Disclaimer – I do not own The Vampire Diaries of any of its characters, I just like to play with them.
Author's Note – A couple of chapters back, I warned you that there would be gore and here it is folks. If blood and broken bones aren't your thing, you may want to move on. Don't say you haven't been warned! Thanks you for all of the amazing reviews I received for the last couple of chapters. A special thanks to Vanessa – your last two reviews really made me smile and I wish I could've replied to them personally. This chapter is unbeta-ed. I've been writing too slowly to be able to get them to pandora03 in a timely fashion. All mistakes are mine.
Elena and Jeremy had their supplies laid out on the desk in Jeremy's room. Neither of them had been able to sleep and finally, at three AM, Elena had grown weary of listening to the floorboards creek as Jeremy paced in his room and she had joined him. They communicated in hushed tones and gestures as they carefully arranged vervain darts, stakes and blood packets into their respective backpacks. If everything went according to plan, none of their precautions would be necessary, but neither of them was willing to sit at home while their loved ones were out risking their lives.
Jeremy pulled a hoodie over his head and glanced at his sister. "You about ready?"
Elena zipped up her pack and flung it over her shoulder. The thought of Jeremy being out there in the midst or danger went against every one of Elena's natural instincts, but she had come to realize that trying to force him to sit out would only drive another wedge between them. It would also make her a hypocrite. Looking at him, she wanted to beg him to stay home, but she forced the words back down her throat. Instead, she nodded and gave him a tremulous smile. "I love you, Jer."
Jeremy, oblivious to her turmoil, threw her a smile in return. "I love you too, sis."
They made their way to charred remains of Fell's Church arriving a bit earlier than they had planned, feeling the need to be settled before the others would arrive. With Katherine's superior hearing they wanted to make sure their area was free of debris, lest an errant twig snapping or the sound of a dead leaf crunching alert her to their presence. They set up against what was left of the west wall of church. It was intact for the most part, providing enough cover to keep them hidden. However, parts of it had severely degraded with time and there were plenty of little slits and holes allowing them a decent view of the action on the other side.
No sooner had they settled in when Stefan appeared behind them, followed quickly by Anna.
Stefan ducked down beside Elena and met her eyes. "It's not too late. There's still enough time for you two to get out of here," he pleaded with her.
Her spine stiffened. "No," she retorted firmly. There was no way she could be talked out of this.
Stefan sighed and stood abruptly, his solemn eyes downcast. "Bonnie should be here any minute." He turned to Anna. "We should get into position."
Anna kissed Jeremy softly and her eyes clung to him as she reluctantly followed Stefan and disappeared into the trees surrounding them.
Silence stretched over the clearing and Elena felt her muscles tense when she saw Bonnie step through the tree line. Her eyes flitted briefly to the wall shielding Elena and Jeremy before she caught herself and busied herself with setting out the items she needed for her spell.
Elena kept her eyes on her friend, and from her vantage point she could see that Bonnie's hands were shaky as she set out a bowl and pulled a bottle of water from her bag.
"Good morning, Bonnie." Elena flinched at the sound of Katherine's voice, so disconcertingly like her own. She watched her emerge from the woods and circle Bonnie in a predatory fashion. Her lighthearted tone didn't match the menacing glint in her eyes. "I'm so happy that you've finally come to your senses." She patted Bonnie's cheek in a condescending manner. "You'll find that having me for a friend will be far more beneficial than forcing me to be your enemy."
Bonnie glared daggers at her. "You didn't leave me much choice."
Katherine shrugged carelessly, "Free will is overrated."
"Did you bring the personal object? This will all be useless unless you have something that belonged to him."
Katherine pulled something from her pocket. It gleamed gold in the early morning light and she handed it Bonnie. "The Lockwood's' had it," she spat before brightening. "I brought you something else as well. An… incentive, so to speak." She pivoted and called out to someone in the woods. "You can come out now."
Caroline strolled into the clearing. Her clothes were rumpled and her hair was a mess, but her expression was one of docile happiness. Her hands were behind her back and she smiled blankly. "Hi, Bonnie."
Bonnie's terrified eyes flicked from Katherine back to her friend. "Caroline..? Are you okay?"
The question seemed to confuse her and she looked to Katherine for an answer. Seeing her nod, Caroline smiled again. "I'm fine."
Bonnie swung around to face Katherine and all but growled at her. "Why is she here? What in the hell did you do to her?"
"Nothing," Katherine replied innocently. "I've simply made her more…agreeable." Katherine got right in Bonnie's face, the power the emanated from her making her seem much larger than the petite body she lived in. "You only have one shot at getting this right," she tilted her head towards Bonnie's supplies. "If you blow it, Klaus' pocket watch will be destroyed and I won't be able to find any more of his belongings. I need the stakes to be as high for you as they are for me." Her voice was sickly sweet as she called out to Caroline. "Show her your new present."
