailed off, confused. The two teenagers stared at each other for a while before Jeremy asked, "Where is she, then?"

Stefan hesitated. "I…I don't know. It's…weird, too, because Claire didn't come back to the boarding house last night, either."

Amelia stepped out of the office with a sigh, only to run right into Jeremy and Stefan. She looked at them both and gave a small smile. "Oh. I thought you'd already be at class." The two of them said nothing to her, causing her to frown. "Is something wrong?"

Stefan turned to the blonde vampire. "Have you talked to Claire today?"

Claire stirred groggily as the effects of the substantial vervain injection started to wear off and allowed her to return to a state of consciousness. Her eyes were blurry and her head felt dizzy for a moment before she was finally restored to the sharp, alert vision and sense that a vampire had. She looked around and found herself in a room that looked old and cracked as if it were run-down. It took her a moment, but she finally realized that she was sitting upright in a wooden chair and that her hands, as well as her feet, were strapped to the arms and legs of the seat. She struggled, but the ropes were soaked in vervain. She let out a cry when they burned her skin.

"Good." Claire looked up to find someone entering the room from the farthest entrance. The room might've been worn-down, but it was huge. It resembled the structure of a ballroom. "You're awake."

"Where the hell am I?" she murmured aloud. Her captor walked forward, heels clicking on the old hardwood floors. "Who are you?"

There was a gust of wind and, in a matter of seconds, Claire realized exactly who she was dealing with. It took just a moment, but she was never one to forget a face—especially not the face of someone from the deepest, darkest depths of her past.

"Delia?" Claire whispered brokenly.

"This has Katherine written all over it," Stefan argued against Damon as the two brothers stood outside of Mystic Falls High next to Damon's car in the parking lot. Damon shook his head.

"Katherine's in the tomb. Trust me; I'm the one who shut her in."

"Did you?"

"Did I what, Stefan?"

"Well, I know the hold that Katherine has on you…" Stefan trailed off. Damon looked at his brother with disbelieving eyes.

"She's in the tomb! Period. End of story," the older brother barked. Stefan turned and started to pace, thinking of all the possibilities where Claire and Elena could've gone or been taken. Suddenly, Damon mumbled, "But she did say something to me right before I shut her in…" Stefan turned back as Damon whispered to himself, "I thought she was lying!"

"What'd she say?" Stefan urged.

Damon looked up. "Elena's in danger. Claire, too—possibly."

Stefan's eyes practically popped out of his head. "What, and you didn't think you should ask her to elaborate?"

"Everything she says is a lie!" Damon exclaimed. "How am I supposed to know if she's gonna start spouting out the truth?"

"We have to go talk to her," the bronze-haired vampire demanded. Damon shook his head.

"No, no. Let me tell you how that's gonna go. We're gonna go ask her for help, she's gonna negotiate her release, which we're gonna be dumb enough to give her, and then she's gonna get out! And kill us! That's exactly what she wants!"

Stefan threw his hands up. "I don't really care."

"It's a bad idea, Stefan…" Damon warned.

Stefan turned back at his brother and pointed at him accusingly. "It's Claire."

The brown-haired, medium-sized, olive-skinned vampire smiled down at her prisoner, causing Claire to swallow thickly. "Well, well. You do remember me. I had a bet going with Trevor. Guess I owe him one free meal."

Claire didn't say anything. She just stiffened in her chair and clenched her fists tightly, despite the pain that came from the vervain-soaked ropes. Delia bent down. "Nothing to say? There's a first. And here I was thinking you were known for that opinionated little mouth of yours that just won't stop spewing insults."

"What would you like me to say, Delia?" Claire shot furiously, trying but failing not to play in Delia's game. "You took me in the middle of the night. I haven't gotten the proper rest," she spat. Delia smiled at the quip, knowing that she reached the burning embers of Claire's core. But Claire took in a deep breath and shook her head, trying desperately not to get angry. "There are people who will come looking for me if I don't check in, Delia."

"How can you be so sure?" the British vampire challenged, placing the seed of doubt in Claire's mind. "You've been known to run all over the place, Claire. Trust me, I know. I've been tracking your every movement for the last twenty years."

"They'll come," Claire promised, but truth be told, she wasn't so sure. Delia was right—Stefan, Damon, Amelia...even if they realized she was missing, she didn't know whether they would think there was something really wrong or that she just hopped on another plane and left them. It honestly seemed like something she would do.

Delia shrugged. "I guess I better enjoy this while it lasts, then, shouldn't I?"

And, before Claire could say anything else, Delia drove a hidden wooden stake right into Claire's thigh, causing her to scream out in pain.

Stefan tried to go to Bonnie to get her to unseal the tomb so he could get Katherine to help them find Elena and Claire, but Bonnie objected to it with obvious reasons. Amelia had come in bearing the news that Carol Lockwood had been trying to reach Claire all day because her car was still at the mansion from the night before. But whatever they did, they had to assume that Elena and Claire were in the same place—if they weren't, there would definitely be a problem.

Jeremy laid down a map on a desk in Alaric's classroom for Bonnie as he asked, "How does this work?"

As she tried to light the candles beside the map, the witch explained, "I'll use your blood to draw the energy for the tracking spell. You're blood-related to Elena. It'll make the connection stronger."

