A/N: Thank you so much for all the beautiful reviews! :):):)

Warning: This chapter should probably be rated T+ (or M- lol), so if you're not comfortable with that, please read the first four sections and then skip to the last one ;)

Many thanks to my wonderful Beta: arabian (aka arabean who, btw, just posted the first & totally amazing chapter of her new DE story: How to Make a Better Vampire :)

Disclaimer: TVD belongs to L.J. Smith & CW.

Chapter 19

"Don't tell me you're taking your computer with you," Elena said, giving Jeremy an incredulous look. "It's a one day trip, family bonding, quality time, remember?" she added, mimicking him.

Jeremy smiled, placing the laptop in the trunk and closing it shut. "Yeah," he squinted, "I just... don't like going anywhere without it."

Elena shook her head with an amused sigh and got into the car. "So. Where are we going?" She asked, starting the engine, putting her hands on the steering wheel in a ceremonious manner and giving Jeremy a questioning look when he slumped into the passenger seat.

"It wouldn't be a real surprise if I told you," Jeremy said, unfolding a map in his hands.

Elena laughed briefly under her breath. "I see it's going to be a really surprising surprise."

Jeremy smiled to himself, his eyes fixed on the map.

Stefan lifted one of the vials from the table to the level of his face, scrutinizing the transparent liquid inside against the sunlight.

An exaggerated gasp made him look up and he watched Damon walk into the room.

"No surprise early morning visits planned for today?" Damon asked with mock-astonishment. "It's almost six, Stefan. You better hurry up if you don't want to miss an opportunity to ruin someone's day again."

Stefan looked at him unsmilingly. "Well, I figured it'd be more economical to learn how to ruin someone's entire life instead. Any tips?"

"I'd love to share my expertise with you, however… I have to run," Damon said, putting on his jacket. "But you can try asking that guy in the mirror over there," he said with a brief smile. "This is for you to drink, by the way," he added, pointing to the vial.

"What is it?" Stefan asked tonelessly.

"If you drink it, you'll save me the trouble of pouring it into your ear while you're sleeping," Damon replied with a wink.

"Really, Damon, what is it?" Stefan asked tiredly, his eyes grim.

Damon rolled his eyes. "It's the scutum. Pass the rest to the others." He slid the phone into his pocket. "You know," he wrinkled his forehead, making circular motions with his hand, "these people I antagonize on a daily basis," he said in a matter-of-fact, explanatory tone.

Stefan's eyebrows rose slightly. "Where did you get it?"

"Three-day sale at Wal-Mart. I've been clipping these coupons forever," Damon said with a sigh of exasperation, heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked in a voice that was still essentially toneless, but not quite and for some reason he regretted the question as soon as he asked it.

Damon seemed to hesitate for a split second before he glanced at Stefan over his shoulder. "See you tomorrow." He pulled the door open and walked out.

The door closed behind him with a thud and the dull sound echoed in Stefan's ears for a long time.

"I don't remember the lyrics!" Elena insisted with a chuckle, shifting her eyes between the road and Jeremy.

"Oh come on, Elena. Of course you do," Jeremy laughed, turning up the volume, loud music filling up the car, deafening their voices.

Shaking her head, Elena grimaced at Jeremy singing-a-long louder and more off-key than he had to. He kept that up until she at last joined in. Only then he slightly lowered his voice and they sang together the remaining part of the song.

When the song ended, for a moment they just listened to another song without speaking and then Elena turned off the radio and Jeremy looked at her questioningly.

"I want you to promise me that you won't go to that meeting with Klaus," she said in a low, firm, utterly serious voice, looking at the road.

Jeremy widened his eyes at her. "No, Elena, you're not doing that to me again. You have to stop with this big sister act. Seriously. I'm two years younger than you. It's stupid."

"I'm not doing this because you're younger than me, Jeremy," Elena said, shaking her head with a nervous laugh. "I'm doing this because I love you and I don't want you to get hurt." She looked at him intensely for a second before turning her eyes back to the road. "And there is no reason for you to get involved in any of this anyway," she added quietly with a wry grimace. "You're not a doppelganger or a vampire. You should and you can have a normal life. Or at least definitely more normal than mine," she added, glancing at Jeremy's ring.

"Oh there is a very good reason for me to get involved, Elena." Jeremy huffed in exasperation. "And the reason is that I love you and I don't want you to get hurt."

