BLOOD BROTHERS.

The sides of her neck felt as smooth as it had been the days before Stefan had bitten her, her arms were healed and her broken ribs mended. Any evidence that she had gotten into a violent fight with Stefan was gone. Leya's fingers lightly trailed across would be healing wounds had it not been for magic to speed up the process.

Ever since the crowning of Miss Mystic Falls, which Caroline had won (much to her delight); Stefan had been locked up in the Salvatore cellar with the help of Elena where he was currently on detox from human blood. Elena had been sleeping over at the Salvatore boarding house almost every day for a week now. Of course she couldn't really tell Jenna that, so instead she had swapped the Salvatore name for hers, and now Leya had to drive to the Salvatore's to pick Elena up and drop her back at home, like a chauffeur.

Leya walked to a nearby table and picked up an antique circular object while she waited for Elena. It was most likely the object which Pearl had given Damon.

Damon suddenly appeared next to her snatching the object from her hands. Leya rolled her eyes and sighed asking.

"Did you ever figure out what that is?"

"Nope. Whatever it is, it doesn't work." Damon replied twisting it in-between his fingers.

"Pearl didn't say anything else about it?" Elena asked curiously from behind them as she gathered her things.

"She thought she was stealing his vampire compass, but that was a pocket watch. That Johnathan Gilbert was a crazy scientist. Have you spoken to your uncle lately?"

Elena sighed at the topic of her uncle. "I've been avoiding him, actually. That and I've been here most nights."

"So you'll be here again tonight?"

"Is that a problem?" Elena retorted eyebrows raised.

"Yes. You're a complete nuisance."

"Heh." Elena laughed sarcastically. "See you later. C'mon Leya we should get going."

"Yeah, Leya." Damon mocked. "Get going."

Leya glared at him and clenched her jaw following Elena. Lately she's been beginning to feel like a side-kick, someone to push and pull, someone to use, like a toy and whoever had her next would scream 'mine'. And she was not liking it.

The drive to Elena's house was silent. The girl herself was too consumed in her thoughts of Stefan while Leya was wondering why on earth she acting like a chauffeur. After dropping Elena off Leya started to drive with no direction in mind. Of course she wouldn't go nowhere without having a purpose, no, something was calling her she could feel it.

Magic was calling her, and she would follow.

Leya steadily went into a trance and by the time she to snap back to reality she was parked on the side of a deserted road, woodland surrounding both sides. She got out of the car and breathed in the fresh air, she was alone. Leya looked to her right and into the dense woods of Mystic Falls, whatever was calling her wanted her to walk further in.

She was being challenged; whoever was calling out to her was challenging her, what for, she didn't know. Without hesitation Leya started to walk into the woods, she wasn't even remotely scared. The only wooded area that would be able to scare her was the Forbidden Forest and that was only because you never knew what would be lurking just around the corner.

Leya walked for quite some time until she stood in an open field. This was where the magic was telling her to stop. Everything around her seemed lusher than the rest of the woods. The grass was greener, thicker; the flowers brighter, even the air seemed lighter. It was like magic thrived here, Leya looked further beyond some trees where what looked to be the outline of a house resided.

"I didn't think you'd find me." A voice spoke from behind her awed. Leya turned around to see Bonnie start to walk closer to her. "Grams said you come if I called, but I didn't think it would actually work."

"Where are we?" Leya asked slightly cautious.

"I don't really know, just outside of town I think. My Grams used to bring me here, tell me about Witch stuff." Bonnie replied with a faint sad smile.

Leya raised an eyebrow. "Is this the part where you say that you lied about being my friend and try to hack me to death?"

Bonnie chuckled at Leya's humor. "No. I just wanted to talk."

"What about?" Leya asked nonchalantly walking around Bonnie. She had a feeling that this would take a while.

"I don't know. Magic?"

"Well, what do you want to know?"

Bonnie hesitated before speaking. "Before Grams… uh, before she… died. She said that you were powerful. That you were someone who had faced a lot of hardships growing up and that you and your magic were to be taken seriously." Bonnie paused before asking. "What did she mean?"

Leya sighed looking elsewhere. Of course Sheila Bennett would tell her granddaughter that. She wasn't stupid; she could see the way the elder Bennett had looked at her when she entered her home. Her face may have been blank but her eyes said a thousand words.

Leya was powerful. Powerful enough to take care of her granddaughter, powerful enough to keep the vampires away from her and most importantly powerful enough to keep her from getting killed whether it is by someone else's hand or her own. Leya was being used. This time she was smart enough to recognize when she was being used. And lately she had been used quite a fair amount of times.