"All right, Alaric said we gotta clear out of here within ten minutes," Stefan told Bonnie and Jeremy as he and Amelia rushed into the classroom, each with a bag of weapons. "We've got weapons, he stocked us up."

Bonnie looked up at Jeremy. "Are you ready?"

Jeremy shrugged in agreement and Bonnie reached forward to cut his hand and draw blood from his palm. He winced and hissed but let a few drops fall onto the map beneath him as Bonnie started to chant softly under her breath the spell that was required to locate Elena. The blood droplets that had fallen from Jeremy's hand clumped together and then started to move as one big blob over the area that read Mystic Falls and down to Eden in North Carolina. Bonnie pointed to the location.

"There," she said to Stefan. "She's there."

"That's three hundred miles away," Jeremy commented. Amelia ignored him and shook her head.

"We can't find them with only a city name. We need a more exact location than that."

She shook her head. "That's as close as I can get."

Luckily, Jeremy came up with a solution. "We can map it; aerial view will show us what's around there, help us narrow down the area."

Stefan nodded. "Perfect. Call me with whatever you find."

"No, no!" The Gilbert jumped over to Stefan in protest as he and Amelia braced to leave. "I'm coming with you!"

"No Jeremy, you're not," Stefan objected.

"No, I'm not just gonna sit here. What if she's hurt, okay? Or…or worse? What if she's…?"

"She's not," Stefan cut him off. "You two go back to your house just in case. I'm gonna call you the minute I find her."

"But you two can't do it alone," Jeremy argued. Suddenly, the door to Alaric's classroom opened and Damon stepped inside, shaking his head.

"They're not. Let's go."

Stefan looked back at him. "You're coming with me?"

"It's Claire."

It was all Damon needed to say for Stefan and Amelia to not ask any questions and get in Damon's Camaro, where they immediately headed out to go find Elena and hopefully find Claire with her. If Claire wasn't with Elena, however, they would have to start from ground zero again, they just hoped that it wasn't the case. As Stefan reached in the bag of weaponry Alaric had given him, he pulled out a grenade-like weapon and looked it over, trying to figure out how to use it for later.

"Alaric sure like his weapons," Damon sung. "What the hell is that?"

"I don't know, it's a vervain bomb or a grenade launcher or something like that," Stefan told him. Damon scoffed.

"Weird."

Amelia frowned. "Well, whatever it is, keep it the hell away from me. I like my face, thank you very much."

"Hey, how much further is it?" Stefan asked his brother.

"About eighty miles."

Amelia leaned forward so that her head rested between the two front seats. She sighed. "What are we gonna do if Claire's not with Elena?"

"She will be," Stefan promised. "She has to. It makes the most logical sense. She wouldn't just leave us."

Damon hummed under his breath. "Mm...are you sure about that, Stefan?" The two brothers shared a glance. "You and I both know how many times over the decades she up and left without so much as a goodbye."

Stefan stared at his elder sibling with incredulity. "I'm sure, Damon."

"Well…who do you think took them, then?" Amelia questioned, intervening. Damon tore his eyes away from his baby brother's and shrugged.

"Someone from Katherine's past," Damon answered. "She said she was running from someone. Maybe they got the wrong girl."

"How would that explain Claire?" asked the blonde.

"Maybe it was someone from her past, then," Damon amended, thinking it over. He looked out the window and scoffed. "Claire likes to piss people off. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up pissing off the wrong person and it came back to bite her in the ass."

Stefan scoffed. "Now that's true. Do you remember that one time back in 1857 when—"

Damon cut Stefan off. "Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing? The cliché of it all makes me itch."

For a moment, the car was silent, but then Stefan chuckled under his breath. Damon waited for his brother to elaborate on the humor of the situation, but he didn't look over at Stefan. Finally, Stefan turned his head and glanced at his brother.

"Come on, Damon. We all know you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with helping us. Or Elena."

Damon smirked. "The elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar."

"Well, it doesn't have to be an elephant, you know?" Stefan proposed. "Let's talk about it."

Damon laughed. "There's nothing to talk about!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. That was a huge lie," Amelia pointed out. Damon rolled his eyes at her. "Come on, I'm not going to pretend like I don't see it, either." She paused and tapped Stefan on the shoulder again and whispered, "Come to think of it...it is a little weird talking about this. Especially in a moving car where I can't get out and save myself—"

"I'm gonna make this simple." Stefan turned his head out to the open road, cutting off Amelia, and asked Damon, "Are you in this car because you want to help your little brother save his best friend or is because you want to save her? Because you love her?"

"Seriously, crack a window back here," Amelia pleaded as she sat back on the seats and sighed. "This is really making me uncomfortable now."

Damon ignored her as Stefan barreled on. "I mean, come on, express yourself. I happen to like road trip…bonding."

"Keep it up, Stefan. I can step out of helping as easily as I stepped in," he warned.

Stefan tsked. "Nope. See, that's the beauty of it." He turned his head to Damon. "You can't."

Elena was officially getting fed up. She tried to escape, but knew that she couldn't because the vampires that had taken her told her that there was nothing for miles and she believed them. Besides, she knew she couldn't get more than three feet without one of them snatching her, and the shorthaired one had already slapped her for not being quiet enough. But she was desperate for answers.

"Why am I here?" Elena asked the female vampire that had slapped her earlier. The vampire sighed.

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

"Why won't you?"

"That's another one."