Caroline's arms unfolded from behind her back and landed at her sides, a large stainless steel knife hung from her right hand. Her blank eyes met Katherine's for a split second and she raised the knife to her neck, the blade pushing against her skin.
"She'll cut her own throat on my command. If you mess this up – she dies."
"No!" Elena gasped.
That one softly spoken word laid waste to days of planning.
Chaos erupted in the clearing, but for Elena it all seemed to occur in slow motion. That tiny syllable had no sooner left her mouth than a hand crashed through the wall in front of her and grabbed her roughly by the neck. She was yanked through the wall with careless disregard, her arm catching behind her briefly before giving way with a sickening crack. There was no time for the pain to even register as she was slammed to the ground with brutal force and her breath left her in a rush.
She looked up into Katherine's eyes, now red with fury and surrounded by black. Elena opened her mouth to suck in a desperately needed breath, but Katherine's foot slammed into her chest, compressing her ribcage. She was going to crush her like a cockroach. Those blood filled eyes never left hers as she growled, "Do it, Caroline."
Elena's head flopped to the side as she heard Bonnie scream and saw Caroline draw the blade against her neck, a river of blood following the movement. In the same instant, Katherine slammed her foot down, ruthlessly crushing Elena's ribs, the bones puncturing her lungs.
In less than two seconds, she had fatally wounded each of them.
Elena spasmed violently and choked and as her lungs filled with blood. Her eyes started to close but snapped open as twin blurs came at Katherine from opposite sides. Damon crashed into Katherine's left side and Stefan crashed into her right. Elena heard her howl in pain and dimly registered the soft thud as she fell to the ground. Their combined impact had cracked her spine and her body lay at a grotesque angle, her upper body now facing the wrong direction.
Jeremy, who had been momentarily paralyzed by the horror unfolding in front of him, dug through his pack and threw a stake to Damon who caught it in midair and plunged it in Katherine's chest in one fluid motion.
Damon was enraged and roared as he stood, stomping the stake further into her chest before delivering a bone crushing kick to her side that sent her lifeless frame flying twenty-five feet before she landed against a tree.
It had just happened so fast. He had started moving the instant he had heard Elena's voice, but Katherine had centuries on him, and he was no match for her speed.
He dropped to his knees at Elena's side and sucked in a breath. She was asphyxiating on her own blood and the wet sound of her labored breathing was almost more than he could bear, but he knew his blood was in her system. He had given her enough to bring her back should she die, but it was not enough to heal wounds of this magnitude. Damon didn't want it happen like this. If she ever turned he wanted it to be because she had decided to spend eternity with him. He would never forgive himself if it happened any other way.
Bringing his wrist to his mouth, he bit deeply, hitting the bone. He ignored the pain and whipped his head to the side, ripping off the flesh. This was not the time for a little trickle of blood, he needed it flow freely if he had any hope of forcing some into her system. He held his wrist to her lips, and let it spill into her mouth. She choked and sputtered, but he lifted her neck and let gravity help him. She stopped choking and Damon released the breath he had been holding when he saw her throat move as she actively swallowed. Her eyes opened and flew to his and Damon's voice was rough as he told her, "You're going to be okay." Her arm was lying awkwardly behind her, and he needed to set it before his blood began healing the bone. Damon put his face close to hers and whispered against her ear. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this." As he spoke the last word he straightened her arm and clamped his hand over the break, keeping the two halves of her humerus in position, allowing it to heal properly.
Elena broke away from his wrist and screamed in agony. Tears poured down her face and Damon held her more securely, afraid she'd re-injure herself before his blood had finished working its magic. She stopped writhing and Damon felt the tension flow out of her body as the blinding pain receded. The moment she was able to collect herself she breathed out one word. "Caroline?"
Damon's eyes cut to the side before settling back on hers. "She'll be fine. Stefan's fixing her up." He helped her sit up and regarded her with shrewd eyes. "How are you?"
Elena's voice was husky, her throat still raw. "Angry at myself. I can't believe I wrecked everything." She used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe at the blood on her face. "I'm sorry."
Now that she was out of danger, Damon had to fight the urge to throttle her. The sight of her lying there, broken and gasping for air would remain with him for the rest of his existence. He wanted to scream at her; shake some sense into her. But he would do no such thing. Her courageous nature and the fact that she constantly challenged him were two of things he loved most about her.
"Mmmmm…It all worked out." He helped her to her feet and glanced at Katherine's corpse. Anna and Jeremy were looming over her mangled body.
Suddenly, Anna yelped and pulled Jeremy to the side. "Damon!" Her voice was a high-pitched shriek. "I don't think she's dead!"
Damon and Stefan were there instantly. Sure enough, Katherine's legs were twitching and Damon leaned closer to get a better look.
Stefan moved to her other side and froze. "Damon…the stake."