Leya thought that with moving to Mystic Falls she could be free of responsibility. Free to do whatever she wanted and not have to worry about looking over her shoulder every few minutes expecting Bellatrix to come out of nowhere and screech: 'It's your turn now, filthy half-blood. ' then shout the all too familiar words of the Killing Curse. But she was wrong.

She looked over her shoulder now expecting vampires. She had stuck herself in so deep with the vampires that she was now their go to Witch when something needed done. It wasn't fair; she had been given the short end of the stick with Voldemort and now it was vampires. Then again she had also allowed herself to take this path, she could've easily avoided everything but she cared too much. She's always cared too much.

"Leya?" Bonnie asked concerned at her silence.

Leya inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly. She wouldn't be used, not anymore.

"Sorry, I spaced out." Leya chuckled shaking her head slightly. "What you're Grams meant was that my kind can endure a hell of a lot more than your kind can. We have magic inside of us that solely belong to us, of course how powerful you are depends you as a person. Your kind, however, borrows magic from the earth and the moon."

Bonnie nodded her head slowly taking everything in. She had heard all of this from her Grams before, but hearing Leya say it made it different somehow. Bonnie looked at the girl in front of her, she could almost see what her Grams meant. Leya may be youthful but her eyes, her eyes told a million stories. They looked at her softly and kindly but there a hard glint to it, a glint she had seen her own father wear when he would talk about how he was in the army when he was younger.

"That was how she died, right?" Bonnie asked quietly her voice barely making a sound. "Grams. She borrowed too much magic."

Leya inhaled deeply looking at Bonnie; she wasn't surprised that the question came up so soon. She knew there was another reason as to why Bonnie had called out to her. Leya also knew that her next sentence would possibly break her, the wound of her beloved lost one was still much too fresh and Leya was sure she was about to probe it and make it bleed. But it had to be done.

It was a request, Leya now realized. The elder Bennett had told Bonnie about her to guide her from making wrong decisions. She had wanted Leya to tell Bonnie the truth, the hard cold truth not the sugar coated one. And Leya was sure Bonnie would hate her after hearing the truth.

"Your Grams, Bonnie, died because she overexerted herself. Because she borrowed magic that wasn't hers." Leya confirmed pausing before continuing. "That night, when we opened the tomb I was using my magic but I was using it for your kind of spell. So my magic extended only to a certain point. Your Grams tapped into my magic and used it to help her and that was her downfall."

Bonnie was starting to find it hard to breath, she didn't really understand but she got the gist of it. Tears started to slowly slip down Bonnie's face, her lips started to tremble slightly. "What do you mean? I – I don't – How?"

"We are both from a different species of Witches, Bonnie. Our kind don't mix for a reason, should we get greedy and try to use each other's magic, it can be dangerous."

Leya was silent for a bit as Bonnie took in what she said. The birds were singing around them, their tune sad. It was as if they could feel Bonnie's pain.

"Oh my God!" Bonnie cried out. "This is my fault, I was too weak to do the spell and she had to borrow your magic to make up for my part didn't she? She died because of me."

"No. No, no, no, Bonnie." Leya soothed pulling the girl into a hug. "It isn't even close to your fault. If anything it's my fault. She borrowed my magic after all."

Bonnie sniffled crying still, time felt like it was put on pause as she slowly calmed and started to think with a more rational mind. It wasn't Leya's fault, but it also wasn't hers she was sure of it. Everything started with Damon and Stefan, and her Grams died because of Damon and Stefan. Because of vampires she no longer had her Grams to fall back on when her dad was away, she no longer had someone tell her crazy ideas about magic that she never used to believe before. She had lost the only mother figure she had in life because of vampires.

By the time Bonnie had fully calmed down the sun was close to setting. They walked together silently back to Leya's car. Bonnie informed her quietly that she had her own car parked a little further down. Leya didn't know how she missed it, but she guessed she was too focused on who was calling her.

"Your Grams was a strong woman and Witch, Bonnie." Leya whispered quietly as they came to a stop. "But the magic was just stronger than her body could handle."

"Thank you." Bonnie replied her voice hoarse. "For being here, I needed answers and you gave them. So, thank you."

Leya watched quietly as Bonnie got into her car and started to drive away. Not once did she look back.

