AN: Sooo, here's the new chapter! I wanted to thank the readers and the reviews, it's nice to know someone liked it! I hope you're not going to be disappointed! And once again I'm sorry for the grammatical errors, it's like no matter how many times I corrected those chapters there is still half of them remaining. It's really frustratinnng. Don't hesitate to point the recurrant ones!

Well it has been a week, I hope you are going to like this one, tell me what you think about it. Enjoy! :)

"So he told you he was in ? Nothing else ?"

They were once again standing beside Alaric's car waiting for Damon. It seems to Elena that they haven't moved since they left Mystic Falls. When Elena had been back from her little escape she had found a very, very pissed Alaric, and it's only after some arguments that they decided to take a room in the motel next to the bar. But overtaking by her victory she didn't realised that Damon hadn't say anything about meeting up somewhere and there they were, waiting for him to eventually show up.

"No, nothing else" she insisted, annoyed. This vampire was really getting on her nerves.

"Guess we are not going to wait all day. He is a vampire, if he wants to find us, he will", he assured her.

Elena sighed and get into the car. She should have know that he wasn't trustful, but she couldn't help being disappointed. She had just met him but it felt like they already met somewhere, and who knows if she would ever get the chance to see him again. Truth is, she was curious. She was dying of curiosity for him. All the things she had caught in his eyes could not be summarized by what he showed yesterday. It had been a long time since Elena felt something like this, and she wasn't ready to let it go.

She was about to put her bag on the back seat only to be scared to death by the presence of a man right behind her. She swore angrily clutching to her bag. He was lying all over the back seats, eyes closed and a smile playing on his lips. "How do you even get here?" But despite her frustration she was relieved to see him here but she wasn't sure what to say to him now.

She turned her head to look at him before throwing her bag on him with all the strength she had, even if she knew she couldn't hurt him, he was sure not going to like the smell of it.

"Awww". He took the bag away from him and gave her a consternating look who only made her smirk. At this moment Alaric finally took his place. They were both silent for a minute, waiting for Alaric to realised Damon's presence. He turned on the car and this is only when he looked at the mirror that he jumped of surprise.

"Seriously ?" He said putting a hand on his heart.

Elena and Damon looked at each other and Alaric glared at them, starting the car to take the road they had abandoned the day before. Elena suspiciously glanced at Damon. So he did come. But there was still something strange about how easily he had been to convince him after his first refusal, and Elena was determined to find why he was suddenly being so nice.

"So, how long before we arrived ?"

"A few hours."

"You really think none of them will be here ?" Elena asked. Alaric was convinced that they all have ran since a long time and were not stupid enough to stay there. She was not that sure about that. They were powerful enough to not fear anyone.

"They have no reasons to stay around. They're always moving."

"We don't find the Originals, they find you." Damon intervened as if he was reciting an old story. Elena turned back to him. Yeah, they already heard that. "If you want to find your brother, you better find something to make them want to find you."

"Thanks for the tip Damon. That's exactly what we are doing."

He rolled his eyes and leaned back on his first position obviously annoyed. Elena wondered what could have separated Stefan and his brother. He was clearly representing everything Stefan despised but he didn't seemed that bad to her. A little cocky, not the helping guy …

"Is that why you absolutely wanted me here ?" he asked to Elena who realised she was still staring at him. She leaned toward Alaric.

"I thought you say I would like him", she said in a whisper, a teasing smile on her face.

She caught Damon opening lazily his eyes to gaze at her, he send her a splendid smile. Elena decided that he was definitely weird.

The trip passed pretty quickly, none of them said another word until they were a few meters away. Alaric stopped the car further away, on another street. Elena could feel her heart beating madly in her chest. She was febrile and she looked expectingly to Alaric.

"What do we do now ?", she whispers as if she was afraid somebody would hear them.

Alaric and Damon exchanged a look. "I will go first" he announced. "To clean the area" he added miming his sentence with his hands. He got out of the car before she could react. She looked everywhere in panic.

