Hey everybody! First of all, let me preface this note by saying that I am SUPER DUPER SORRY that I haven't updated in so long. I'm horrible, I suck, you can hate me for it later. Or now-whatever makes ya happy :} but I've just had absolutely no desire to writer for (what has it been?) a month [or so], so this took me a while to start out on...But, now that I've gotten it all down, I kind of love this chapter. I don't really know why, maybe it's just that it felt good to get my ramblings down on 'paper' again, or maybe it's all the angst I threw in with Elena. I don't know. But I love it, and I hope you do, too :) So here it is-after almost a month, here's the next chapter of the Power of the Sacrifice! :)

Elena woke up to the sound of gravel beneath the car. Knowing that the end wasn't very far away, she slowly opened her eyes, attempting to grasp hold of anything familiar in the dark surrounding landscape. She lifted her head from its previous perch against the window and was brought back to Damon's surprise trip to Atlanta—her first timeout—hoping to god that when she turned her head to the driver's seat, it would be anyone other than Peter that she was looking at. But as she craned her neck to peer at the other side of the car, depression swept through her as she looked into the unforgiving eyes of her kidnapper.

"I see you're finally awake", Peter stated from behind the wheel. The ancient vampire could feel the waves of hatred coming off the young doppelganger, and he immediately sated her emotions. "If you're looking for an explanation as to why I killed your aunt, you are not going to get one from me."

Elena felt like crying as her feelings began to hit her like a freight-train again. She could barely breathe as she was captivated by hatred, sorrow, guilt, and pretty much any other depressing emotion known to man. If she couldn't keep her emotions under control as a human, how in the world would she be able to keep them in check as a vampire?

As these dull musings ran through her mind at light speed, it didn't even register when the car eased to a stop. Her mind froze as she looked over at the original, whose face was suddenly wearing a grim, worried expression—as opposed to his normal "classy with a touch of cocky" face. Just as she was about to ask Peter what was going on, he was yanking her out of the car.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt the burn of the ropes being tied around her hands, yelping in pain as the roughness cut through her thin skin. Suddenly, he was standing in front of her as his hands slinked around her neck. Panic shot through her, thinking he intended to kill her; but even as she discovered his true intentions, she was still petrified. She felt as the clasp on her necklace was undone, the cold metal sliding around her throat until the one thing keeping her safe was sitting in Peter's deadly hands.

Her body was shaking so fast that she was nearly vibrating, and Elena could feel waves of terror crashing into her as the original vampire gazed deep into her eyes. "What are you…" she began, but was silenced as Peter began to speak—this time, actually compelling her

"You will not speak unless spoken to. You will not move unless I tell you to. Do you understand?" Peter commanded, his even voice the only thing that Elena could hear. But even as she agreed in a monotonous voice which practically sealed her death sentence, she could hear the hint of fear in Peter's instructions. And if Peter was scared, then she was rooted to the spot in pure terror.

"Good. Come with me", Peter instructed as he led her to a small cabin situated on the brink of the forest they'd previously been driving through. If she wasn't aware of the fact that the most dangerous vampire in history was sitting just inside the doors of the quaint building, she would have actually thought it quite adorable. It was a log cabin with rustic décor. The windows were framed by beautifully crafted shutters, painted a dark green—as though trying to imitate the darkness the cabin was located in. There was a tiny stream running through what most people would call the front yard, and she could see adorable flowers growing along the edge as fish swam between the rocks in the mountain brook. On the front porch, there were two rocking chairs and an American flag that danced in the cool breeze that swept through the trees.

Elena could imagine living here—sitting on the front porch with Stefan on a warm summer night, just listening to nature and taking it in—attempting to heal from the pain and horror of her life. But that reminded her of the weekend at her lake house, and the werewolves' attempts to kidnap her in order to break the very same curse she would be breaking tomorrow night. Then she realized the truth: if she did manage to survive the sacrifice, whether she was human or vampire, her life would never be normal. She had been through too much for her life to ever return to normal.

Peter slowly walked the young doppelganger up the stairs of the porch. He could tell that she was exhausted by the slow speed at which she walked. As the two reached the front door, he was almost sad that he was about to lose her to Klaus. The doppelganger had managed to steal a small space in his heart—granted, not enough to prevent him from handing her over to her executioner, but enough that he would miss her when she was dead. Of course, he wasn't sure if the area she occupied was love, or if he would only miss the delicious taste of her blood when she was no longer human. He assumed it was the latter.

As his hand reached up to knock on the door, it opened to reveal a young man. He was probably in his late-twenties or early-thirties, but Peter immediately recognized the dark-haired human to be Maddox—one of Klaus' witches. Peter could tell that the warlock was about to speak, when suddenly a grand voice broke through the silence.

"Who is it, Maddox?" the voice asked. Maddox raised his chin in a regal manner, and replied.

"Your guests have arrived, master." Peter could practically feel the fear coming off of Elena as he held her in his steady grasp. As a blonde man made his appearance in the doorway of the cabin, he saw Elena's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

Her eyes widened until they were practically twice their normal size. Her jaw went slack, and he could sense her breathing and heart rate speed-up. "Klaus", she uttered breathlessly as her fear magnified to levels high enough to push her into unconsciousness.

Klaus smirked, as his short, wavy hair fluttered in the breeze, loving when he pulled this sort of reaction out of his victims. The original was filled with a feeling of accomplishment, knowing that the curse he had been bound to for nearly a millennia was finally within his reach. "I see you've heard of me", he said with a sick fascination, his accent so British that it reeked of old money, "But I've only heard rumors of you, my dear. What is your name?"

Elena's breath caught in her throat. "E-Elena. Elena Gilbert", she stuttered, silently cursing herself as she gave out her last name. If she screwed anything up, her last name would make it even easier for Klaus to find and kill everyone she loved.

Klaus could see the fear on her face, and he laughed as she stumbled over her own name. "I am Klaus. And you, my dear, are as good as dead."

Ok, so did you love it as much as I did? I hope so :) As you know, I've kind of been going crazy hypothesizing and speculating next season (so much so that I haven't even started on my 5 books/essays/projects I have to do before I go back to school...in 3 weeks...) so that's probably why it's been such a pain in the ass to keep going on this story, and my other story Revenge of the Kat (that's my version of product placement-since we know that's the Vampire Diaries favorite thing in the world. MiFi, anybody? Who wants an amazingly awesome Ford Focus like Caroline? I know I do!) But I'm going to try to get these stories going again, but as soon as the school year starts, I can't make any promises. I'm in high school, and it's quite possible that I'm going to have 4 AP classes when I get back. So yeah, who can't wait til college? Ha, just kidding :) anyways, I hope you liked it :) Please read and review, it keeps me going! If I hadn't gotten my amazing reviews for my last few chapters, I might have just given up on this story :) So thank you all sooo much for supporting me! I appreciate it so much, and love you guys for it!

-kiki :)

ps: One good thing about me updating this late is that we have gone from 86 days until the premiere to 61 days until the premiere! Who's excited? MEE! Oh, and I got the pleasure of visiting Covington (where they film the show) a couple weeks ago, and it's pretty cool to rewatch the episodes. It's like "I'VE BEEN THERE! I'VE SEEN THAT! I SAT ON THE SAME BENCH AS IAN SOMERHAULDER!" And I'm a Paul Wesley fan, so that's saying a lot right there :) and you know what's funny? The Mystic Grill is actually in the square and they use the outside of the building for filming, but inside, it's really a law firm. Wow. Haha :) but yeah, I think that's then end of my rambling :)