Leya exhaled gripping the steering wheel of her car as she looked straight ahead. The car wasn't moving and Bonnie had left a couple of minutes ago but her broken-hearted expression was still etched into her mind. It was an expression Leya was all too familiar with. Families and friends had worn them days; months after the war had ended. In particular one of the most heartbreaking expressions was when she herself had told the Creevey family that Colin had passed fighting in the war; his mother had let out the most awful howl of pain for her lost child that had reminded Leya of her own mother's cry for her before she died. The shrill ringing of her phone broke her out of her daydreaming and Leya answered it with shaky hands.

"Hello?" She greeted unsure of who was calling her since she didn't recognize the number.

"Hey, Leya. It's Alaric Saltzman."

"Oh, uh, hello. What's up? Actually how did you get this number?" Leya asked confused as she rubbed her forehead as if she was trying to remove the bad memories.

"Um, that's a mystery. Are you ok? You sound a little… I can call another time?" Alaric stated but it came out as more of a question concerned at her shaky voice.

"No, no it's ok. I'm fine. Was there something you wanted?"

"Yeah, actually I just wanted to tell you I've, uh, been doing some digging on Elena's uncle."

Leya sat up straighter and asked curiously. "What kind of digging?"

"I've got an old friend from Duke. Who studied criminology when we were there together? Let's just say he's become a very proficient digger."

"Well, did he find anything?"

"John just started recently getting calls from a new number. And I had my friend run a geotrack. Got the address. It's...It's an apartment in Grove Hill."

Leya's eyebrows furrowed as she closed her eyes lightly trying to map out the area in her head. "Grove Hill, that's not too far from here, is it?"

"No, it isn't." Alaric replied, hesitantly adding. "Look, I'm checking out the place with Damon, do you want to come with us? I'm only asking because, well, John knew about you and I have a feeling that he wasn't supposed to."

"Yeah, you're right about that." Leya mumbled into her phone. The news of John Gilbert knowing that she was a Witch was very distressing for her. "Could you maybe text me the address and I'll meet you there?"

"Yeah, sure no problem."

They hung up and seconds later Leya's phone rang again. This time it held the address of whoever John Gilbert was keeping in contact with.

The drive to Grove Hill was short, Leya managed to get there before Damon and Alaric so she just waited outside leaning against her car. She thought of multiple scenarios as to how John Gilbert of all people found out about her, but each one seemed as impossible as the next. It just didn't make any sense, how could he know? He was just a Muggle from a small town in practically the middle of nowhere. Leya was sure he had never even left the country before so he couldn't have known that there were even another species of Witches out there. Which only left one other possibility; someone had told him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon's voice interrupted her thoughts as she turned her head slightly to see Damon and Alaric walk up to her.

"As always it's good to see you to, Damon." Leya sarcastically replied not answering his question.

"You told her?" Damon asked Alaric ignoring Leya.

"She had a reason to know, Damon."

"Whatever, where's the house?" Damon muttered looking around the darkened street.

"This is the one here." Alaric said taking lead Damon and Leya followed behind him as they walked up to one of the houses. "The records show it was paid three months in advance."

Damon groaned pulling a face as they reached the door of the house. "This is where it gets tricky. I may or may not be able to get in."

Damon knocked on the door as Alaric turned to him interested. "Yeah, how does that work? You always have to be invited in?"

"By the owner or the person of entitlement. Short-term rentals and hotels are a bit of a gray area. You kinda gotta play it by ear."

"Can we not kill anyone tonight, please?" Leya said watching Damon warily as he started to turn the doorknob.

"Are you saying Alaric just brought me along for my company?" With a smirk directed her way the door opened with a groan. Leya and Alaric walked in their eyes looking for any sign of movement. Leya's wand was already in hand.

"It doesn't look like anyone's home."

Damon cautiously placed his foot above the entry to the doorway shaking it a little. With no sign of a mysterious force keeping him out it he stepped inside joining Leya and Alaric.

"No permanent resident, apparently." Damon muttered as he closed the door behind him.

The three walked down the hallway eyes watching every corner. It was a small house the living room dining room and kitchen had been merged into one. Leya walked closer to the living room and looked around. It didn't really look like anyone lived in the house; it had the bare minimum and nothing more.

"Uh, guys, we have company."

Leya turned around as she heard Alaric grunt as he was pushed up against the wall. Alaric stabbed the vampire with wooden knuckles and he fell to the floor in pain. Leya walked to Alaric's side wand raised as Damon strolled towards them pushing the vampire back down as he tried to attack again.

"Ok, children, that's enough." Damon calmly said walking closer to the vampire on the floor. "I know you."