Elena sighed, glancing at him with sad eyes. "Promise me," she said in a determined voice, "that you stay… wherever it is that we're going now. I'll call when it will be over."

"I'm not going to just sit somewhere while all of you-"

"Jeremy, please," Elena interrupted him. "If you really want to help, that's the best thing you can do. Nothing will help me as much as knowing that you're safe."

Jeremy kept grimacing and shaking his head.

Elena drew a breath, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. "Don't make me compel you," she whispered in a hollow voice and Jeremy darted his eyes to her.

"You wouldn't."

"We did before," she muttered.

"Yeah," Jeremy said with sigh, turning to look out of the window. "You and your fiancé."

Elena stifled a smile and tried to look indignant instead. "Stop making fun of my engagement."

"I'm not making fun. It just… freaks me out," Jeremy said both amused and serious. "Doesn't it freak you out?"

"What?" Elena glanced at him, perplexed.

"That he'll always be able to pull the 'we're married' card on you?"

Elena's eyelids fluttered quickly and she glanced away, biting back a smile, not sure how to explain without embarrassing herself that she actually found the prospect ridiculously exhilarating.

"And good morning to you too," Damon said, pushing on the door with his hand before Bonnie managed to close it.

"Go away."

"As soon as you tell me what's your plan of action."

Bonnie opened the door a little bit more ajar. "First, I'll make your head hurt so much you'll wish to be beheaded, then I'll throw you against that tree," she said, pointing straight ahead and Damon turned to look at the tree, "and as a finishing touch I'll set you on fire."

"I hope you mean that literally because I'm already spoken for," Damon said, turning back toward her.

"Maleficent finally said yes?"

They exchanged narrow-eyed, humorless smiles.

"I really don't have time to chat right now, so why don't you just highlight the main points?" Damon tried again, looking at her intently.

"The main point is that I'm not going to tell any of you anything," Bonnie said through her teeth, glaring at him.

"Why?" Damon asked with a grimace, losing patience.

Bonnie's irritation on the other hand seemed to fade into utter seriousness. "If I require the nature to help, I can't manipulate it. You can't just play your parts. It doesn't work that way." Damon looked at her, his forehead wrinkled, eyebrows furrowed. "Magic is not about pretending or faking anything," Bonnie continued in an agitated whisper. "It's about endowing the truth with power. That is all." She added in a louder, blanker voice and looked at him for a moment before slamming the door shut.

Damon knocked again and Bonnie opened the door giving him an exasperated look.

"You have your plan then and I have mine." He handed her a small vial, shot her a grim look and turned around.

Bonnie looked at the vial with a frown on her face. "Don't do anything," she said through her teeth. "Leave it to me."

Damon turned around. "Define 'it.'"

"I know it's going to be hard for you, but I'm afraid you'll just need to trust me," she whispered dryly.

Damon averted his eyes with a half-snort, half-grimace. "Give me one good reason why."

Bonnie looked at him, a flicker of an amused smile tugging on her lips at the expression she expected to see on his face when he would hear her answer. "Because I trust you." Damon blinked. "All of you. Myself included," Bonnie added almost grimly, straightening up and taking a step inside the house. "And that's pretty much all we've got," she said, closing the door shut.

After collecting the key from the lobby and leaving their belongings in a small vacation house near the sea, Elena and Jeremy went straight to the beach where they stretched a blanket over the sand and slumped down onto it to gaze at the ocean.

The afternoon sun draped a wide strap of sunlight across the water and all the way toward the horizon. Elena buried her feet deeper in the warm sand and closed her eyes, the breeze brushing over her face, the scent of the sea enveloping her anew with every gust of wind that tugged on her hair. She smiled to herself imagining that it wasn't the wind, that it was Damon who was twirling her hair around his fingers, trailing feathery-light kisses over her face. No, no. She sighed. Too light, too gentle. It merely grazed her skin. It didn't make her shiver. It couldn't imitate the warmth of his lips.

Her eyes snapped opened at the sound of Jeremy's voice. Unable to recall what he had just said, she only managed to notice that he rose to his feet, brushed the sand off his jeans and went off toward a canteen. Blinking quickly to shake herself into consciousness, Elena deeply inhaled the refreshing air, taking in her surroundings. The beach was almost empty save for a few people in the distance, their small silhouettes barely visible.

Pulling up her legs, Elena rested her chin on her knees and looked at the ocean, letting the sight and the sound of the waves swallow her, fill up her heightened senses.

