Once I got started on this chapter, it went pretty quickly. I said in the summary that I was going to be disrupting the Mystic Falls status quo and in this chapter, you can consider it not so much disrupted, as ripped to pieces.

I figure, this story has to end somewhere, and while this won't be the last chapter (1, perhaps 2 to go), from here on out, things are different for these characters.

Again, I thank my reviewers and those who are following this story for their support. As usual, my confidence is lacking, I just hope it's me being me :(

Elena picked her phone off the table and took her seat beside Stefan. The room was completely still; the drop of a pin could have been heard clear as day, when finally, Damon broke the silence, "Who wants to hear my idea?" While no one spoke, everyone immediately turned to face him and again after a brief silence, he continued, "Alright then, I'll just talk and if anyone feels like chiming in; go for it. Stefan and I bring Anna's necklace to Katherine, give it to her, and when she thinks she's invulnerable, we stake her and we're done; like I said, 'wham bam, thank you ma'am'."

Anna shook her head and replied, "That won't work."

"Why not?" Damon asked.

"Because if she asks you to prove that it works, just what are you planning on doing?" Anna asked. Stefan and Damon shared a glance while Anna continued, "She might not have been bright enough to figure out the Grimoir, but she's not that stupid. We tell her we've got what she's looking for and she's going to want proof before she lets them go."

"Even if we give her the necklace, this is nothing more than a game to her," Stefan replied. "There's no way we can guarantee she won't just kill them anyway. She's stronger and faster than any of us. If she makes a move, there's nothing any of us could do to stop her."

Elena's eyes filled with tear as Bonnie asked, "What about magic?"

"What do you mean?" Elena asked with glass covered eyes.

"The spell to turn a vampire into a human," Bonnie replied. "I'd have to speak it aloud, but if I can get the whole thing out in time-"

"She'll kill you," Damon interrupted. "As soon as she sees you, or hears your voice, she'll kill you and she'll kill them."

"What if I gave her the necklace?" Anna interjected, immediately garnering a look of concern from Jeremy.

"And leave yourself vulnerable?" Jeremy replied, "Not a chance."

"I'm a big girl and we're running out of options, Jer," Anna replied.

"I don't care, I-"

Jeremy was interrupted as Damon turned to Bonnie and asked, "At your place, you were able to hold her, right?" A slight smile formed on Bonnie's lips; she had an idea where he was going with this and he continued, "Do you think you can hold her, and do that spell?"

"I've never tried anything like that, but in theory it could work," Bonnie replied.

Elena struggled to remain calm as she addressed her friend, "It's a good idea, but we can't trust this to a theory."

"Try it on me," Damon replied, instantly bringing everyone in the room to drop their jaw.

"What?" Elena asked.

Damon couldn't have been more nonchalant as he spoke, "You know that me turning was Stefan's idea in the first place…" Stefan glared at his brother as he continued, "…besides, I've got friends in high places all over this town and if I'm human, I don't have anything to worry about."

"And what about the potential to be driven mad; did you forget about that?" Stefan asked. "What if we need you when we meet with her?"

"If you've got a better idea we're all ears, brother," Damon replied silencing Stefan and putting an end to any doubt over how serious he was about this. "If Bonnie can do this, then this gets a whole lot simpler."

"But, Damon-"

He interrupted Elena, almost looking bored of waiting, "If I go nuts, knock me over the head and have one of them turn me again."

"This is just a game for you too, isn't it?" Stefan asked, taking his brother's actions as nothing more than showboating.

"No, this is the best idea we've got and it could work," Damon barked. "Like I said, if you've got something better, we'd all love to hear it."

As Stefan and Damon trailed off bickering, Jeremy finally spoke up, "This only works if Bonnie can get to her without her killing everyone first. Even if this works, how are you going to get to her?"

Elena checked the time and last call on her phone; thirty minutes.

Katherine casually strolled through Alaric's home. Taking and looking as she pleased while she awaited Elena's call. In the living area, Alaric and Jenna remained bound to their chairs. Alaric kept a discreet eye on the clock, growing more uncomfortable by the second.