Damon craned his neck and was stunned to see the stake working itself out of her body. It was moving slowly, rising inch by inch as her flesh kitted back together around its edges. "What the fuck..?" Damon trailed off as he met Stefan's baffled gaze.
A grating, grinding sound filled the air as Katherine's hands grabbed the fabric of her jeans and rotated her cracked torso 180 degrees. As the cement mixer noise grew louder, Damon shouted out, "Bonnie! You need to get started on the spell!"
Bonnie had been bent over Caroline's still weak form, her attention focused on her friend. She wiped her eyes and looked over at Damon. "What –," she broke off as she saw Katherine's limbs fighting to right themselves. "Oh my God…"
Feeling almost normal, Elena rushed to her side. "Bonnie, come on, I'll help you. What do we need to do?"
Shaking her self out of her stupor, Bonnie responded shakily, "The blood – empty both vials into the bowl. I'll get the rest of the stuff."
Elena uncapped the first vial and dumped the contents out and reached for the second one. The adrenaline made her movements awkward and it slipped through her fingers. As she stooped to pick it up, her eyes flicked across the clearing and her heart almost stopped. Katherine's eyes were open and were riveted to her. Elena gasped and righted herself, dumping the second vial in the bowl.
Stefan turned to Jeremy, "Bring me your backpack." He had left it behind the wall and took off in that direction.
The stake fell out of Katherine's now healed chest and rolled to the ground. She swung her eyes toward the brothers and chuckled humorlessly as she struggled to sit up. "Another stake won't help you."
Damon took a step back, dumbfounded. "What are you?"
She stumbled to her feet and rested against the tree trunk. "A vampire, same as you." She lurched forward and quicker than a cobra striking, she punched Damon in the jaw, the blow sending him to the ground. She knelt down to his level and showed him her hand. John Gilbert's ring had been refashioned and it mocked him from her middle finger. "It works on anyone – not just humans." Mimicking his earlier treatment of her, Katherine delivered a vicious kick to his ribs. Her jaw was clenched with rage as she ground out, "I'm going to make you watch as I kill your little bitch slowly." She grabbed Damon's face, her fingernails digging into his cheeks so deep she drew blood. "I'll make her suffer for your betrayal."
Jeremy had returned and Katherine pinned him with a glare. "You take one more step and I will rip your sister's head off," she seethed at him, biting out each word with precision.
Stefan sprang forward, poised to attack, but Katherine blocked his blow and batted him away with an efficient flick of her wrist. Simultaneously, Anna appeared next to Jeremy and pulled a vervain dart from his pack, hurling it expertly. It sailed through the air end over end, piercing Katherine's thigh. She growled low in her throat and ripped the offending object from her leg. She rocked back on her heels, and lost her grip on Damon. She regained her balance quickly, but Damon had wrenched himself away and was already back on his feet.
Anna pulled Jeremy behind her and yelled to Bonnie and Elena, "Hurry up!"
Bonnie added the last ingredient and lit a match, letting it fall it fall into the bowl. The contents ignited in a spectacular blue flame and Bonnie began chanting in an unfamiliar language that sounded vaguely like Latin.
"She's almost got it!" Elena shouted back. "Just another minute!"
Stefan feinted to his left and Katherine adjusted her position leaving her vulnerable. Damon seized the opportunity to rush her from behind and he hit her with every ounce of strength he had. Katherine flew forward, her propulsion stopped when her face connected with the tree trunk. It barely fazed her, and she used her momentum to spin around and launch a counter strike.
She paused however, when her necklace exploded in flash of light, bits of lapis lazuli fluttering to the ground. Bonnie had completed the spell, destroying the talisman that Emily had made for her all those years ago. Katherine released a strangled gasp as she realized she was now vulnerable to the sun. She shrank back against the tree, hiding in its shade. Her panicked eyes filled with tears as they settled on Damon. "Please," she begged him pitifully.
He merely smirked at her and held up his hand, wiggling his fingers. "I got a new ring too. Unfortunately, since they were bound to our blood, our rings were destroyed as well. Luckily, Bonnie here was nice enough to get me and Stefan replacements." He stepped up to her and closed his hand around her throat. "I wonder if your new ring can reassemble you from a pile of dust? Let's see, shall we?" He spun around and flung her into the clearing where she landed in a pool of sunlight.
Katherine's skin began to smoke and flames erupted on the exposed skin of hands. Damon stepped back with a smile as small fires exploded all over her body. She opened up her mouth to scream, but the flames had raced up her arms and she inhaled a lungful of fire. The inferno swirled around her like a tornado before it closed in itself and extinguished just as quickly as it began. There was nothing left of Katherine but a pile of ash and the blackened remains of John Gilbert's ring.
Not willing to chance it, Damon picked up the twisted piece of metal and put it in his pocket.