How strange that death should lead to eternity, she thought, trying to think about the future but somehow the constant memory of what could happen on the next day kept thwarting any plans she was trying to make. So she focused on thinking about the past instead. "You knew I wouldn't let you do that. You know I won't let you die. I will never let you die." Elena tilted her head to the side, smiling to herself. Everything felt so mysterious and magical when she was thinking about that now. Even that dark night when she had completed the transition. Maybe it was wrong to feel that way... But she didn't want to think it was wrong. It didn't feel wrong to her. She drew an unhurried breath. Love could make everything right. Love always made the right choices.

Suddenly, Elena heard a faint rustling noise behind her and she stiffened. At first she thought it was an illusion caused by prolonged looking straight into the sun, but after a moment she realized it was something else. Glancing around herself she noticed white fog slowly wrapping itself around her.

She was baffled for a split second, caught off guard by the sight but then a thought crossed her mind. Drawing a hasty breath she sprung up to her feet and whirled around. When she did, she found herself face to face with Damon.

He smiled, tilting his head to the side like he had done when they had met the second time for the first time and all of a sudden it felt completely superfluous to even question his presence. Elena flung herself into his arms and he locked her in an embrace, pressing his cheek to the side of her head and closing his eyes when she wrapped her arms around his neck as tightly as possible.

"I'm so happy you're here," she whispered against his neck, feeling him smile into her hair, hugging her close to him.

"I'm happier."

Elena drew back to look at him. "Is that a challenge?"

For a while they stood looking and smiling at each other, but then a gust of wind from the ocean sent strands of Elena's hair flying against Damon's face and they stopped. It was neither day nor night, it was impossible to tell the color of the sky and the sea was just a figment of imagination. All that was real - was them. The rest was just an accidental stage, an empty movie set.

Damon propped Elena's chin with his hand and pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, his breathing replacing the wind, his scent taking over the scent of the sea, the sound of his voice deafening the waves.

It was a story in which there were moments that happened, those that didn't, some that happened twice. There were cloths of memories slashed with knives and no amount of trampled stars had ever proved quite enough to tear them apart. It hadn't felt right back then, Elena thought, memories flickering across her shimmering memory, trying to run away only to end up in a car with him. Or in her room. Or in his. Hundreds of places where they hadn't belonged, not together, at least. And then at some point she had realized, without actually ever realizing it, that he had been everywhere. His face in her nightmares and in her dreams, until she couldn't tell the ones from the others. Running away meant meeting again. It was like a chart, a list of all imaginable feelings with empty check boxes next to them. And to their mutual, unshared bewilderment she had started ticking them all off, one by one. I care about you. I hate you. I like you. I trust you. I love you.

"Elena." Damon whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. They didn't kiss, but his voice was made of thousands of kisses and she smiled, outlining the contour of his lips with her fingertips. "Elena."

His lips brushed against her fingers when he spoke and she shivered, clenching her other hand around his shoulder.

"I thought there was life," Elena whispered, grasping on the shreds of thoughts, looking at him, her eyelashes tickling his eyelids, "and within... and beneath life there was love. But it isn't like that at all." Damon's hand slid across her back like a fiery shadow. "There is love and everything else is within, beneath, below." She had wanted to say something completely different, something bright, but the words came to her on an impulse and she spoke without caring if she made much sense.

He kissed her cheek, drew a breath. "There is only you and everything else-"

"Yes," her eyes lit up, for he seemed to understand. "Yes, yes, I know," she whispered feverishly, tilting her head just enough to touch his lips with hers, his mouth hovering suspended over the skin of her cheek. "That's why you can't turn it off. Love is not a part of humanity. It doesn't disappear with it. It doesn't die. It can't be turned off. It is humanity that is a part of love."

"Elena." Damon's hands cradled her shoulders, her neck, her face. "He can't make you turn it off," he said quietly through his teeth.

Elena blinked, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You didn't see that happen," she whispered, the ticking of that clock still pulsating on the outskirts of her memory. Damon grimaced, his eyes wandering around her face. "I did." Like a car crash, Elena thought with a twinge of numb pain in her chest. When you think of it it's impossible, but then you lose control of the car and it's just happening, you're falling, you can't breathe... and then it's over.

"You just said yourself why it can't happen," Damon said under his breath, a faint, warm smile ghosting across his face.