Jenna had finally stopped crying, though her face was beet red as she asked, "What the hell is going on? "Why is Elena-?"

"She's not Elena," Alaric replied.

"But how…" Jenna got lost in her thoughts for a moment before continuing, "…she looks-"

"I know, but believe me when I tell you, that is not her."

"She bit me, why did she bite me?" Jenna asked.

"Jenna…" Alaric began only to stop himself. She'd been in the dark long enough, and though he'd have loved to keep it that way, it was far too late, "…she's a vampire."

Jenna's expression barely shifted to one of disbelief as she asked, "What?"

"She's a vampire," Alaric replied. "Right now, she can hear every word we're saying, every breath we take, she can-"

"Hear your hearts as they beat in your chests," Katherine interrupted with a smile as she rejoined her pawns.

"But how is that possible?" Jenna asked.

Katherine knelt before Elena's bound aunt. The whites of her eyes filled with blood, and her face changed accordingly as she replied, "You truly are an annoying human." Jenna's eyes widened in fear as Katherine let out a slight growl, sure to reveal just enough of her fangs to terrify Jenna even further.

Tears once again ran down Jenna's cheeks as she asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Katherine smiled and seductively ran her hand up Jenna's bare calf as she replied, "Because it's fun, and because your niece and her little friends are the only ones who can help me find what I'm looking for."

"So you're having a couple of kids do your dirty work?" Alaric asked in an effort to get Katherine's attention off of Jenna.

Katherine stood and turned to face Alaric, her face still in its vampire state as she raised and placed her foot atop one of his knees. She rested her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm as she spoke, "Yeah; shame on me, right?"

"No, that's about what I expected from what I know of you," Alaric replied in casual disgust.

"Really?" Katherine asked as she carefully straddled Alaric's lap, "What else do you know about me?"

Alaric pulled himself as far away from her as he could, "I know you're older than the Salvatore's by more than a couple years."

"Mmmm…" Katherine purred in an effort to rile Jenna. She wrapped an arm behind his neck and enticingly ran her thumb down his lips as she continued, "Tell me more about me."

"Are you sure about this?" Bonnie asked as she stood opposite Damon in the living area of Elena's home. Over these past couple weeks, after all she'd been through in the passing of her grandmother, Bonnie thought she knew Damon Salvatore. Yet as he stood before her, fully prepared to give himself to an entirely selfless act, she truly realized she had no idea who he was.

While Damon nodded, he himself couldn't have been any more unsure of his actions and he couldn't allow himself to be; he simply needed to go through with it. Elena again checked her watch, just as Bonnie raised her hands; fifteen minutes. Just before the witch spoke, Elena called out to Stefan's brother, "Damon…" All eyes were on her as she spoke, "…you don't have to do this. We can find another way."

Damon smiled slightly as he replied, "I don't see Anna or my brother volunteering for this little experiment."

While Anna and Stefan seemed to bow their heads in shame, Elena exclaimed, "We can find a way without having to do this to any of you!"

"How much time is left, Elena?" Damon asked. When she failed to reply, he turned his gaze back to Bonnie and ordered her as politely as he could, "Go for it."

"Damon…" Stefan began, gathering Damon's attention and once again interrupting the spell. He felt insurmountable guilt over what he'd done to Damon so many years ago and now, there couldn't have been a more perfect time for an apology, "…I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Damon smiled that unsettling and confident smile of his as he finished his thought, "It's been a hell of a ride, brother."

When his eyes were back on her, Bonnie waited for no permissions. She knew time was running out and immediately began the spells. Almost instantly, the first of the spells took hold, sending Damon's hands crashing onto his ears in agony. Elena would be the one to flinch at the sight of Damon in extreme pain. As he cried out, he fell to his side and managed to break a few words free, "Whenever…you're…ready…with…that…other…spell!"