"Damon?" The vampire asked surprised standing up.

"Your name is Henry. You were in the tomb."

"Yes, sir." Henry looked confused as he looked between Damon and his companions. "What are you doing here?"

Leya could barely contain her smile as Damon started to babble some extravagant lie about why they were there. He led Henry into the kitchen, Leya and Alaric following close behind. Henry ate everything up, he was very gullible. Leya smiled kindly when he looked her way, she could see herself in him. Henry believed and trusted John wholeheartedly no questions asked, she was like that once.

"So how do you know John?"

"Well, I've known him for years. He's a good friend. How do you know him?" Damon lied asking him the question they were all wondering.

"I met him right after I got out of the tomb. He's been helping me out."

"Helping you out how?" Alaric asked suspicious.

"Adapting. It's a whole new world… cars, computers, . There's so much to learn. He helped me get this place."

"So, do you live here alone or is there someone else here?" Alaric asked his eyes narrowing as he glared at the vampire.

Leya sighed before speaking up; honestly did anyone have any tact? "Excuse his passive-aggressiveness it was his way asking, uh, do you know a woman named Isobel?"

"Uh, no. No I don't know an Isobel. I know John. He's my only real friend. He really showed me the ropes… how to use a microwave, separate my whites." Henry replied enthusiastically, he really looked up to John. It was sad that Leya knew John was only using him; Henry wasn't bad, if anything Leya could say he was practically another Stefan. Well, before the blood craze.

"What else do you do for him?"

"I help keep an eye on things… You know, with the others."

"The others?" Leya asked her posture becoming tense.

"From the tomb." Henry replied as if they had already known. "They're still pissed at the founding families for trying to burn them alive. I'm cool, but those tomb boys, they want revenge."

"What does John want with them?"

"He's just keeping an eye on them, you know? Trying to make sure they stay out of trouble."

Damon scoffed sarcastically adding. "Well, that's John. Heh, he's such a do-gooder."

Someone's phone started to ring and Henry patted down his pockets before reaching in to pull out a phone.

"That's John now." Henry said amazed.

"Oh. Hey, let me talk to him." Damon said rushing up and snatching the phone out of Henry's hand before he had the chance to reply.

"Are you gonna answer that?" Henry asked wary as Damon held the phone as it continued to ring.

"Am I gonna… answer that?" Damon echoed looking to Alaric. Alaric shook his head no.

Leya sighed closing her eyes lightly as the phone continued to ring. Henry was going to die. There was no way she could help him either, they already revealed themselves to him and they couldn't have John finding out. They needed the upper hand. By the time Leya opened her eyes Alaric stood behind Henry a stake lodged firmly into his chest.

"Let's not kill anyone tonight." Damon said turning to Leya. "Guess that didn't work out as well as well as you thought."

"Find anything yet?" Damon asked as Leya and Alaric walked back into the living.

"Nothing."

"I looked everywhere." Alaric sighed exhausted. "This place is… the place is clean."

"Well, I found this behind the blood in the fridge." Damon said tossing a beer bottle to Alaric who caught it gratefully taking large sips.

"Oh, man. This was a real dead-end." Alaric said more to himself than his companions.

"It literary was." Leya said her eyes flicking briefly towards the corpse of Henry. "Look, I wouldn't beat myself up over it. We didn't really know what we were going to find were we. I mean you couldn't exactly expect Isobel with a cigar and slippers."

"I know but…" Alaric exhaled pained taking another large sip of alcohol. "I – I gotta stop this. I can't keep searching for her."

"Really? After only 2 years?" Damon asked sarcastically smirking. "That's actually… moderately healthy."

"What are you going on? 146?" Alaric snapped.

"Well, I figure the 200 mark is probably a good stopping point."

"I mean, no answer is enough. I keep thinking I wanna know why, when, you know? The precise moment when my wife decided life with me wasn't enough."

Leya quietly watched as Alaric stared off into nothing. She would want to know too, Leya couldn't imagine not being able to live knowing that the person she loves had decided they wanted more than what she gave.

"She charmed me." Damon spoke softly. "Your wife Isobel. She talked of good game, man. She was smart. She had this excitement in her eyes. I probably should've known there was something different about her. Some tie to Katherine."

Leya sighed rolling her eyes. She couldn't believe he still held Katherine on the highest pedestal after everything she's done to him.

"There had to be some reason I didn't kill her."

