Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Vampire Diaries, TV show or books. However I decided to have a little play around with the characters (I would definitely like to play with Damon).

I apologize for the delay, I've had to re-write this chapter twice to enable me to go down the route I wanted. I think I'm good now.

For all of those who reviewed, liked and favourited as Breaking the Curse, I'd like to thank you. They were very much appreciated.

The chapters from Breaking the Curse - Bloodlines are:

1 - 36

2 - 37

3 - 38

4 - 39

If you have not read Breaking the Curse, you need to go back to chapter 36 of this story.

Stefan and Alaric had arrived in New Orleans almost a week earlier. They'd been trying to arrange a meeting with Elijah, who turned out to be constantly busy, however he'd finally agreed to meet them at the plantation house which Matt and Rebekah had met with the witch Damaris. Elijah had let them know he'd gone through Kol's things and discovered some important information which they might find useful. They were also tasked with trying to get Elijah to give them Katherine's whereabouts, however, they knew the chances of him revealing the information was slim.

Whilst waiting for their meeting with Elijah, they'd roamed New Orleans, paying particular notice to the word on the street among witches who were claiming some miracle child was soon to be born, one so powerful it would take down all witches that crossed it's path. This had worried them both, however they'd decided not to relay any information back to Damon and Elena until they returned to wherever Damon's safe house was. It was finally after this waiting, in which Stefan and Alaric found them outside the plantation house knocking on the door when, to Stefan's surprise, the werewolf who'd unsired Klaus's hybrid's answered the door.

"Hayley isn't it?" Stefan asked confused at her appearance.

"Yeah." she replied looking at him as if he was a piece of dirt on her shoe. "Elijah told me you were coming." she said as she eyed Ric suspiciously.

"I'm Alaric Saltzman, but you can call me Ric." Ric smiled and held out his hand however Hayley just looked at him disdainfully as she wrapped her arms around her waist, causing Ric to frown.

"Come on in." Hayley gestured for Stefan and Ric to enter, who immediately followed. "The parlor is over there." she told them, pointing to a room leading away from the grand entrance. "Elijah has gone to get some stuff, so help yourself to whatever you want to drink." she nodded in the direction of a wet bar and walked off.

"Thank you." Stefan called after her as Ric rolled his eyes.

"Polite girl." Ric frowned as he walked over to the wet bar and poured himself a generous glass of bourbon. "The good stuff." he smiled as he poured one for Stefan and handed it to him.

"What did you expect?" Stefan smiled as they heard a cough behind them, signaling their entrance.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." Elijah appeared, smiling and carrying a folder in one hand. "Glad to see you are already making yourselves at home." he said. "Shall we sit?" Elijah gestured with his free hand to one of the couches where Stefan and Ric promptly sat down. "I do apologize for making you wait a week to meet with me, however you must appreciate, I was a little concerned when I saw you." Elijah said looking at Ric as he sat down himself, placing the folder next to him.

"Don't worry, I'm no longer hell bent on killing vampires." Ric sighed.

"I'm sure you understand, I had to be sure." Elijah replied. "Protecting my family is of my...utmost concern." he said as Stefan and Ric exchanged glances before nodding.

"I came back the old me." Ric assured him. "Although I am still a vampire." he sighed, clearly unhappy about the situation.

"So I take it you came to discuss Katerina's whereabouts." Elijah stated, changing the subject.

"Among other things." Stefan replied.

"Go ahead." Elijah offered.

"Do you remember when Damon and I had dinner at your place and we opened the coffins to let your family out?" Stefan asked.

"I do recall it very clearly." Elijah replied.

"You told my brother and I a story about the first doppelganger." Stefan told Elijah as a glint appeared in the Original vampire's eye.

"Go on." Elijah said. "I'm listening."

"You told us she had a child with another man, her husband." Stefan said. "Who was he?" he asked.

"He was just another villager." Elijah replied.

"Did you know him?" Ric asked.

"I may have made his acquaintance on a select few occasions." Elijah told them. "Why do you ask?" Elijah eyed them suspiciously.

"What did he look like?" Ric asked taking a sip of his bourbon.

Elijah sat back, crossed his legs and draped an arm over the back of the couch and stared at the vampires in front of him. "That was not the question I was expecting." he said. "But nonetheless it shouldn't be a huge surprise either." Elijah turned to Stefan. "He bore an uncanny resemblance to you." he shrugged. "Why do you ask?" he frowned.