"You got me, okay?" Elena told her frustratedly. "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," said the female as she walked away from boarding up a window in the run-down library in the middle of the worn-down house. "I'm just a delivery service."

"Delivery to who? Elijah?" Elena had heard the name before when she had tried to escape, whereupon the vampire had told her that her "worst nightmare" was a man named Elijah.

The vampire laughed. "Two points to the eavesdropper."

"Who is he?" the human teenager pushed. "Is he a vampire?"

"He's one of the vampires. The Originals."

"What do you mean, the Originals?" Elena repeated in absolute confusion. The female vampire sighed heavily and complained.

"Again with the questions! Haven't the Salvatores been teaching you vampire history?"

Elena blinked, surprised. "So you know Stefan and Damon?"

"I know of them," said the vampire. "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 of a sucker for the bad boys, though, but I digress. Besides, my sister has been infatuated with Stefan's best friend for the last two decades. Hard not to know who they are when she practically has an investigation file."

Elena stepped forward. "Wait…Claire? What does Claire have to do with any of this?"

The female sighed. "She killed my sister's boyfriend. Devastated her." The vampire shrugged. "However, I'm convinced that if Claire had just held off for a couple more months, Delia would've killed him anyway. But I guess this was just how things were meant to be."

The vampire turned around and started to shuffle through some of the old books. Elena, still confused, decided to focus her attention elsewhere. Claire wasn't her priority at the moment.

"Who are the Originals?" Elena urged.

Again, the female vampire turned around, now exhausted with Elena's questions. Finally, she answered, "Trevor and I have 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're a Petrova doppelgänger." Elena didn't understand what that meant. "You're the key to breaking the curse."

"Curse?" the teenager repeated. "The Sun and the Moon curse?"

The female vampire rolled her eyes. "You do know your history!"

"What do you mean I'm the key?" Elena stepped forward to the vampire. "The moonstone is what breaks the curse."

"No. The moonstone is what binds the curse. Sacrifice is what breaks it."

"Sacrifice?"

"Blood of the doppelgänger. You're the doppelgänger. Which means in order break the curse, you're the one that has to die."

"Oh, goodie." Delia sauntered into the old library wiping Claire's blood off her hands with a wet towel. "Good thing I walked in on a light note. Hey, Rose, where'd you put the gloves?"

"Trevor has them," Rose told her as Delia walked over to her side and viewed Elena for herself. Delia stopped for a moment, surveying the teenager quietly.

"Wow…she really does look like Katherine. It's…" Delia's nose wrinkled up in disgust, "…creepy."

"Whose blood is that?" Elena pointed at the white towel stained in dark, rich blood. Neither one of the sisters said anything as Elena tried to piece it all together in her mind. Delia smiled.

"Let's see if you can guess, cupcake."

"Wait," Elena protested as the light bulb seemed to go off in her head. "No. No, there was no one else taken with me. Claire was at—"

"Claire was at some party in that god awful town already soaked in her own blood." Delia put the towel down behind her and gave a small smile to the human. "Saved me a lot of trouble, actually. I saw the raw spots from where she was hurt before and I just reopened the wounds. She screamed. It was wonderful. You didn't hear?"

"Let her go!" Elena begged. "She has nothing to do with this."

"You're absolutely right," Rose agreed, slightly bitter. "She doesn't have anything to do with this. But my sister decided to take matters into her own hands."

"Clarissa King deserves it!" Delia protested as Rose walked over to the windows. She turned back to Elena. "Screw you, little girl. I'm never giving her up." She spotted Trevor behind Elena. "Hey! Trevor! Where'd you put the gloves?"

"Coffee table in the living room," Trevor answered, and hearing the location, Delia walked off to get the gloves, leaving Elena in the room with Trevor and Rose. Elena wanted desperately to go seek Claire and help her get out, but what could she really do in a house of three vampires? She was a human and they would kill her before she even had a chance to get Claire out. And something told her that Claire wouldn't be able to fend off the other vampires, either.

Claire, meanwhile, had no idea that Elena was even in the house. Until, that was, Delia came into the room again with a few cloves of vervain that she held by the stem in glove-covered hands.

"What's the deal with you and the Katherine look-alike? You loathed Katherine and...this girl wants me to let you go?" Delia asked as she walked closer. Claire, beaten and bloody, looked up at Delia for a moment, confused. Delia gasped. "Oh, right. I think I forgot to mention that, when I kidnapped you, I also kidnapped the doppelgänger."

Claire groaned. "Delia, let her go. She has nothing to do with this."

"You see? She said the same thing about you. Consider me officially confused."

"She's not Katherine," Claire promised the opposing vampire. "She's human. Just let her go."

Delia tsked. "No can do, cupcake. Not my problem." She bent down to look right into Claire's eyes and smiled. "Now you, on the other hand, are my problem. So let's see…where should we start?"

Claire eyed the vervain in Delia's hand, watching anxiously as it came closer and closer to her skin and finally touched it. She cried aloud as it burned through her skin and stayed there, almost burning a hole before Delia moved it along her arm, attempting to burn every part of her skin. At this point, there were tears at the corner of Claire's eyes and she couldn't take it anymore. The pain had grown to be too much.

"Please!" Claire cried. "Delia, please! Stop! I'm sorry!"

At this, Delia removed the vervain from Claire's arm and watched as the blonde vampire gulped down a lump in her throat. Delia watched as Claire slowly started to regain control of her throat and she looked up at her torturer.