"That's enough, Damon!" Alaric snapped. "I don't want to hear anymore. I – I just don't want to waste any more of my life searching for answers that I really don't want. I'm through with Isobel. I… I'm done with all of this. Yeah."

Leya watched as Alaric stood up and left without another word. She didn't try to stop him or console him; she knew he just wanted to be alone.

"You know…" Damon said breaking the silence. "I think we just witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis."

Leya scoffed looking at him. "You're unbelievable you know that? You could be a little more sensitive, Damon. You of all people should know what it feels like."

Damon cleared his throat and tried to change the subject. The last thing he wanted to do was bring up the topic of Katherine with Leya. "I'm surprised you haven't seen Stefan yet."

Leya raised an eyebrow at Damon's statement. Of all the topics he could've changed it to. "I figured he was being coddled enough with Elena around."

"Aww, come on. That's not a good reason." Damon smirked at her. "You're scared of him aren't you?"

Leya couldn't help but let out a laugh as she replied sarcastically. "Oh yes, Damon. I'm terrified of Stefan; I get chills just being in the same house as him."

"Ok. If you're not scared of him why haven't you seen him?"

"Because, Damon he's not ready to face me. Now that he's back to normal all that guilt, it's crippling." Leya said simply. "I understand why he did what he did. He has no control over himself when he gets like that and I understand and I forgive him."

Damon said nothing and just looked down at the floor. He couldn't fathom why on earth that the girl in front of him forgave Stefan so easily. Especially when he hurt her, usually the girl would run from fear and hate the guy who dared lay a hand on them, let alone teeth. When he looked up Leya was gone. He heard her car start outside and within seconds he was sitting next her.

"Jesus!" Leya proclaimed loudly jumping slightly. "You could've asked if you wanted a ride home."

"You should tell him." Damon said softly as she started to drive. "Stefan, you should tell him you forgive him. He hasn't been eating and Elena's getting annoying."

"You care about him, don't you? You try to hide it but you care about him." Leya looked over to Damon briefly; he was looking out the window. "You know it doesn't really help that you try and make his life a misery."

"You don't even know what happened between me and Stefan back in 1864 so I don't really think you have a right to judge." Damon snapped turning to her fury in his eyes.

"Then tell me."

Damon was sitting by the river; he could feel death inching closer as the seconds ticked by. Soon, he would be with Katherine again.

He turned his head when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. Blue eyes widened when he saw Stefan approaching with a young girl.

"What are you doing?" Damon exclaimed. "Who is that?"

"I brought her for you. She's a gift." Stefan told his brother with a smirk, before turning and looking into the girl's eyes, compelling her. "Have a seat, please."

The girl did as she was told and sat down next to Damon, a far off look in her eyes.

Damon glanced back and forth at his brother and the compelled girl.

"What have you done, Stefan?"

"Damon. I went to see father. He came at me. I didn't know my own strength. There was blood everywhere. He was dying, and the blood was too strong. I needed it. I had to have it."

"You fed." Damon stated shocked.

"Yes. And it's incredible." Stefan enthusiastically raved. "My body is exploding with power Damon. I can hear things from far away. I can see through the darkness. I can move, like its magic, and the guilt, the pain…I can turn it off. Like a switch. Katherine was right. It's a whole other world out there, Damon."

The older brother slowly rose to his feet unsteadily.

"Katherine is dead Stefan. There is no world without her." Damon informed his brother, staggering away.

"No! You can turn that off, too!" Stefan persuaded, grabbing Damon's face so that he would look at him. "You don't have to feel the pain anymore!"

"I don't want it." Damon growled out, breaking free of his brother's grip.

"Your weak, you'll be dead soon. You need this."

"No." Damon whispered. "I can't."

Stefan then turned to the girl and had her stand up, next to him. The whites of Stefan's eyes bled red as veins slithered beneath the surface; his canines grew as he flashed them at Damon before smiling, Stefan sunk his fangs into the girls' neck.

After a moment, he pulled away and looked to his brother, blood staining his lips.

Damon's eyes landed on the blood flowing from the girl's neck.

"I won't let you die." Stefan whispered as he grabbed his brother behind his neck and gently brought his face to the bleeding wound.

"No." Damon said thrashing slightly. "I can't."

"Don't fight it." Stefan told his brother. "We can do this...together."

Damon's face was right by the young girl's neck, the tantalizing smell of her blood overwhelmed him as his gums began to ache, and he inched closer to her neck. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

Stefan was growing impatient and pushed Damon so that his mouth was touching the red liquid.

He couldn't resist anymore.