"And you never thought this information might be of some use?" Stefan frowned.

"I never considered it to be anything more than a coincidence." Elijah shrugged. "The resemblance was uncanny, however due to certain fashion changes, I couldn't be sure that the resemblance was exact." he said.

"Fashion changes?" Ric raised an eyebrow.

"We all looked very different a thousand years ago." Elijah explained. "We had long hair and some villagers wore face paint." he said. "Tatia's husband was one who wore face paint."

"So you couldn't tell Stefan was his doppelganger?" Ric said as Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"It isn't obvious." Elijah frowned. "But not out of the realm of possibilities." he said. "Why is it so important?" he asked.

"How many people know what Tatia's husband looked like?" Ric asked.

"My family is all." Elijah told them. "Everyone else is dead now." he said.

"It needs to stay that way." Stefan told him. "If anyone finds out, we're all in danger." he said.

"Why is it so important?" Elijah asked, narrowing his eyes, as Stefan and Ric exchanged glances.

"The Travelers are looking for the Silas doppelganger." Ric told him as he looked over to Stefan.

"How did you know it was Tatia's husband?" Elijah frowned.

"Tatia, Katherine and Elena are all Amara's doppelganger." Stefan told him. "There was a curse placed upon the doppelgangers to fall in love with each other." he explained.

"Like you and Elena?" Elijah asked as Stefan nodded. "And where does Katerina fit into all of this?" he asked.

"Emily told us Stefan looked like the father of her child." Stefan told Elijah. "We just wanted to know why she never told us." he lied.

"Is it relevant?" Elijah asked. "If Emily Bennett told you this, which also corresponds with Tatia's husband being a doppelganger, it will not help you in any way whatsoever." he frowned. "I believe what you really wanted to know where Katerina is being kept." he smiled knowingly.

"It would help." Stefan shrugged.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Elijah told them. "You see, should Silas find where Katerina is currently residing, then he could try draining her, and if my suspicions are correct, he will become mortal once more and lower the veil to the other side. As you can probably appreciate, I do not wish for that to happen." he said.

"Bonnie is no longer fueled by Expression." Stefan told him.

"It doesn't matter." Elijah told him as Stefan and Ric looked at each other. "He just needed her to gain the power of Expression." he explained. "She may have been cleared from it by witches to stop her practicing it, but her body still holds the energy." he said. "As long as he has something which belongs to her, he can find another witch who practices Expression to channel her, and because she can no longer feel the magic, she'd never know she was being channeled." he said as Stefan and Ric looked on in horror.

"How do you know all of this?" Ric frowned.

"Do not forget, our mother was a witch." Elijah sighed. "Also, after being on this earth for a thousand years, you do learn a thing or two." he smirked. "There is also this." Elijah picked up the folder next to him and opened it, revealing a journal and pieces of paper, some of which appeared to be very old.

"A journal?" Stefan asked.

"Kol's to be precise." Elijah told him. "Kol was fascinated with witches." he explained. "When he wasn't causing mayhem and destruction, he tended to move in witch circles. He was fascinated by particular branches of magic and was very knowledgeable in relation to Silas." he said. "I have only briefly browsed though his writings, and this journal comes from a time he spent with witches who were very aware of Silas." Elijah continued. "I believe some of the information you need might be stored inside this journal and some of these letters." he said. "Unfortunately, I am unable to loan these to you, however, I do offer a place to stay for a couple of nights whilst you read them and make notes of anything you should find of interest."he offered. "However, you cannot tell anyone about your presence here."

"Don't worry." Stefan assured him. "We're not keeping in touch with Damon and Elena until we leave New Orleans." he said.

"Will they not try to use a locator spell on you?" Elijah asked. "I cannot have anyone knowing you are here." he said. "Rebekah and the human boy were already here asking questions and a witch was killed." he told them. "Suspicions are rife within the community around the possible rise of Silas. To make matters worse, witches are not able to practice magic within New Orleans." he explained.

"They were asking about the Travelers." Stefan explained. "They're the ones who worship Silas. We needed information about what they knew." he said.

"And did you get it?" Elijah asked.

"Yes." Stefan told him. "Well, we got some information, enough for us to work out another way to destroy Silas." he said.