"We can't let him go alone." she reproached. And to her surprise Alaric caught his own artillery and get out of the car too. She stayed in the car a few second wondering what the hell had just happened. Did he expects her to follow him ? Or to stay in the car ? She didn't know what to do at all but before she could think twice about it she grabbed her bag and walked as fast as she could to the manor.

It was even more impressive in real. The house was gigantic and seemed to crush everything around. Elena felt like she was a little thing waiting to be carried away. She carefully approached the front door, at the image of the manor. She stood still. So what now ? Smart girl.

There was no sound, no sign of life, nothing. She felt completely alone. She was afraid something might happened to Alaric and Damon, so she did probably the most stupid thing she had ever even think about in her entire life. She knocked at the door.

And she was taken completely aback when somebody opened the door. Someone actually fucking opened the door. And this someone's gaze immediately drifted to her bag.

"Hi?" tried Elena.

Elena was sitting on an old couch with a cup of tea in her hands feeling totally stupid. The man in front of her on the opposite couch was looking at her with a false kind expression. He was clearly playing with her. Well, she was going to play along, if she could gain time. Everything about this manor was … mystic. The inside was even more mysterious, Elena felt as if she was getting back to the 50's. But it was obviously as old as them.

"So, why do you come here exactly ?"

Elena's attention turned back to the man. He was tall and muscular, he had blond curls falling on his shoulder and green piercing eyes. He was handsome, but if he intended to keep this cocky smile on his face he should meet Damon. Oh God, he can never know she just thought that.

"I … was walking and … I got very intrigued by this place" she said trying to smile. You can stop here Judgy. That's the best she came up with.

"Oh yeah, that happens all the time" he replied with the same creepy smile. Damn those hybrids.

She suddenly stood up but he was on her in a second. She grabbed a vervain bottle she had in her pocket and throw it at him. He screamed cupping his face into his hand. She took the opportunity to run as fast as she could in the corridor. It was a labyrinth, she had the impression to take the same corner everywhere. She just needed to find something to stake him before he -

"Look who I found", whispered a voice behind her. She grabbed the lamp on the desk beside her and smashed it on his face. He didn't seems to be even a little confused by it and just kept looking at her. He raised his hands to snap but before he could do anything a grunt came out of his mouth as blood splashed on his face. Elena took a step back as his body fell on the ground to reveal Damon, fangs out and a heart inside his hand.

"Look what I found" he imitated.

Elena was torn between the gratefulness and the horror. His mouth was covered by blood and his fangs were out, meaning he found someone in the house too. She spanned the corpse murmuring a thank you and walked past Damon to explore the place. They had to be fast, god knows how many more of them were here.

"Where is Alaric ?", she asked him. He throw the heart at his feet and followed her gracefully.

"He's checking the bedrooms."

They continued until they arrived into a big space. It looked like a library. There was bookshelves on every wall and dust was reigning everywhere. Elena turned on herself in amazement, she always adored to read as much as she wanted to write and her breath was taken away by the room. Damon not concerned at all went to the desk in the middle. It was a big old desk which had not been used for a very long time. He sat on the chair behind it and played with it.

Elena looked at him reproachingly with a I-can't-believe-it look and started searching. For what she didn't knew, but she was not getting out before she got something.

Damon got interested in a map on the desk. "I think I have an idea of where Klaus is." Elena quickly made her way to Damon and looked at what he found.

"Oh …" she looked at Damon. "It's the full moon in two days."

"And what did he does on full moons ?" he asked not really expecting an answer.

A loud noise cut short their thinking. They looked at each other before Damon broke a part of the chair to give her something to defend herself with and disappeared of her view. She put the map in her pocket and rush to the door before carefully making her way where she had heard the sound. Once again she was alone.