"I'm sorry for what I did, Delia. I killed the man you loved and there is no apology in the world that can ever fully make up for it." Claire swallowed hard with a sigh and repeated, "I'm sorry."

But, after contemplation, Delia shook her head. "Not good enough."

And the pain started again.

"We're getting close," Stefan informed Damon as he sped down the highway towards the house that was supposedly far enough from civilization to be worth a shot. "Jeremy said there's an access road just past mile marker six."

Damon looked in his rearview mirror at Amelia, who was drinking blood out of a water bottle. "Hey, Blondie? Got any to spare?"

Amelia raised an eyebrow at him as she drank, but then she gulped down the last few sips and waved the empty bottle in the air with a shrug. Damon grimaced at her. "Guess you're shit out of luck."

Damon huffed for a moment before he maneuvered himself so that he was leaning behind Stefan's seat, using his hand as a guide. Amelia's protests were evident as she wacked at his arm, screaming.

"What the hell, Damon? Super inappropriate!"

Damon sighed and finally pulled out a blood bag he had stashed earlier in the car for strength. "Calm down."

After pulling the tube out of the bag, Damon started to drink the rich liquid from inside the pouch. He looked over to see Stefan eyeing the bag, and seeing the intrigue, Damon pulled away and smirked.

"If you want some, just ask."

"I want some," Stefan retorted.

"What, you wanna be all big and strong and save Elena to win her back? Well don't worry, I've got your back. You'll be fine." Damon snickered to himself thinking about Stefan drinking the blood. Stefan shook his head.

"I'm not trying to win her back, Damon, I'm trying to help her. She deserves my help. So does Claire."

Damon snapped his fingers. "Right! Totally forgot." He glanced behind him and smirked at the blonde vampire in the back, who was staring out the window, totally oblivious. "Mrs. Amelia Salvatore."

At this, Amelia's attention was obviously caught. Stefan sighed heavily, embarrassed, as Amelia leaned forward and arched an eyebrow.

"Mrs. Amelia Salvatore?" she repeated. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I never married you, Damon. You were Claire's future husband, remember?"

Damon waved a hand dismissively at her. "Of course I remember. I was just referring to—"

"He was just trying—and failing—to be funny, that's all." Damon looked over to see Stefan shoot a warning glance at his brother, to which Damon just smiled in triumph and went back to drinking his blood. "And I'm not joking about the blood. I've been drinking a little every day, slowly increasing my intake and building up my strength."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Claire's been teaching you?"

Stefan nodded. With a shrug, Damon gave Stefan the blood bag and let his brother take a sip out of it. Amelia leaned forward again to fit her head between the two seats.

"Why would Claire need to teach Stefan how to drink blood?" she asked. Stefan grew increasingly alarmed as Damon had a sadistic look on his face and had his one opportunity to spill the beans.

"Well, since we're road trip bonding—"

"Damon, please. Don't tell her."

"What?" Damon defended himself, his voice going up a pitch. "She's gonna find out eventually." Stefan exhaled, defeated, and looked out his window to avoid the awkward and humiliating conversation about to happen. Amelia looked between the Salvatore brothers.

"Okay…now I'm really curious. What the hell is going on?"

"Well, there's something you don't know about Stefan, Amelia, and it's that he used to be a bad guy. Never could control himself on the human stuff; even used to rip people apart for fun."

"What, like some sort of…blood addiction?" Amelia asked, looking over at Stefan, who said nothing. Instead, Damon answered for him.

"Yep! Almost exactly! Except, he was much more enthusiastic about it. More—"

"More like you?" Stefan filled in for his brother. Damon nodded.

"Yes, Stefan, exactly! Back when you put blood into me so I could be a big, bad vampire. By the way, what happened to that guy? He was a hoot!"

Stefan shrugged. "Guess he realized that there's someone out there that actually does care if he goes off the deep end." Damon fell silent, causing Stefan to look over at him and smile. "And, maybe, that person cares about his brother, too."

Delia tossed the last of the vervain onto the floor and ripped off her gloves, setting them to the side in case she needed them for later. Claire was bleeding profusely, blood dripping all over the hardwood floor in puddles. Her wounds healed, but it still hurt like hell. Delia sighed and listened to the house around her.

"Well, I guess that's Elijah. But Rose can handle my end of the deal. The girl will most definitely be our ticket to freedom. Guess I'll have to thank you for that," Delia added. Claire swallowed down the taste of blood in her mouth.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, cupcake, if I wasn't keeping such close tabs on you, I would've never figured out everything about the tomb…about Katherine not being inside…about the doppelgänger…" Delia trailed off and shrugged. "So thanks. You earned my freedom."

Claire shook her head. "You can't give Elena up. She's my friend."

"And you were my friend," Delia snapped. Claire winced and hung her head, refusing to argue anymore. "Or, at least, you pretended that I was just so you could get close to Peter and then kill him, just for your own, sick pleasure."

"I wasn't myself," Claire tried. "I…had my emotions off, I was ruthless, and I hurt people. You think I don't know that?"

"Yes. Blood of the innocent." Delia nodded as she surveyed the hurt vampire in front of her and noticed the look of despair. "I know you have a thing about that. Well, Claire, your hands are stained with the blood of the innocent. You know, we could sit here and I could torture you for a day…a week…a month…a year—it doesn't really matter. It's all the same. At the end of the day, you're the one who's gonna have to live with yourself."