"Do you think you can do it?" Elijah asked. "Kill Silas?"

"That's why I'm here." Ric told him. "I'm part of the 'how' to kill him, although we don't know what else it involves yet. We're hoping any small amounts of information might help." he said, making sure he didn't reveal what they already knew.

"Is there a weapon?" Elijah asked.

"We don't know." Stefan shrugged. "We've been through all of the information provided by our source, and if there is, it is coded and we haven't worked it out yet."

"Or the witch who gave you this information did not know what the actual weapon was." Elijah offered.

Stefan nodded. "That is a possibility." he said. "We know we need to remove his magic." Stefan told him.

"Are you able to do that?" Elijah asked.

"We're working on it." Stefan explained. "But it is a very slow process. It will take months to prepare." he explained.

"What is the process?" Elijah eyed Stefan with suspicion.

"I've compelled him not to tell you." Ric lied before Stefan could reply as Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Well, I've compelled him not to tell anyone." he said. "For safety reasons of course." he smiled.

"Of course." Elijah replied. "Well, that I can understand, the less people know the better for all involved." he said.

"Including yourself." Stefan added. "This is as much for your safety as ours." he said. "If there is anything in here you need to know, for your own protection, then we'll tell you. Deal?" he asked, standing up and holding his hand out to Elijah.

"That's a fair deal." Elijah replied. "I accept." he said, shaking Stefan's hand. "However, I do think you should get a move on, we don't want anyone tracking you down here." he said.

"Don't worry." Ric told Elijah. "The last place anyone is going to come looking is here." he said. "Mystic Falls on the other hand is a different matter. I'd suggest when we leave, you try and get Rebekah to stay here, for her own protection." he added.

"I'll take the matter into consideration." Elijah said, straightening his suit jacket down. "Now if you'll excuse me gentleman, I have other matters to attend to." he said and with that he left the room.

Caroline knocked on the door of the Sheriff's office. Although the office belonged to her mom, she was here on semi-official business for the council as she was currently representing Damon whilst he was with Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy, meaning this was not a social visit and she wanted to adhere to whatever formalities Damon might stick to.

"Hi mom." Caroline smiled as she popped her head around the door.

"Come in sweetie." Liz said as Caroline walked into the office and sat down at the desk in the chair opposite. "So what's going on here?" Liz asked. "The entire vampire population of Mystic Falls, except for you and Rebekah Mikaelson, disappear, along with Jeremy Gilbert and Bonnie Bennett, who may I add has made Mayor Hopkins very angry because she left with only a note saying she's safe and well." she frowned. "He was this far from filing a missing person's report." she held up her finger and thumb to Caroline. "What am I supposed to tell him?" she asked.

"Bonnie's safe." Caroline told her. "But she won't be if she's here in Mystic Falls. Some witches and Silas might be on the lookout for her. Getting her out of town and not telling anyone where she was going was the only option." she explained.

"Why not?" Liz asked.

"Silas was able to get into Klaus's head and convince him he was dying." Caroline told her. "Even I don't know where they are because Silas could try and fool me into thinking he is someone else and get into my head and find them." she said.

"Aww honey." Liz frowned. "Are you safe here?" she asked, her voice full of concern as Caroline nodded.

"Yes mom." Caroline assured her. "I'm not involved in the Silas problem." she explained. "Bonnie needs protection and Damon, Stefan and Ric are the oldest vampires, although I can easily take Stefan down." she lied, deciding to keep everyone's true role a secret, which she'd update Damon with. "Damon won't leave Elena and Elena won't leave Jeremy. They need someone back in Mystic Falls to keep an eye on things, so I volunteered." she said. "With the help of Matt." she added.

"Why are these people looking for her?" Liz asked.

"Professor Shane got her caught up in raising a two thousand year old immortal called Silas using black magic." Caroline explained. "Now we suspect the witches who worship Silas might be after her and Silas himself has disappeared, which is where you come in." she said.

"So Damon wants me to track this Silas guy?" Liz asked.

"Silas has disappeared." Caroline told her. "That's why Damon asked you to track disappearing blood supplies or any bodies drained of blood, but not vampires." she explained. "Silas is an immortal but he isn't a vampire. But he drinks human blood." she said. "And lots of it." she added.

"Well, I've been tracking any unusual activity and I found this pattern." Liz told Caroline as she pulled out a map and began to draw circles around the areas where the blood had gone missing.