The tone of Bonnie's voice changed, becoming more powerful and commanding as the magic overtook her. A feint aura of white light emanated from Damon's form as the pitch and volume of his screams elevated. Elena's hand rose to cover her mouth as her tears ran harder still at what she was witnessing. It took mere seconds for Bonnie to complete the spell, and at speaking her last word, a light stream of blood poured from the witch's nose, and her eyes closed as she fell to the floor. Elena immediately rushed to tend to her friend while Stefan ran to his brother.

"Damon?" Stefan asked as he helped his brother's shivering form upright. When Damon's eyes locked on Stefan, he knew the spell had worked. Damon's eyes were full of color once again and his shivering had begun to slow.

Bonnie's eyes fluttered opened and Elena asked, "Are you alright?"

As she lay on the floor of Elena's home, the witch's eyes were not on her friend, but on the former vampire just a few feet in front of her. "Did it work?" She asked as Damon's eyes met hers.

Damon was cold and clearly suffering the effects Emily had warned of. As he fought through the mental anguish, he managed to reply, "It worked."

Elena checked her watch and before standing, asked her friend, "Are you alright, Bonnie?"

"I'll be fine," Bonnie assured her friend. "Go, make the call."

Much to Jenna's dismay, Katherine was still toying with Alaric. "You should have seen what I did to them," Katherine laughed, bragging about a group of men she had seduced and drank dry, as though Alaric might find it impressive. He maintained a contrived, yet moderately entertained expression as Jenna's phone rang on his coffee table. Katherine finally stood from Alaric's lap and answered the phone, "Right on time. So do you have what I want?"

"We've got it," Elena replied. "But before we give it to you, I have some rules."

Katherine simply laughed, louder and louder. Of course she knew Elena was holding an ace, she still felt it necessary to unsettle the confident young girl as greatly as she could. "And what rules might those be?"

"Anna and I will make the exchange," Elena replied.

"So far so good," Katherine replied.

"I want to see my aunt and Alaric at the exchange. If anything happens to them, I destroy the necklace."

"So it's a necklace," Katherine replied.

"Yeah, and it was around Anna's neck when you saw her earlier," Katherine's arrogant smile fell flat as Elena continued. "Had you been a little smarter you could have had it hours ago."

"You cocky little bitch," Katherine scolded. "I could kill them both and-"

"And what?" Elena interrupted arrogantly, further enraging Katherine. "You kill them, I destroy the necklace and we get every last vampire hunter in this town after you."

Katherine was good. She was older, faster, stronger, and most certainly more insane than any vampire Mystic Falls had ever known. She probably could have dealt with a good number of the hunters, but in the end, she knew how this would end for her. She swallowed her pride for a moment and replied, "Don't you have things figured out?"

"Yes…" Elena replied with the supreme confidence, someone holding all the cards should have, "…I do."

"When and where?" Katherine asked.

"My house, ten minutes," Elena replied. "If I don't see them before I see you, the necklace is destroyed."

Katherine wanted to reach her hands through the phone and slowly strangle the life out of Elena. Unfortunately, she knew how this had to play out to get what she wanted and replied accordingly, "Ten minutes. I see the witch, the Salvatore's or anyone other than Annabelle, and you can do what you like with the necklace. I'll kill the teacher and I'll make you watch as I kill your aunt for days."

Elena simply ended the call and Katherine threw Jenna's Blackberry against a wall of Alaric's home, shattering it completely. She strolled over to Jenna who looked more terrified than ever and commented, "That niece of yours has spunk. But what she doesn't know…"

Katherine grabbed a hold of Jenna's neck and immediately she begged with tear soaked cheeks, "Please-"

"Don't!" Alaric shouted, though nothing was going to stop Katherine from getting out her anger. She snapped Jenna's neck and her head slumped lifelessly to its side.

"…won't hurt her." Katherine finished. She stepped to Alaric who was now writhing and incoherently barking obscenities at her and forced her hand to his mouth to silence him. As he continued to scream at her, she calmly spoke over his muffled cries, "Relax. If this falls through, your death will at least be fast."

Jenna's head twitched and her neck cracked and creaked as life returned to her. As her neck straightened out, her pain finally manifested audibly. Distracted for a moment, Alaric bit Katherine's finger, which quickly brought her attention back to him. She smiled slightly as she observed this desperate attempt of a human to cause her pain. She pulled her hand from his lips and slapped him across the face with her bloody palm, leaving red trails where her four fingers struck his face.

