Chapter 8:

Katherine opened the apartment door quietly while Klaus slept, passed out in Alaric's chair with twenty books around him. Her favorite original walked through the door, looking at her with a soft smile on his face. "He's yours." She told him, "Just like I am." Elijah rolled his eyes at her seduction and moved to his brother.

Three days until the sacrifice- Elijah had long ago promised the girl's friends that he would end his brother. He touched the side of his brother's head to get insight into his mind. He needed the location, the time and how the ceremony was going to proceed.

Elijah closed his eyes to concentrate:

"I thought you were getting married…" His brother's voice echoed outside of a church. He was looking at Elena Gilbert with the biggest smile on his face that he'd ever seen. The girl was dressed in white, her makeup professionally done and her hair curled like Katherine's hair usually looked. She looked at him like he was the sun, the moon, the reason the world spun on its axis. Her eyes twinkled when he touched her.

"I came back for-" Klaus gasped as he awoke to Elijah lingering over him. Katherine stayed in a corner, her eyes curious to see what Elijah's plan would be. She'd waited years to watch Klaus die, and now she had a front row seat.

"Is that what you dream about?" Elijah voice had changed, his entire mood had changed. Katherine began to frown because her former lover was so soft when it came to Klaus. "Love?"

Klaus was angry, "It's none of your business what I do and do not dream about, brother!" He yelled, looking at the ticking clock on the mantle. "And it will not matter what I dream about because in less than 24 hours she will no longer be free." Klaus was losing his mind, "I figured it out though, I know how I'm going to save her but she will hate me for the rest of her life."

"How?"

"Vampirism." Klaus shrugged, "It's a common cure for death although it is highly undesirable. I can't lose her."

"Her body will be dead, you'll drain her of her blood. It won't work." Katherine said, "Am I the only one who thinks that far?"

"She's a traveler." Klaus smirked, "Her body may be dead, but yours won't be."

Katherine paled, "Elijah! No! He's going to kill me."

"Aw, don't think of it as killing you, you'll just cease to exist." Klaus said, "Why should Katerina Petrova live after all the crimes she has committed against people? Why should she breathe the air that the most innocent person can't?"

"Klaus…" It looked like Elijah was going to reject the idea, but instead he whispered. "I agree."

"What?" Katherine said, "No! Elijah! No! Please, don't let him do this to me. I don't deserve this." She begged, "Elijah don't you love me? Don't you want to be with me? He's the heartless person! Elijah… remember the fun we had?"

"I could have saved you." Elijah hissed, "But you, you couldn't have that. You've made your bed, Katerina."

"Elijah." She cried.

"What?" He argued, "What do you want me to say? Choose between my brother's happiness and your freedom? I've done that before and it didn't go in my favor."

XXX

Elena looked in the mirror at her thick eye makeup, "You look amazing…" Melissa told her, "Our children will be able to play together, that is, if you move back with us and conceive fast." Elena's hair was curled and pinned back with little spiral clips with gems on them. Elena looked at her feet and the silver bejeweled high heels.

"That's what Trevor wants." Elena sighed, "I've convinced him to stay a few extra days, although he claims it was his idea." She rolled her eyes, "He doesn't love me, you know? He just think it'd be nice sleeping with me and having me cook his dinner every night." She was disgusted with his behavior.

"You don't love him." Melissa reminded her, "So, when he goes behind your back with a gorger it won't hurt as bad." Elena hated the blunt honesty that Melissa had been dishing out the last few days.

"I forgot I told you about his wandering eyes. Why couldn't I find a real good Romani boy? A man with a future and goals that reach farther than Friday night." A knock on the door interrupted her hope and dream speech. It was Bonnie. "Can you give us a minute?" Melissa nodded and walked out of the room.

"You don't have to worry about the sacrifice anymore." Bonnie smiled widely, "Think of it as my wedding gift to you." Elena wasn't able to reply to Bonnie's statement before Caroline and Mrs. Wilson brought in her dress. Her face was stuck in complete shock.

"What do you mean I don't have to worry?" She whispered to Bonnie while Mrs. Wilson slid the Cinderella gown over her body. The old lady faced her toward the mirror. She looked beautiful but completely frightened at the same time. "Bonnie!"

"Don't worry about it." Bonnie smiled, "This is your big day! I'll see you in a moment." Elena's breathing became uneasy. Melissa ran back into the room with a camera and started snapping pictures with the crude flash on.

"Alright girls, give her some space." She said when she saw Elena's face. She looked like she was about to pass out. Her body experiencing sharp pains. "Elena…Elena…are you okay?"

"Yeah." She looked over at a clock, "We're going to be late if we don't hurry up."

XXX

Klaus sat at the bar, "You're not going to the wedding?" The bartender laughed, "Guess not you haven't grown up around here. Elena Gilbert is like a princess or something."

"Or something." Klaus took a sip of his scotch.

XXX

Elena walked down the aisle as her entire town stood up, but there was one face that she didn't see. She was scared, nervous and shaking. Melissa and her friends thought it was because of the wedding but right now, she couldn't even think about it. Jeremy passed her over with the traditional shake of the hand.

She thought of how her father would have done it. He would have cried a little, and shook her grooms hand firmly- he probably would have whispered a few threats in his ears. And Miranda would be crying tears of joy because her daughter had gone through with tradition.

Instead, she had Aunt Jenna crying because she didn't want that life for Elena. She had Jeremy walking to sit by Jenna with a pissed off expression on his face. She had Alaric, Damon and Stefan looking at her like she was doomed. Bonnie and Caroline were faking smiles and Melissa was trying to encourage her to breathe and smile.

The priest started talking, but she didn't hear the words. Melissa nudged her, handing Elena her vows. Elena worked extremely hard fabricating emotion. There was nothing beautiful to write about, there wasn't any happiness to write about, there was just two people that weren't in love, getting married because they liked the idea of it. Well, Elena didn't really like the idea of it- she just liked the idea of her parents liking the idea of it

So when it was time for Elena to read her vows, she breathed. She unfolded the paper and forced a smile, "When I was a little girl-" She looked up from the paper at the split church. One side gypsy, the other side the people she'd grown up with- the people she loved. She repeated, "When I was a little girl my-" Trevor rolled his eyes as she stopped midsentence again.

"Can you hurry this up?" He hissed quietly, "I want to get to the reception." She watched his eyes drift to the blonde girl on the Mystic Falls side.

Elena took a deep breath before she started once more, "When I was a little girl, my mother taught me a few valuable lessons that have brought me to you. Looking back on them, I realize that they never really fit me." She looked at the priest, "I have a gypsy heart. It is kind. It is wild. It is sweet. And for the longest time, my heart has been free…but I have fallen in love. I have fallen in love so hard that I can't- I can't even think rationally anymore." Her heart started to beat faster as she strayed away from her written vows.

"Hurry up." He demanded.

"Fuck you." She said as her hand slapped him in the face, "And fuck this wedding. I'm not marrying an idiot like you."