Elena smiled through her tears. "Promise me it won't happen to us," she whispered after a pause, her voice faltering, because it was an impossible request, because it wasn't fair, because she had no right and because she knew he would promise her that in a heartbeat.

Damon nodded imperceptibly, running his thumb over her lips. "I promise," he said, because making promises was a part of it too, just like conquering it all, like never leaving, like dying. Like a happy ending.

Elena smiled, lifting her forehead, the cool wind taking place of his warm skin, making her flinch. Damon kissed her hand and looked at her and it only took her a moment to understand the question. Her fingers closed around his hand, nails digging into his skin.

He pulled her hand, invisible chains falling soundlessly into the sand as they broke into a run. The wind was pushing against them, the sand tripping them. They fell once, twice and then laughed, ran again, walked hand in hand by the water edge.

They stopped a few times to look around, to stare at the sea, to shift their hands in each other's grasp, fingers entwined, inseparable.

When they reached the pier it was almost completely obscured by sunlight and Elena had to shield her eyes while walking toward one of the boats. Damon stepped aboard a white yacht and before Elena raised her foot to follow he scooped her into his arms and placed her back on her feet inside the boat where she sank softly into the cushioned deck.

She continued holding his hand, leaving the task of untying the boat to his other hand alone. When she realized that, he looked up at her with a smile and she smiled back, squeezing his hand even tighter, dismissing the idea of letting go.

Slowly, the boat drifted away from the pier. Damon started the engine and Elena's breath caught in her throat when they rushed across the water. He draped his arm around her and she contemplated the immaculate color of the ocean. After a few minutes, however, she buried her face in his chest to hide from the impact of the wind.

"Look around, Elena," Damon whispered into her ear. "It's a beautiful day."

Elena slightly tilted back her head and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Damon's eyes darted to her, searching her face and then suddenly eternity shrank into that one moment when she looked back at him.

Without averting his eyes from her, he turned off the engine and the yacht slowly drifted to a halt. Damon gathered Elena to him and her hands flew to his shoulders, trembling so much it made them both smile.

"Don't make fun of me," she warned in a soft, amused voice.

"How could I?" he asked, taking her hand and placing it flat over his racing heart.

"Mine... too," she whispered, expecting him to place his hand on her heart, but instead he bent his head and pressed his ear to her chest.

She gasped, her hands sliding from his shoulders to his head, into his hair. Awkwardly, she tried to pull his lips to hers. But instead of just lifting his head, he dragged his lips upwards very slowly, lingering on her collarbones, leaving a trail of kisses along her neck. By the time his lips were tracing her jawline she had his shirt mostly unbuttoned, her hand still covering his heart, but the black fabric no longer separating his skin from her touch.

Drawing back barely enough to look at her, Damon cradled Elena's face in his hands and gazed at her for such a long time she started to laugh.

"If you're waiting for me to faint, it may happen sooner than you think," she whispered, choking on the words, her breathing shallow and uneven.

"That's the last thing I want you to do, Elena," Damon said with a small smirk, sifting her hair through his fingers and caressing her face with open palms. "I'm just writing this down in my memory."

She smiled, her eyes glimmering with cheerful solemnity. "Journaling made simple. I like it."

They looked into each other's eyes and then the sea and the sky collided and crashed, burst into the darkness and millions of lights interlaced together when they kissed, impatiently, hungrily, with too much hope, too much love.

Somehow it was easier to breathe now, drawing only hasty intakes of breath in between the kisses. His arms were warm around her and she snuggled as close as possible, getting lost in the taste of his mouth, so sweet with a dram of something tangy she couldn't name and it tormented her. The harder she kissed him, the closer she thought she was getting to defining what it was, but then they would draw apart for a split second and everything would start all over again.

But she wasn't lost, Elena subconsciously corrected herself. She was drowning and falling, but didn't feel lost, couldn't feel lost with him chanting her name. It sent shivers through her every time, because it sounded like he meant it, every time. He wasn't just repeating it in abandon. He was saying her name. He was kissing her. They didn't blend into the moment; it wasn't about what was happening. It was about them together.

She didn't know if it was something she guessed or a broken thought of his that she accidentally heard in her head, but it suddenly occurred to her that it was the first time he was being kissed like that by someone who loved him. The realization stung her, angered her, hurt her and she tore her lips from his and panted the words into his ear, against his skin, against his mouth before they kissed again. The kiss was gentler now, slower and more thorough and she dug her fingernails into his arms, squeezed her eyes shut as tight as possible to keep hot tears from falling down her cheeks. She had never felt such unbounded joy that made her feel so light, so alive without a trace of fear that it would end, break, fade away.