And the words, though she was unharmed at the moment, cut through Claire like a knife.

Three hundred miles later, Damon, Amelia, and Stefan finally arrived at the abandoned house which was, as Jeremy said, miles from any kind of civilization. Damon parked the car just far enough away to give them an edge for the element of surprise. Stefan walked out of the car with the bag of weapons on his shoulder as Damon spoke.

"The house should be just beyond those trees," Damon informed them. Without hesitation, Stefan nodded and started to head off in the direction of the house with Damon on his heels.

But Amelia looked up at the run-down mansion and called out, "Wait!" The two brothers turned and she sighed. "Are we…are we sure we want to do this?"

Stefan frowned. "Amelia, your sister's in there."

She shook her head. "No, Elena's in there. We don't know if Claire is or isn't, we're taking a risk. And whoever's taken Elena—whoever's in that house—is probably the person that Katherine's been running from for…500 years. Which makes whoever it is so much older and stronger than the three of us combined."

"We can't leave Elena behind," Stefan argued. "Even if Claire's not inside."

Amelia let out a frustrated breath and looked at Damon for help. "Damon, come on. You get where I'm coming from, right?"

Damon hesitated, but nodded slowly. "If we go in that house, we may not come back out," he agreed.

Amelia made a sweeping gesture at him. "Right! Exactly. Thank you."

"But Claire's in there, Amelia. I know it." He turned on his heel. "So let's go."

Damon went first and Stefan kept his eyes on Amelia, who just sighed heavily and realized that she would be forced to risk her life on a chance that her sister was inside a creepy old house in the middle of nowhere. But she was left with no option but to follow Stefan and Damon inside.

"What do you want?" Claire whispered quietly with her head hung and tucked inside of herself, refusing to look up and give satisfaction to her torture. Delia crossed her arms.

"What do you mean?"

Finally, Claire raised her head and caught Delia's eyes with her own in a cold, hard stare. "I mean, there's got to be a price, Delia. Nothing you can do to me will amount to what I did to Peter so get on with it. Name your price, pick your poison. I'll give you anything. Either kill me or tell me what you want."

Delia sauntered forward and leaned down. "You think you can buy me off, Claire?"

"I think everyone can be bought off with something that they want," Claire spat at the other vampire. "It just depends on the person."

Delia shook her head, now more pissed off than anything. "You don't understand, Claire. I don't want anything from you. I don't even know what I want to do with you yet. All I know is that you and I are going to have a lot of fun for the next few decades."

Claire scoffed. "So that's your endgame? Torture? It'll get old in a week, cupcake. Trust me."

"Wanna bet?" Delia snarled, and the next thing Claire knew, Delia was reaching for the bloody wooden snake on the floor. Suddenly, however, there was a sound coming from the main foyer in the home, distracting Delia for just a second. Taking it as an opportunity, Claire managed to throw herself back with so much force that the chair split, allowing the ropes to fall loose and slide off her wrists, leaving the impressions of the ropes from the vervain burns. Delia swung at her with the wooden stake, but Claire jumped up and tried hard not to fall over as she fought blindly, blood dripping everywhere from her wounds.

The two vampires struggled hard until Delia managed to get the upper hand on Claire and forced them down. Delia climbed on top of Claire with the wooden stake pointed right at her heart. Claire wrapped her hands around Delia's and desperately fought to force the wooden stake up, but Delia was older and stronger than her, especially considering Claire's condition. Right when Claire was positive that she was going to face her final demise, the door to the ballroom opened.

Rose stepped inside. "Delia, we're leaving. Now! Leave her!"

Delia looked over to Rose at the door, then back at Claire, who was still fighting for her life. At last, Delia flung the stake across the room, climbed off of Claire, and flashed out with Rose, leaving Claire in the ballroom all alone, coughing and groaning with aches and wounds everywhere. Rose's interruption had Claire intrigued as to why, all of a sudden, the sisters had to go, so finally she forced herself up and out of the room.

It took her only a minute or so to get out to the foyer of the abandoned house, where she saw Elena, Amelia, Damon, and Stefan all crowded around the staircase. A man Claire had never seen before was pinned up against the wall with a wooden coat rack through his heart. Elena was being bombarded with questions from Stefan and Amelia regarding to her health, but when Elena saw Claire, she jumped up.

"Claire!" Elena exclaimed. Claire looked around at all of them and watched as Stefan rose from his seat on the stairs beside Elena, and she let out a long sigh at him. Then, suddenly, the two best friends found themselves in an embrace that was comforting to the both of them.

"Oh, thank God, Stefan," Claire breathed out into his shoulder, squeezing tightly. "I've never been so happy to see you in my entire life. Thank you."

Stefan hugged her tighter. "It was about time I returned those favors I owed you."

And, though it hurt, she laughed. She didn't notice it for a few beats, Damon was standing behind Stefan, staring at Claire, watching them as they hugged. For a moment, she debated on what to do, but then she nodded at him, a silent exchange of gratitude.

Damon's lips curved up into a sad smile and he nodded back. Elena watched Damon carefully and curiously while Amelia rushed over to Claire. Claire broke away from Stefan to hug her sister, and all she could do was close her eyes and be grateful that they came to her rescue.

After the long, hard day that Damon had, he deserved a drink. So the minute he got home and had a moment to relax, he poured himself a glass of bourbon and drank out of it, thankful for the alcohol. But sure enough, Stefan found him in the study, so Damon spoke first.