She finally arrived in another room. Alaric was standing in the middle of this one, arms up and looking at something, or someone, she couldn't see from there. She instantly knew she was spotted, after all they all have a super hearing. Somebody pushed in the back to the middle next to Alaric and she realised they were surrounded by hybrids. They must be around ten. She raised her arms too and looked around for a hint of Damon, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Guess staying in the car was out of option ?" Alaric asked between his teeth. Elena didn't bother to respond. Their only hope right now was Damon. The two main hybrids whispered something at each other before turning back to them. They were armed with crossbows and were glaring at them when suddenly Alaric talked.

"If I were you I would let us go. We are not alone, and you don't stand a chance." He was bluffing. Well, they were desperate, so it made sense. The tension in the room was increasing. Obviously they weren't sure if they had the right to kill them or not but Elena didn't doubt they would not consider the thing twice.

The hybrid laughed followed by the other. "I would want to see that." He pointed the crossbow to Alaric, faking to engage it.

Suddenly one of them was knocked out by his own weapon and another was pierced by an arrow. "My pleasure" resonated a dark voice. Alaric pushed Elena to his right and screamed her to run before doing it himself the other way. But Elena didn't. She just stood still looking at Damon. There was something beautiful, stunning in him while he was murdering all the hybrids. He was graceful as much as he was crazy. She couldn't look away, it's like she was hypnotized by him.

Only one hybrid was still standing, and he was starting to step away. Killing him was not necessary, they could just let him go and ran outside. The atmosphere was heavy and time seemed to stop for an instant. A flash crossed Elena's eyes as she suddenly recognized the man. He was there when she was attacked, she remembered his cold gaze while he was breaking her mom's vase. Now he was just an afraid little thing begging for pity.

Damon was ready to send a scathing remark to the man before and killed him. But before he could even pronounced a word, the chest of the man was pierced by a stake and his skin cracked. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Elena behind him. He would have never believed she had the guts to do something like this. And apparently neither did she.

Elena was still holding the bloody stake in her hand staring at the dead body in front of her. Her eyes were back to their emotionless state. His life could have been spare but she didn't felt ready for that. He was a monster. And she was done keeping those monsters that were ruining her life around. Not this time. Somehow she had felt a rush of adrenaline in her. This one's mine. She was trembling but nevertheless she let the stake go and looked at Damon. His eyes were still swirling from the fight and he was covered by blood.

She is like me.

He lower the crossbow and put it on his shoulder. He looked even more dangerous like this. "He's dead. Get over it." He wiped away the blood around his mouth.

"We should go." She had no desire to explain anything and she was feeling very tired.

Suddenly they heard footsteps coming their way. "Run!" groaned Damon and this time she followed the order and ran through the corridors of the manor. She didn't even know where she was running but if she stopped just one second to think she would be dead. She didn't felt the pain in her hips when she stumbled against a shelf or in her arms when she cut herself over a door handle. She finally arrived in front of a door leading outside. When she was about to open it a presence appeared a her side, she intended to scream but a hand smashed against her mouth forcing her to silence. She recognized Damon who threw himself outside with her, and in a few seconds she was back in Alaric car on the back seat.

Her heart was pounding and she was out of breath. It took her some time to recover from what had just happened. During this time Alaric had already started the car to flee.

"That was close" he remarked after a few minutes trying to lighten the mood.

And Damon started laughing. Not just a little laugh, like, he was really laughing. Elena looked at him in astonishment. She was still feeling very dizzy, and she didn't found the strength to scream at him. She leaned further into the seat. She really needed to sleep, she wasn't able to think about anything right know. Her phone vibrated in her jeans. She grabbed it and looked at the name on the screen. Stefan. If she didn't answered he was going to worry.

She send a warning glance to Damon, not willing to let Stefan know he was there, and picked up the phone.

"Hi Stefan". She tried to keep a voice straight.

"Hey Elena. I'm sorry, I was just calling to know if you were okay "

"Ye-Yeah, we're okay, why wouldn't we ?" she let a nervous laugh escaped her.

"Are you sure ? Your voice is shaking and I can hear you're breathless."