"Charlottesville, Winchester, Hagerstown, Cumberland..." Caroline frowned as she read out the list of places circled on the map where large quantities of blood had gone missing from blood banks and hospitals. "Makes no sense." she said shaking her head.

"Well, it looks like he's heading north." Sheriff Forbes told her. "We found some campers near here." Liz pointed to an unmarked area of the map. "They were drained of blood with a knife mark on the wrist."

"That's Silas." Caroline confirmed.

"No more blood banks have been raided since." Liz told her.

"When was the last one?" Caroline asked.

"Two weeks ago." Liz said.

"And the campers." Caroline frowned.

"The coroner put the date of death as two days after the last hospital." Liz told her. "Admittedly I haven't been looking for any other similar deaths since because I didn't know what you were looking for, and I only got this report come through this morning, but I can get on it." she said.

"I'll let Damon know." she said. "Thanks mom." Caroline smiled.

"No problem honey." Liz smiled back. "Do you want me to continue looking for people who've just been drained?" she asked as Caroline nodded.

"Please. If we need you to stop looking for him then I'll tell you, but we don't know where Silas is going so we need to keep tracking him until it looks like he's coming back to Mystic Falls." Caroline explained as she turned to leave.

"Will you be home for dinner?" Liz asked.

"Yes mom." Caroline rolled her eyes as she walked over to Liz and hugged her before making her way out of the Sheriff's office to update Damon on the news.

Damon walked through the door of the Lake House with a smile on his face whilst Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy, who had been sat around playing Monopoly, looked up to see what he had to say.

Damon held his hand up with a set of keys and shook them. "I say we're moving house." he grinned as Elena jumped up, ran over to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"What about furniture?" she asked pulling away frowning. "More specifically beds." Elena said with a knowing look on her face.

"I was already on it. I have tried and trusted suppliers who can get what I want in twenty four hours." Damon told her. "Everything was ordered the day I bought the house, and is being delivered as we speak." he said smugly as he kissed her before turning to face Bonnie. "I think we need to add some finishing touches." he added with a grin.

Caroline headed back to her car, got inside and called Damon's new number, it rang four times before he answered.

"Blondie." his voice came from the other end. "Any news?" he asked.

"Nobody has been asking questions." Caroline told him. "But I've just been to see my mom and she's found four areas where blood banks or hospitals have been robbed." she said.

"Go on." Damon insisted.

"Charlottesville, Winchester, Hagerstown and Cumberland in Maryland." Caroline said. "But the Cumberland robbery was over two weeks ago."

"So he was heading north." Damon replied. "I'm guessing Willoughby." he said.

"Where?" Caroline asked.

"Willoughby Pennsylvania. That's where Katherine was." Damon told her. "I wonder how he found out she was there." he said absentmindedly.

"That's not all." Caroline said. "Two campers were found near Cumberland drained of blood, but instead of being drained like a vampire, their wrists were slashed." she told him.

"Classy." Damon said dismissively. "Maybe next time he'll find a curly straw, stick it in their necks and suck the blood out that way." he said sarcastically.

"Eww...Damon...Seriously?" Caroline chided him.

"It was a joke." Damon replied in an exasperated tone.

"It wasn't funny." Caroline heard Bonnie's deadpan voice say through the phone.

"Well anyway..." Caroline decided to get them back on track. "I've asked my mom to start to search for anyone who has been drained of blood." she said. "I'm guessing he's fed enough so he no longer needs to steal from blood banks. Instead a couple of humans should be enough every day or two." she explained.

"Was Liz not searching for those." Damon asked.

"She only got the first report through first thing this morning." Caroline told him. "And we can only get reports when people are found. If he's draining people in the middle of woods, mountain ranges or just the middle of nowhere, the bodies aren't going to turn up straight away." she explained.

"I knew that." Damon huffed.

"She's on it now." Caroline assured Damon.

"Tell her to widen the search." Damon said. "Start with Willoughby and then widen the search, anything in the last two weeks is probably more interesting as he's obviously not heading straight back to Mystic Falls." he told her.

"How do you know?" Caroline frowned.

"He'd be there by now." Damon told her. "Meaning he's already found Katherine, which I find doubtful if Elijah is hiding her." he said. "Speaking of which, have you heard from Stefan or Ric?" he asked.