"Where's Elena?"

"She's home," Stefan replied.

"And Claire?"

"Upstairs trying to get the blood stain out of her shirt." Damon extended his glass of bourbon to his brother, and Stefan took it graciously. Hearing of Claire's actions, Damon scoffed.

"She better hope for a miracle." Stefan hummed in agreement to Damon's quip and Damon turned around and poured himself another glass to drink. Finally, Stefan sighed and broke the ice about something more important.

"Listen, uh, what Rose told Elena about the curse…"

"I know. We'll keep her safe."

Things were quiet for a moment as Stefan thought over his next words, but eventually, he sighed. "Listen, Damon…I'm not…I'm not gonna say anything else about you and Claire. The only way we're gonna be able to keep Elena safe and protect everyone else from whatever's coming is if we're not fighting. We let Katherine come between us and I don't want it to be the same way with Claire."

"Well, you're not in love with her." Damon shrugged. "Won't be an issue."

"She's my friend, Damon. My best friend," Stefan objected. Damon turned around to face his brother for a moment as he said seriously, "And I don't want to lose her. She's been with me through everything. And if you two end badly, I don't want to spend the rest of my eternity picking up the pieces."

Damon took a moment to process his brother's words before nodding once. "Yes, Stefan. I've heard it all before."

The dark-haired Salvatore turned and downed his bourbon quickly, ready to go upstairs and turn in for the night, but Stefan called him back. "Hey."

"What?" Damon turned.

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"For being the guy who made you turn 145 years ago," he apologized sincerely, causing Damon to be caught off guard. The elder brother didn't know what to say for a moment before finally shaking his head.

"Enough, Stef. It's late. We don't need to rehash that."

"You know what? I've never said it out loud." Stefan stood in his spot and stared at Damon with his hands in his pockets, just needing to speak the words. But Damon had his back turned, refusing to hear it even though he stood still. "I guess I just need to say it and you need to hear it. I'm sorry. What I did was selfish. I didn't want to be alone." Finally, Damon turned to face his younger sibling, who nodded. "I guess I just needed my brother."

And, without another word from either of them, Stefan turned on his heel and walked out of the study. Right as he did, though, Damon felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He took a moment of delay to think about his brother's words before finally pulling out his phone and checking the screen. The text was from Elena.

Can you come over here for a couple minutes? We need to talk.

When Damon arrived at Elena's house, he didn't even need to go all the way inside. Elena was waiting for him out on the porch steps with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. He walked up the small, paved walkway to her porch and climbed a few stairs as she rose from her place to face him. He threw his hands up in confusion.

"Everything okay, Elena?"

"Not really," she admitted. Damon arched an eyebrow and waited for her to clarify. "I saw you…today, watching Claire when she came out and hugged everyone—well, everyone but you." Damon stood still, waiting for Elena to get to a point. "You looked disappointed."

"I was exhausted. There's a difference. What's your point?" he urged.

Elena stared at him, studying Damon's impatient face for a while before finally sighing. "Damon, you love her." He moved to roll his eyes, but Elena caught the childish act as he squirmed. "Hey, don't bother denying it. I knew it since the second I saw you two in the car when we went to Georgia. There's something between you two...like you're connected or something. You can admit it to me." He bit down on his lip to refrain from confirming, so she said softly, "Then why don't you tell me that I'm wrong?"

Damon and Elena stood on the porch step for a while in silence before Damon finally groaned out of defeat. "So? What does it matter, anyway? Even if I did, she doesn't want to hear it and I'm not going to tell her."

"Because you're scared," Elena added. "Because you can't say it aloud without not being able to take it back. Because you can't…be you and cheat your way around it."

Damon shifted uncomfortably and, seeing it, Elena tried to cut to the chase. From inside the blanket, she produced Claire's silver comb that Damon knew all too well. On the inside of the comb design, Claire's full name was etched in the metal, marking it hers. Damon looked up at Elena in confusion.

"Where the hell did you get this?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I found it in a bunch of Stefan's things when I was over at his place one day and I liked it. Figured she wouldn't miss it." Elena paused and locked eyes with him. "But…I was thinking and…I saw this spell once in Bonnie's Grimoire to take away memories." Damon looked at her, surprised, and she said quickly, "It was a favor. Here."

Elena handed the comb over to Damon, who took it slowly and cautiously. She watched him as he ran his thumb over the silver and seemed to reminisce, but then coughed and looked back up at her. She smiled.

"All you have to do is crush it when you want her to forget," Elena told him. "She'll fall asleep and when she wakes up, she won't remember. It's your way out."

Damon was quiet for a long time. "Elena…"

"But you're gonna have to tell her one day, Damon," she reminded him, wrapping the blanket closer to her. "And trust me…when you finally do, it'll all be worth it." She smiled triumphantly. "And then you can thank me."

With nothing more to say, Elena turned on her heel and walked up the porch and into her home, leaving Damon standing on the stairs just staring after her in amazement.

"So much for my 'normal day at high school' plans, huh?" Amelia scoffed as she and Stefan walked into the Salvatore study together to get a drink. He chuckled and turned off the main light in the study, as the illuminating fireplace was enough for them to see without wasting so much electricity.

"All days aren't like this, I promise."

"But most days?"