At Elena's house, Anna and Jeremy sat on his bed, facing one another. Jeremy was terrified for her. If any one part of this plan didn't play out perfectly, he could lose her again, and this time it could be real. She saw how badly he was hurting as he sat silent, his face turned down and away from her. She delicately raised her fingers to his chin and lifted his eyes to meet her. Just as she could see the tears in his eyes, he could see them in hers. He knew she was every bit as worried as him.

Her fingers ran down the side of his face as she quietly spoke, "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Promise?" Jeremy asked.

Anna leaned to him and placed a kiss on his lips. His hands found her face, holding her to him, affirming his love for her through his gentle embrace. As she pulled away from him, she replied, "Promise."

Anna stood from Jeremy's bed and with nothing more than a glance, slowly closed the door behind her. By the time she had reached the living area, she had calmed her nerves. Her cheeks were dry, and their typical pale tone as she came to Elena in the kitchen. She stood at the spot she had found her father in just a few hours earlier. She could barely even comprehend the hatred she harbored for him, yet still she mourned him. In the end, the fact remained that he was her father.

Clearly aware of Elena's silent moment, Anna quietly asked, "Are you alright?"

Elena snapped out of her trance and looked up to Anna. She collected her thoughts and replied, "I just wish I could have had the chance to make things right between us." She looked back down to the floor of the kitchen and continued, "For him to see that there's more to your kind than he ever could have known."

"I know it's not my place, Elena. I can only imagine what you think of me, but…" she searched for the right words, "…if you knew this place as it was all those years ago, you would know that nothing, not even what Damon did here tonight would have changed his opinion."

Elena spent the last of her tears and replied, "I could have tried."

Stefan stepped into the room and asked, "Are you both ready?"

Anna and Elena shared a glance and Elena nodded in reply, "Yeah, we're good."

Stefan shot Anna a brief, but telling look and Anna left the room. Stefan turned to Elena and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. He lowered his lips to hers as she wrapped her arms around him. After a short but warm kiss, Stefan pulled away and attempted to settle Elena's nerves, "This will all be over in just a few minutes. No matter what she says, remember to keep calm." Stefan's head perked up and he turned back to Elena, "She'll be here any minute."

"Go," Elena replied before standing on her toes to give him one last kiss. Without another word, Stefan hastily made his way to Elena's room to join Damon who was still adjusting to being human.

With the last of the group gone from view, Elena turned to Anna and this time, she would be the one to ask, "Are you ready?"

Anna turned back to Elena, nodded and they headed through to the front door to wait for Katherine. Elena went through the plan over and over again in her mind. She tried to simplify it to herself; just a series of events that had to play out in a certain order to achieve a specific result. Through the decorative glass panels in the front door, Elena caught her first glimpse of Alaric and Jenna. They were unrestrained, and as per her agreement with Katherine, they were seen before her doppelganger.

As they got closer, Elena could see Katherine following closely behind them. Through the glass, Katherine's eyes met Elena's and whether in fear, or confidence, Elena's gaze failed to waver. She opened the door as the approached, revealing Jenna in a state of complete shock. Her skin was pale and as she closed in on Elena, she asked, "Are you alright?"

Jenna merely nodded with a look of terror on her face. Elena turned to Alaric and again asked, "You?"

He nodded as well and finally Katherine spoke, "You two, move."

From the top of the stairs, Bonnie stood with her back to the wall carefully listening in, waiting for just the right moment.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked as Jenna and Alaric parted for Katherine.

Bonnie peaked out around the corner to see that Jenna and Alaric were out of Elena's reach. She turned back before she could be seen and struggled to keep her words to herself, though her expression told of her disappointment.

Katherine reached behind her to retrieve a simple wooden stake. Elena watched as Katherine's hand moved, almost in slow motion as she tossed the stake to her. Had she swung her hand just a bit further and tapped the threshold, the plan could have ended right there. Fortunately, Elena caught the stake and again Bonnie peaked around the corner.