"Why would they call me instead of you?" Caroline asked.

"Well, considering you and Stefan are so close right now..." Damon teased.

"I don't know what you mean." Caroline replied indignantly.

"Hey I'm not judging." Damon laughed. "He's an improvement on wolf boy and Klaus." he chuckled.

"We are so not having this conversation!" Caroline huffed.

"Oh we so are." Damon teased. "We're stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, with no gossip, I've been banned from playing Monopoly because I always win..." he started.

"He cheats." Caroline heard Elena call out.

"I do not." Damon replied. "I'm just more experienced than you." Caroline heard him say to Elena.

"As fascinating as it sounds to hear how the Salvatore, Gilbert, Bennett Monopoly championship is going." Caroline sighed. "I have things to do, like plan graduation." she said checking the time on her phone. "I've got a committee meeting in ten minutes."

"Fine...You go to the meeting." Caroline could practically hear Damon's eye roll. "Remember, if you get someone asking questions..."

"I know, tell them it's Elena is Katherine and she disappeared right after Homecoming." Caroline repeated the idea Damon had come up with before they left.

"And grab a piece of the persons hair and put it in the locket Bonnie gave you." Damon told her. "And make sure Quarterback is doing the same." he sighed. "I don't trust him to remember his own name, let alone trust him with something this significant."

"Says you who has never bothered to find out his name." Caroline snapped.

"Okay, gossip time up." Damon sighed. "Go to your meeting. We need to run, time to pack for the big move." he said.

"Bye Caroline." Caroline heard the collective voices of Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy over the phone.

"Bye, have fun." she replied as she hung up.

After Damon had finished speaking to Caroline, he turned to Bonnie. "So, I was just about to ask, do you mind adding a few finishing touches to the new house?" he asked. "Something a little magical." he grinned.

"Cloaking spell?" Bonnie asked as Damon nodded. "Anything else?" she asked.

"A barrier spell wouldn't work against Silas would it?" Damon asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "Not a conventional one." she told him. "But when we get there I can go through the grimoires and see if there's anything I can work with." she said as Damon nodded. "Do you want me to do the cloaking spell now?" she asked as Damon nodded.

"What do you need?" he replied.

"The address and if they're the keys to the house, they'll do." Bonnie told him. "Can you get me some candles, salt and a map of the area, I have the rest in my bag." she said as she went to go and retrieve her grimoire and the remaining ingredients for the spell.

"I got the salt." Jeremy called out from the kitchen whilst Damon took out a large detailed map of Richmond from his pocket.

"I also need some of your blood." Bonnie told Damon and Elena, returning and moving the game of Monopoly before laying the map out flat on the living room table. "Where's the house?" she asked.

"There." Damon pointed to a property on the map as he handed Bonnie the keys. Bonnie began to arrange everything she needed. Candles surrounded the map as she drew a circle around the area the property was in with the salt and placed a small piece of sandalwood inside the circle.

"I want your blood in the middle of the salt." Bonnie told them as Damon bit his hand and let blood drop into the center of the salt circle. Elena followed suit as Bonnie closed her eyes and began to chant the spell. "Phasmatos radium invisique." she repeated over and over until the blood and wood merged together as flames suddenly erupted from the map and Bonnie stopped chanting. "It's done." she smiled, however almost immediately the room began to shake.

"Bonnie...what the hell?" Jeremy cried out.

"Bonnie?" Elena cried with fear.

"What's going on witchy?" Damon demanded.

"I think it's the baby...it's...it's fighting me." Bonnie said, knitting her brow in confusion.

"How can a four week old fetus fight you?" Damon asked. "Even I know it has no conscious thought." he said.

"It already has self preservation." Elena said.

"How?" Damon asked.

"We don't have time for this guys." Bonnie said, beginning to look a little unwell.

"I've got an idea." Elena said, grabbing Bonnie's hand and placing it on her stomach with her own. "She's only trying to keep you safe." Elena assured her stomach in a soothing voice. "She's not trying to hurt you." As quickly as the room had begun to shake it stopped and Bonnie frowned.

"It's stopped fighting me." she told them, a look of fear on her face.

"What's going on Bonnie?" Jeremy asked.

"The baby." Bonnie replied. "It's already almost as strong as me." she told them, her voice a almost a whisper as they all exchanged looks of shock mixed with fear.

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