"Most days," he agreed with a nod as they came around to the back of the couch where the alcohol tray was kept. As he moved to pour them two glasses, Amelia stepped beside him and gave a faltering smile.

"It's a good thing we rescued Elena." She pursed her lips and looked off into the glowing embers of the fire distractedly. "But now we know why Katherine really kept her around."

Stefan sighed. "Because she knew that Elena was needed in this...sacrifice thing." Amelia nodded and accepted the drink as he turned to her and extended the glass.

Her grey eyes sparkled. "What are we going to do?"

He took a sip of his alcohol. "We'll figure something out. All that matters right now is that Claire and Elena are safe."

"But Claire wasn't taken because of this Sun and Moon curse," Amelia reminded him. "She said it was because she was being tortured."

Stefan looked down. "By Delia." Amelia waited for him to clarify his response, and eventually, Stefan shook his head. "I don't know much about her. All I know is that Claire was ashamed enough to ask me never to ask about it after I tried talking to her the first time. We'll have to get the story out of her when she's ready."

"And what about you?" Stefan arched an eyebrow as she gulped down a sip of her bourbon. Quietly, she resumed, "Are you ever going to tell me what Damon meant today in the car? What he said about your past?"

Stefan fell silent. "We all have a past, Amelia."

"True. But I want to hear yours." She shrugged and set her glass down. She looked up at Stefan with concerned eyes and gave him an assuring nod. "I'm not going to judge you, okay? I have some skeletons in my closet, too. We can't all be perfect, no matter how hard we try."

She gave him a soft smile at the end and watched as Stefan hung his head and laughed, trying to conceal his partial amusement at the statement that he tried to be perfect all the time. He had to admit that it was true, but he knew that there were dark spots in his memory that he couldn't erase. But before he could tell Amelia what he wanted to say, to give her the entire story ever since he forced his brother to become a vampire, the two suddenly realized they were not alone. There was a creaking sound that was almost inaudible to the regular human ears, but not to a vampire's.

"Did you hear that?" Amelia asked, her eyes wandering around the room cautiously. Stefan put his drink down and looked around, too, with a nod. Suddenly, there was a gust of wind and a blurred figure whipped past them as almost if to frighten. Then, there was another on the opposite side of the room. No one was visible, but Amelia and Stefan knew that they were not alone. Taking no chances, Stefan flashed over to grab one of the spare stakes they had lying around just in case of a surprise attack and Amelia stood still to watch for any movement.

"Who's there?" Stefan called out. Just as he did, two figures emerged from the darkest shadows across the room where the light could not hit their faces.

"We're not here to hurt you."

"Speak for yourself, Ro—" One of the figures scoffed, but was then stopped by the other figure. Stefan beckoned Amelia over to him and she moved so that she was standing beside him with the protection of the stake in his wrist on her side.

"Why are you here?" asked Stefan.

"Lexi once told me that you're one of the good ones," said the more cooperative figure.

"You knew Lexi?"

"Trevor was my best friend." Rose stepped out into the light to reveal herself to Stefan and Amelia in peace. Her sister stayed in the shadows. "For 500 years, my sister and I have lived with him and...he's gone. And I don't wanna run anymore because I don't have anywhere else to run to."

"Well, I'm sorry, but we can't help you." Stefan's eyes drifted to Delia. "Not after what she did to my best friend."

"Listen, cupcake, we're not the ones who needs some bloody help around here!" An angered Delia stepped out into the light in front of her sister and glared at Stefan with furious eyes. "You're the one who needs our help!"

"Cordelia!" Rose snapped, earning the silence of her bitter sister. Delia crossed her arms over her chest and relaxed, but squared her jaw and turned her head from Stefan and Amelia. Rose looked over at the other two vampires. "I apologize for my sister's actions. However, though Elijah may be dead, this isn't over."

Amelia frowned. "He's dead. It has to be over."

Rose stared at her and repeated gravely, "It isn't over. The Originals, they'll come for the doppelgänger. They have to. They're doing it for him."

"For who?" Stefan asked.

Delia sharply turned her head and bit, "Klaus." Stefan and Amelia caught her dire gaze. "They're doing it for Klaus."

Claire scrubbed as hard as she could to get the bloodstains off of her satin shirt that Delia had ruined with hours of understandable yet inconvenient payback. The soap was starting to soak into her skin and the normally pleasant smell was beginning to turn rogue. She was ruining her recent shower unintentionally, but she was desperate to remove the stains.

"Come on!" Claire hissed at her shirt as she scrubbed harder. "What's a girl gotta do to get a few goddamn stains out of her shirt?"

"Pray for a miracle," said another voice. Claire looked up to find Damon standing at the threshold of her in-room bathroom, leaning against the doorframe with a smirk. "You're not getting those stains out, Claire. The shirt's soaked in blood. Just let it go."

Claire put the soap in her hand down and washed the remaining suds off of her hands with the cold water from the faucet. She wiped her hands and sighed.

"Helpful. Whatever." Frustrated, she threw the shirt into the trash and tiredly leaned on the sink, exhaling heavily. Still sensing his presence, she turned to him and snapped, "Can I help you with something?"

Damon was silent, creating a spacious air between the two. It was only a few seconds later when Claire realized how enormously rude she was being and, even though it wasn't the worst she'd ever been to the elder Salvatore, she did realize that he didn't deserve it that time.