"What is-"

"That my necklace?" Katherine interrupted, her eyes deadlocked on the charm around Anna's neck.

"Yes," Anna replied, her fingers rising to the necklace.

"Good," Katherine replied. She turned her attention to Elena and ordered, "Stake her."

"What?" Elena asked.

"Drive that stake through her heart," Katherine slowly ordered, sure to give every word teeth. "When she wakes up, you can have them back."

Elena looked down at the stake, then back to Katherine, "I'm not going to stake her."

Katherine reached to her right and grabbed a hold of Jenna. She again wrapped an arm around her throat and immediately, Alaric attempted to assume the role of the hero. He moved as swiftly as he could but Katherine was far too fast for him. Before he even knew what had hit him, he was on the ground with Katherine's foot on his throat. As she looked up to Elena, her face once again shifted to its vampire state and she spoke, "This only goes one way, Elena. Stake her, or I'll drain your aunt dry."

Elena slowly turned to Anna. While she could completely believe what Katherine had asked her to do, she had forgotten that this might come up. Before Elena could speak, Anna spoke for her, "It's alright."

"I'm-"

Just as she attempted to offer her an apology for what she was to do, Anna reached out and pulled the stake into her chest. Elena quickly withdrew her hand and Anna proceeded to fall to the floor. Elena hastily knelt beside her and as her hands flew to remove the stake, Katherine barked, "Leave it!"

Anna looked to Elena and as she faded, offered her the most comfort she could, "It's…" She winced in pain as she spoke, "…alright."

As Anna's head fell to her side, Elena's eyes immediately filled with tears. The following moments seemed to last forever. Katherine smiled as she waited, listening to the musical pounding of Elena's heart as she wept over Anna's still form. She looked on Anna's lifeless body while a single thought ran through her mind over and over again, "Please wake up."

Katherine's smile grew wider as she tightened her grip on Jenna's throat, "Looks like I'll-"

She was interrupted as Anna cried out. Her eyes shattered open like broken windows and she pushed herself upright, violently choking through her tears. She was alive once again, and the pain was even worse than she remembered. As she pulled the stake from her chest, Katherine's eyes widened in amazement, "It really does work."

"Are you alright?" Elena asked Anna. The vampire nodded as she collected herself and Elena stood to face her likeness. This time she would be the one to order, "Let them go and it's yours."

As Katherine slowly turned to Jenna, Elena was practically choking on her heart. Finally, Katherine pushed Jenna through the doorway and lifted her foot from Alaric's throat. As he rolled away from her, it was time.

As Jenna fell into Elena's arms, she shouted, "Now!"

By the time Katherine had looked up, Bonnie turned the corner and began the spell. While one of Katherine's hands flew to her temple in pain, the other reached out towards Elena only to crash into the threshold. By the time Bonnie had reached the ground level, Katherine was on her knees and the final element of the spell began. Again Bonnie's tone shifted as the power of Emily's spell coursed through her. Katherine was surrounded by light, just as Damon had been and in seconds the spell was finished, though this time, Bonnie managed to catch herself.

As Katherine lay on the porch shivering, Anna asked, "Did it work?"

Elena turned to her shaken aunt and asked, "Are you alright?" Jenna weakly nodded in reply and Elena turned to her friend, "Bonnie?" Bonnie too nodded in reply and finally, Elena stepped outside the threshold. She approached Alaric and asked, "Mr. Saltzman?"

"I'm fine," Alaric replied as he tended to his throat. "What did you do to her?"

"She's human," Elena replied.

Just then, a look of panic washed over Alaric as he and multiple other voices from inside the house called out, "Elena!"

Just as Elena turned, Katherine was but inches in front of her. Before she could heed any of the warnings she had received, Katherine plunged a blade into Elena's chest, directly into her heart.

And that's all for this one. If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it :)

Unlike the previous chapter, I've got a pretty good idea where I'm going in the next chapter ;)

Again, a very big thank you to my reviewers. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter :)

Till next time,
-jm