Damon's mouth latched onto her neck, taking in large gulps of blood. He relished in the feeling of the sweet liquid gliding down his throat.

Damon pulled away for just a moment, his canines elongating before he tore into the girl's neck once again.

He had given in.

"He forced you to turn."

"From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person." Damon explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "I suppose I should thank him. It's been a hell of a ride."

"Still, he shouldn't have done that." Leya said pulling to a stop outside the boarding house. "It was your choice, I'm sorry it was taken away from you."

Before either of them could say anything Elena ran out breathless.

"Stefan's gone! And he doesn't have his ring!"

Stefan breathed heavily as he turns around; all he saw was Emily telling him his vampirism is a curse. It echoed in his head. Everything was spinning and he was losing control, he could feel it, the end. His end was coming and he would finally be released, released from Katherine, released from the blood lust, released from this curse.

"Stefan."

He turned around as his name was called. Leya stood staring at him; she hesitated slightly and began to walk forward. Stefan looked away as that night flashed into his mind, broken bones, bites, blood.

"I should have died that night, just like I had chosen. I should have let Damon die too." Stefan said as he looked out at the quarry.

"But you didn't." Leya said her voice soft but to Stefan it pierced his heart. "If you choose to die now it's not going to change what happened."

"Every single person that's been hurt...Every single life that's been lost, it's because of me."

"I know how you feel -"

"No, you don't! You don't know how I feel."

"Yes, I do, Stefan." Leya bit her lip looking down. "When I was fifteen I thought someone who I cared about was in trouble, so I went to find him. Only, I was tricked by someone else and in the end when the person I cared about tried to help me, he died. It was my fault. It was my fault he died, our actions are what put things into motion. We can't go back and change it not matter how much we want to, we just have to live with that."

"I made a choice, Leya. Because of that choice, a lot of people were hurt...you were hurt." He looked back at her torn.

"You also made a choice to stop, to reject the person that the blood made you. You made a choice to be good, Stefan."

"No. Please don't do that." He pleaded.

"That's the person that jumped in the water to save the family whose car had driven off the bridge." Leya said using Elena's situation to show him that he did and can make the right decisions.

"Please. Don't make this okay." Stefan whispered to her, begging.

"That's the person who saved Elena's life." Leya said smiling softly.

"You don't understand, Leya."

"Then tell me. Make me understand." Leya all but yelled frustrated. She wasn't giving up on him, she just couldn't.

"It hurts me. It hurts me knowing what I've done, and that pain... that pain is with me all the time. And every day, I think that if I just... If I just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop. It would be that easy, and every day, I fight that. And I am so terrified that one day, I'm not going to want to fight that anymore, Leya. Last time I hurt someone it was you, next time it could be Elena, I couldn't live with myself if..." Stefan was close to tears.

"There will be no next time."

"You don't know that." Stefan told her.

"You're right, Stefan, I don't know that there won't be a next time. I can't promise that you won't hurt me again. Or that you won't hurt Elena. But I do know that I'll be there."

Stefan looked at her with unshed tears.

Leya stepped up until she was right in front of him.

"And I know that you can take this…" She took his hand and placed his daylight ring in the palm of it. "And throw it in the quarry and let the sun rise. That you can just give up. Or, you can put this ring on and keep fighting."

She gave him a watery smile and leaned up, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

"It's your choice."

Leya stepped back and turned, walking away to leave Stefan to make his decision.

"Leya!" Stefan called, causing the girl to turn and watch as the vampire put his ring back on, running over to her and pulling her into his arms tightly.

He burrowed his face into her thick locks of hair, pressing a kiss to her head.

"Thank you."

Leya threw her keys into the bowl as she shut the front door behind her. Stefan was back at the boarding house reuniting with Elena. Leya rubbed the back of her neck and sighed as she headed towards the stairs. She knew where Stefan was from the moment Elena came rushing out the door, he wanted to die where it all began. But she wouldn't let him, because Leya cared. And sometimes she cared too much, but this time it was worth it.

Just as her foot touched the first step someone knocked on the door. Leya turned around confused pausing for a moment. She didn't have the faintest idea as to who would be knocking on her door at this hour. Leya walked to the door and opened it warily.

"Hello, love."

Leya breathed in sharply and stared at the person in front of her. "Hey, Aunt Daisy."

A/N: Hey guys! So here it is, finally, sorry for the wait, please tell what you think, love it? Hate it? Review! I also listened to a bunch of sad, moving music if anyone wants to know the songs just PM me