They stumbled backwards onto the main deck, tripping over their shoes. Damon pushed Elena's dress off her shoulders and buried his face in her neck, kissing and nibbling but not drawing any blood. When she pulled him in for another kiss there were no labyrinths of veins on his face, neither was there any on her face, she knew, and she silently marveled at that for a second before her thoughts shattered at the touch of his hands cupping her breasts through the thin fabric of her blue dress. He deftly pushed down the zipper on the back and when she felt the dress pool around her feet he closed her in his arms again and she struggled to open her eyes.

It had a dizzying effect on her - his touch, the waves rocking the yacht, the sunlight. Blindly, with half-hooded eyes she reached out to tug his shirt off him. Running her hands up his arms she imprinted a few open-mouthed kisses over his chest. She felt his blazing eyes focus on her face when with trembling hands she began fumbling with his belt.

He interrupted her by crashing her against him, kissing her, his hands roaming over her bare skin, fingers getting caught in the straps of her bra and in the next moment it was gone and her breath caught in her throat when her breasts were smoothed against his chest, his embrace tightening, his mouth finding hers again and they kissed like they had for the first time, lips locking in a soft, motionless kiss.

When it ended, everything else that separated her skin from his was cast aside and her heart began pounding furiously in her chest when he looked at her - with his eyes, his hands, the merciless scrutiny that made her gasp and writhe underneath him as they sank to the white cushion-covered deck. His mouth kept returning to hers and the kisses were calming her down, balancing the heat and the frenzy like a recurring love confession.

Elena ran her open palms over Damon's back, pulling him closer as if there was no proximity that would be good enough, close enough. His lips skimmed across her chest, coming back to her mouth through the path that led along her neck, over her chin. His face hovered above hers and her eyes fluttered open, mouth quivering when a shudder ran through her at the touch of his hand, all of her senses drawn to the light movement of his fingertips brushing the inside of her thigh.

Their eyes locked and fervently, she cradled his face in her hands when they shared an unhurried kiss, eyes blinking close before opening again.

She could hear his heartbeat in her ears, the sound of his voice floating over her and she was once again struck by the spellbinding intensity of his gaze that left no doubt that he was looking at her, that he wasn't caught up in a moment, entranced by a feeling alone. He was entranced by her.

He whispered her name and her hands clutched his shoulders; they looked into each other's eyes for as long as it was possible before the sudden loss of any remaining distance between them caused their eyes to flutter shut, the overwhelming feeling of complete closeness making them shudder.

His name left Elena's lips in a moan and Damon buried his face in her neck, in her hair, laying very still for a second before lifting his head and pressing a breathless kiss to her lips. With the greatest effort, she wrapped her arms that felt so incredibly heavy around him, the sway of his hips scattering stars behind her eyelids. When she started matching his movements there were flames flaring up and rushing across her skin, lingering on the tips of her fingers and her toes.

He kissed her and she parted her lips, thrown off balance by the lack of rhythm that made every movement unexpected, electrifying. Slow, deep thrusts interspersed with fast, almost jarring strokes that made her cling to him, cry out his name, her voice as hoarse as his when he whispered her name into her hair. Relentlessly, he was moving inside her and she let the enthralling sensations carry her into the place where there was only him and her, him and her. She tossed her head to the side, shivers running through her when she felt his lips trace hot kisses up and down her neck.

She struggled to open her eyes and when she did she saw that he was looking at her, eyes dark and glimmering and she could see a glimpse of her own reflection in them. His mouth wandered over her damp hairline, her half-open lips and only when she felt his lips skim over the skin near her eyes did she realize he was kissing away her tears. She didn't even know there were tears on her face. And then between her eyes fluttering open and shut she noticed that glimmering in his eyes were tears as well and she wanted to cry, to laugh, to scream at him and at herself for being so fragile, so mad.

"I love you."

Elena smiled weakly at their voices blending together. The words filled the air, filled every fiber of her body. There were flames and a flood, a storm after a storm rushing through her for a moment long enough to make her shatter and burn and drown and soar until she couldn't breathe, couldn't live, couldn't die.