"Oh…I'm sorry. It's just…I've been tied up all day and tortured and...I'm exhausted. For once, I actually don't mean to be so rude to you." She pulled a hair tie off of the counter and walked into her room all while gathering her long, wet blonde hair out of her face.

As she waited for him to speak his peace, Damon straightened and realized that now was not the time for silence. Now was the time for him to be honest and to do what he should've done a long time ago. In his fist, he carefully and discreetly toyed with the hair comb he held onto for dear life. It was the only thing that allowed him to do this.

"I just…need to say something."

She looked up at him. "So say it. I'm tired, Damon. I don't have the energy for games right now." He said nothing, spiking her impatience. "If you're looking for a witty response, come back during office hours. Otherwise, spit it out."

Here she was, telling him to confess to her, but he couldn't do it. Damon felt his heart start to race and he knew that the words inside of him were going to sting the both of them. Again, he toyed with the comb—his salvation. She looked so oblivious, it was almost discouraging.

"You once told me that the worst thing I'd ever done to you was fall in love with you," Damon said quietly. Claire froze. "So…what I'm about to say…you're not going to like it."

There was a pause before she caught on, shook her head, and warned, "Stop. Don't do this. Turn around and walk away, Damon. I mean it."

"I can't keep walking away from you anymore, Claire." He stepped forward, only causing her to step back tensely with her hands up as barriers. Damon stopped, and she lowered her hands slowly as their eyes locked. He swallowed. "You need to know this. I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it."

"If I hear it, I'll never be able to un-hear it!" Claire exclaimed furiously. She stopped moving away from him, giving him the leverage he needed to step forward and place both his hands on her shoulders softly to keep her standing there. But she recoiled and forced his hands off before stepping back again. "You don't get it; you'll never understand how selfish you are every single time you do this to me!"

"That's the point," Damon countered, looking right into her eyes. She turned her head at bit her lip. "I'm selfish when it comes to you. I've always been selfish when it comes to you because I love you!"

And there it was. The words hung in the air, piercing the both of them, and Claire had no choice but to look back at him and capture his meaningful gaze.

Damon nodded slowly and repeated, "I love you, Claire. I've loved you since the moment I learned how to love and I'll love you for the rest of my eternity."

Neither one of them said anything, but just stared and waited for a solution to be brought up. Claire was starting to panic, but she didn't throw a tantrum like the last time. Instead, she swallowed and thought over Damon's words for a moment. That's when she realized how close he'd gotten, but she was too frozen to move.

"Damon, please don't…" she whispered, choking out the words. But when he was right in front of her, their lips inches apart, and she didn't move anywhere or do anything, he took it for himself to surge forward and kiss her without asking, without reservations. It was unusually sweet and tender, but it was a kiss that he was determined to make himself remember for as long as he needed. She didn't object, though he expected her to. But she let him kiss her, even though he knew it killed her inside. It hurt him more, though, knowing just what he was about to do to himself to salvage the sanity of the woman he loved and the growing friendship he wanted to hold on to.

Finally, he pulled away. After a moment of silence, he found the right moment to whisper quietly, "I don't deserve you."

"Don't say that." Claire shook her head against his hand, but had nothing else to say. She brought her hand up to touch his, but she felt like she was falling down a dark hole she wouldn't be able to climb out of. Her head hurt and she would begin to panic soon, it was inevitable. What had he done? He took a wrecking ball to everything that they had built since the last time this happened. He ruined their entire relationship just to satisfy his own, selfish desires.

However, the truth was that Claire, herself, was the one who had been selfish for the past century. And she knew this truth to be self-evident, she just refused to let herself care enough to change it.

"It's true." Damon stepped away from her so that there was more distance between them, but Claire didn't object to that, either. "I never deserved you, not as a best friend or as a wife. Everything that happened, it was for the best. But if there's one person who deserves you as a friend, it's Stefan. And that's one thing I can't take away from him."

Claire looked up at him, confused. "Damon, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm sorry."

"For wha—?"

She stopped mid-sentence, frozen still like time had stopped. Damon, with watery eyes, looked down at his hand slowly and watched as a shower of the crystalized, crushed remnants of Claire's hair comb remained and floated to the ground, sealing her fate. He looked up at her again and was left to watch with despair as her eyes fell back into her head and she fell limp, right into his arms. He caught her promptly and, without wasting time, put her inside the bed so she could sleep it off.

And she would remember nothing in the morning, just like Elena had said.

Thanks for reading! Review, please! Hopefully I can get 2x09 finished before next Wednesday. I'm about halfway through it right now so I'd say there's a pretty good chance...

shiannebilling: Haha thanks! 'The strongest blood comes from the King'. That's all I can give you right now. Stay tuned with the next chapter to find out what that means :)

ThisIsMeAndYou: He might come back sooner than you'd think. But I intend on giving Christopher a life before he jumps into a relationship again. After all, he devoted himself to Claire who was basically lying to him about Damon the entire time. He needs a trip to discover himself.

NicoleR85: He'll come back. I can't speak to whether or not he will stay, but he will be coming back. Let's just say that Claire is going to have a fun time dealing with him and Damon at the same time.

SomebodyWhoCares: Stefilia? Amefan? I don't know, I'm not good at making up ship names :)

grapejuice101: Here's the update! Worth the wait?

Savage Kill: It's the theme of the story: don't piss people off because they will eventually hate you and claim revenge :P