"..." Elena pursed her lips and ran a hand across her forehead. "It's nothing Stefan, we're okay, really. You don't have to worry."

"Sure ?"

Elena was going to answer when a hand grabbed the phone away from her. "No!" She jumped in the back of the car on Damon to get her phone back snatching a protest from Alaric.

"Give it back you idiot!"

"I don't think so" He kept her away without any efforts and stuck the phone to his ear. "Hi, baby bro!" He said in a seductive voice. Elena bit her lips.

"Oh no, they're okay, I'm here what could possibly happened to them ?" he asked excitingly with a childish smile on his face. He was enjoying this.

"Except this of course." he replied to something Stefan said.

"I think he wants to talk to you Alaric." He handed the phone to this one who was still driving, and now complaining. In a normal state Elena would have make a remark about the phone-driving but she was too depressed to say anything. She didn't listened to Alaric and Stefan's conversation and buried her face in her sweater ignoring Damon's proud face.

After a moment calm came back in the car and Alaric sent a sorry look at Elena deciding to skip the subject.

"So, do I keep on driving in no direction ?"

Elena contorted herself to get back on the front sit next to his guardian and showed him the map with the plan. She explained him briefly what they had concluded of it trying to forget about the disaster of Stefan's call.

"Elena, we can't go there. It would take the day and sleeping in a forest full of vampires is out of question. And we're not even sure they are here."

"There will be no hybrids, this is why he's doing it in the first place, to create them."

"Oh, werewolves, this is better."

"They are not going to be able to do anything until full moon. We just have to be out of there before this night." pleaded Elena.

Alaric shared a glance with Damon.

"You don't have to go Alaric, I won't blame you ..."

"I don't get it Elena … do you want to end up like Jenna ?"

Elena sent him an angry look. The memory of her aunt and particularly of her death was still very fresh for all of them. Elena would give anything to bring her back, even more that she felt incredibly responsible for what happened to her. She wasn't supposed to be part of this, she wasn't supposed to ever know about vampires, all supernatural creatures. She had believed so fiercely that she would never have get involved in all this mess.

Damon mumbled something behind about not having signed up for family disputes.

"I found something too", Alaric finally added after a few seconds. "I didn't have the time to read it completely. There was a sort of journal with drawings in what I think was Elijah's room. You remember what Jeremy said about his mark ?"

Jeremy had told them it was like a tattoo on his skin. Long black branches surrounding his wrist, they had grown after he killed a vampire.

"I think it was that. The notes besides were talking about a map. I think this is it Elena, his mark is leading somewhere. And Klaus apparently wants new hybrids before going there."

Why would he searches for anything ? He was the most powerful creature of the planet.

"What could he possibly wants ?"

Alaric shrugged eyes fixed on the road.

"I was thinking we could go to Elijah's precedent apartment. He may still be here, and of all of them, he is probably the one who would help us." He interrogated silently Damon.

"Probably" agreed this one his gaze sliding toward Elena.

"And where is that ?" She forced herself to ask.

"Chicago."

"What ?! But we're not even sure there is something there, we know where Klaus is." she objected.

"We don't know for sure Klaus is there either. This is smarter and safer."

She couldn't believe it. They knew exactly where Klaus was, and he wanted to drive to Chicago without any assurance that they were going to find something. It was a considerable loss of time. They didn't have time, Jeremy didn't. She tried to find help looking at Damon but he wasn't looking back anymore. He was staring outside the window. She seethed with rage as she forced an hypocrite smile on her face and obediently leaned into her seat.

They knew it was not going to be easy. Chasing Originals was crazy, it could take months. But until know the safest way had never really been the better. She had decided. She was going to go into this forest to met Klaus, and she didn't need Alaric for that. Splitting up would be way more efficient.

"I'm hungry, could we stopped ?"

"Yeah of course, I will stop next town."

Behind her she felt Damon's burning gaze on her. She could already tell he knew exactly what she had the intention to do. Good.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."