He crashed into her arms and she held him, held onto him until he rolled them over and gathered her into his arms.

They gazed at each other until the dusk, gazed at the stars kissing and whispering, their embrace so tight not even the moonlight could glide in between them when at last they closed their eyes and fell asleep.

After spending a couple of hours on the beach by himself, Jeremy folded the blanket, grabbed his laptop and took one more look at the sea before heading back to the vacation house.

He sprinted up the steps, opened the door with the key and walked inside. The setting sun was flooding the room through the unveiled windows.

Nothing seemed off to him at first, but then he suddenly felt somebody's presence behind him. When he abruptly turned around he saw Klaus standing near one of the windows, his smile broadening proportionately to how Jeremy's eyes widened in dismay.

"And where would our lovely Elena be?" Klaus asked, glancing toward the door with a mockingly expectant look on his face.

"I don't know," Jeremy said through his teeth.

Klaus chuckled with exaggerated amusement. "I knew you'd say that."

"It's not Sunday today," Jeremy said in the coldest tone he could muster.

"That's a very good point," Klaus agreed immediately with a falsely apologetic look on his face. "But you see, I forgot... in the invitation, I should've probably put it there," he sighed, his forehead wrinkling in thought, "I forgot to mention the party was happening on Sunday, but before the party there always have to be some, some... preparations, right?" Klaus smiled, tilting his head to the side, regarding Jeremy for a second with mockingly laughing eyes before repeating his initial question in a voice that now sounded slightly less amused and more menacing. "So... where's Elena?"

Jeremy clenched his jaw. "I don't know," he said, pronouncing each word with exaggerated distinctiveness.

Klaus smiled, but this time the smile was overtly sour. "You may want to reconsider being difficult."

"She's eighteen. She went for a walk. Didn't say when she'd be back," Jeremy said sardonically.

Klaus dropped his gaze to the floor nodding pensively. Then, all of a sudden he pounced toward Jeremy and gripping his throat he slammed his back against the wall.

"Then I guess we'll just have to leave her a note and hope she'll join us," Klaus hissed, throwing Jeremy to the ground. "It's a shame, though," Klaus continued, while Jeremy was very slowly getting up from the floor, his face contorted to validate the slowness of movements meant to conceal his attempts to put to a better use his furtive texting skills mastered at school. "I was going to grant you a few hours of family time before..." Klaus trailed off and then before Jeremy realized what was happening his hand got twisted at an unnatural angle and his phone landed in Klaus' hand.

"You spelled my name wrong," Klaus said with a sad expression on his face and then shoved the phone against Jeremy's head so hard that it left a deep, bloody mark. "I hope ungratefulness doesn't run in your family," Klaus said, walking off and grabbing Elena's new journal from the table. "I hope your sister will at least appreciate the fact that instead of making her search for a lamb herself I'll provide her with one," he continued, thumbing through the empty pages, "so the spell could be performed without unnecessary delay."

Straps of pictures fell out from between the pages of the journal and Klaus picked them up and looked at them with a chillingly gleeful grin on his face.

Jeremy blinked. "You want her to kill Matt?" He asked in dismay struck by the idea.

Klaus grimaced. "No. You see, that's yet another gracious gesture of mine that I hope will meet with due appreciation. I could just resort to some," he waved his hand, "random options instead. After all, my only concern should be to ensure that the donation line won't end. For all I care, any human would do, but I figured that Elena might prefer… what's his name again?" He wrinkled his forehead. "For sentimental reasons." He smirked.

Jeremy felt like he was losing the ability to comprehend the words being spoken. He thought he knew what Klaus was talking about, but then he didn't because it was just too ridiculous and in a way too appallingly simple.

"I just want her to have a happy, human life," Klaus clarified, amused by the bewildered expression on Jeremy's face. "Well, I also want her blood and the blood of all the future doppelgangers, but it's a pretty decent trade-off, don't you think?" He placed the open journal down on the table, tore off one of the pictures and dropped the rest of them over the empty pages.

"I don't think he'll understand, though," he added, tapping his fingers over one of the photos. "So we may need to run a stake through his heart." He sighed. "But to answer your question," he continued with renewed enthusiasm and Jeremy couldn't even remember if he had actually asked any questions, his mind reeling in growing horrification. "She's not going to kill Matt," Klaus said, taking a lighter out of his pocket and setting the pictures and the journal on fire. He glanced up at Jeremy. "She's going to kill you."