A/N: I really hope this all makes sense. It felt like I was writing the movie Vantage Point. My goodness that was not easy but I do hope it flows right and you enjoy the angst.

Hoping my lovely friend Mariah April May had a very happy birthday. This chapter is for you! Check out her story The Scandal. Its incredible and so complex.

Scarlett2112's Titanic story is so compelling and I am dying for the next chapter. She just started a Prison story too that had me hooked just imagining Damon in the orange jumpsuit walking all chained up towards ELena.

And I just spent the better part of two nights when I should be sleeping reading deepwater1978's story Kill or Be Killed and Battered Souls. Amazing writing. All you ladies are so incredible and I am so happy to have met you. XOXO

This is the last chapter of The Power Within. I'm sure you will love it, hate it. But I hope the characters have made you feel. Their story is far from over and will continue...

Elijah Mikaelson sped through the forest, his undead breath heaving out of him in his hurry to get to the young blonde vampire his brother fancied. He knew there was not much more time. Maybe an hour left before everything would fall in place. But if he wasn't there in time then nothing would work. There were no other options, no more contingencies. Katherine took the moonstone and ran and even managed to cure herself from the werewolf bite so she had no need of his brother to trade it for her life. He knew he had done the right thing as wrong as it felt right now, but it was the only thing he could think of to get Klaus to give up. It was incredibly risky especially since he had to keep it to himself for it to work. Everything hinged on his plan staying a secret.

He paused a moment looking around, squinting his eyes in the smoky air. Where was the car Bonnie had said she was in? He could see the cabin ahead and heard the fire crackling and getting bigger, the flames higher every second. But as much as he wanted to race there to save Elena if in fact she was trapped there, he knew Damon was on it and would stop at nothing to get her safe.

No, he needed to get to Caroline and if she was indeed the key to stopping his brother, than even if his original plan did not work he at least had a way to manipulate Klaus. Just the thought that the young girl could compel his brother was insane. He needed to understand. He needed to see what they discovered.

Elijah would just have to trust that Damon would save the doppelganger and their children and get her out of the fire before it was too late.

However even if he could save Elena from his brother, that still left Damon and the other brother Stefan dying from the werewolf bites and Elena would not want to live without the father of her babies he was sure. So getting to Caroline, so she could convince Klaus to give them his blood was up to him.

Elijah finally saw the black SUV nearly hidden in the bushes a ways off and with another gasp of the thickening, smoky air he sprinted forward. When he got closer he could see the back door of the vehicle had been ripped right off its hinges and there looked to be no one there. No! She had to be there. He needed her or everything would fall apart.

He blurred right up to the side of the SUV and let out a breath of relief seeing her laying in the back seat. "Caroline!" he called out and reached for her. But his hand slammed into an invisible wall.

What the hell? There was a protection spell like it was a house and he wasn't invited in. Klaus must have put it up to keep the other vampires from hurting her. Damn it!

"Caroline!" he call again and slammed his fist against the magical boundary. Finally after incessantly banging another couple times she lifted her head.

His eyes were wide and panicked as he heard crashes and more noises coming from the cabin. They needed to hurry.

"Elijah!" the blonde vampire gasped out, holding her head. Whatever had happened had healed but she looked like hell and he needed her free.

"Yes, Bonnie sent me. We need to get you out of there. You might be the only one to stop my brother. We have to hurry!"

Caroline shook her head back and forth. "I'm stuck Elijah. Nic compelled me to stay here. I haven't been able to move for hours." Then he saw her frantic gaze land on the cabin behind him. "Oh God, Elena!" She started shaking. "I can hear her!"

Sure enough she was right and Elijah could hear too Elena had called Damon's name followed by sounds of more crashing inside the burning cabin. But he heard Damon screaming back to her so he knew he must have found her. He had to trust that Damon could save her. He could not be in two places at once.

He leaned closer looking in the vehicle of anything he could use to force her out. There was nothing but blankets and spare clothes isnide from the looks of things . "Well I'm stuck too. I can't force you out of there. There is some kind of boundary spell around you. But I will try to override the compulsion. What did he tell you exactly?"

Caroline scrunched up her face. "Umm, he said I needed to stop trying to kill myself or get anyone else to kill me and I needed to stay here so that I was safe."

Elijah stood right up against the invisible wall thinking. "There must be some kind of loophole I can use to get you out! What if it wasn't safe in there? What if your life was in danger if you stayed there?"

Caroline leaned as close as she could while still trapped in the seat too. She looked scared. "Elijah what are you thinking?"

He was already moving and had grabbed up a piece of wood and slammed it into the side of the vehicle puncturing the side of the SUV by the gas tank.

"Elijah!" Caroline cried out, her hands clutching the seat in front of her. She was terrified. Did he think making it unsafe would negate the compulsion? She was shaking her head as she watched the gasoline spill onto the grass. This was crazy! "No, what if it doesn't work?!" she yelled at him.

Then she banged again on the side of the vehicle to get his attention as she saw him pull a lighter out of his pocket. "Wait! Tyler!"

Elijah turned back to her quizzically. What was she talking about?

She was pointing past him to the group of trees further back. "Tyler is there. A vampire might have almost killed him and knocked him out but maybe he can get me out. He is not a vampire. He could get in!"

Elijah spun his head and sure enough the young man was lying in the brush against a tree a ways away. He put his lighter back in his pocket seeing the blonde vampire close her eyes in relief before he made his way back toward the lone werewolf.

Tyler looked like he had been knocked out or had his neck snapped but was rousing now from that state but nearly drained of blood. Elijah knelt down and ripped open his wrist and dripped the blood onto his mouth. He started waking up right away and caught every drop between his lips. Elijah didn't have the time to risk a werewolf bite right now so he stayed back letting his blood stream down till Tyler had enough and his wounds were healing.

"Quick, your friend Caroline," he pointed toward the SUV. "I need you to pull her out of there. Klaus compelled her to stay there but we need her to stop him and I can't get to her." Tyler sat up nodding right away and without a word and raced over to Caroline grabbing her by the arms and pulling her from his brothers vehicle. She was right the young boy could reach into the vehicle. The spell was only vampire specific.

He cast another quick glance at the burning cabin knowing they needed to hurry. The roof looked like it had collapsed already and there was a crash as the garage within the next second just sunk down into itself leaving it nothing but a pile of burning embers flaming up to the sky.

He prayed that Damon had gotten Elena out of there by now. But he had no idea where his brother even was. Klaus had incapacitated him a long time ago and then had gone after Damon so he could be right there and waiting for them to come out like sheep to the slaughter.

"Caroline we need to go. My brother might already have Elena in his grasp. We can't let that happen." That was for damn sure. If Klaus took her then she would be dead without question and nothing anyone did would stop it. He was still holding the dagger Klaus had used on him and saw Caroline lookIng like she recognized it. He saw she was holding out an old leather bound book. His mother's old grimoire.

"Where did you get this?" he gasped out. It had been missing for centuries. He had last seen it the night his father nearly beat Klaus to death when he found out he was another man's child. He held out his hand for it and Caroline thrust the book in his open hands.

"Nic had it in there," she pointed at the vehicle. "The dagger you have, its in here. And look, this page literally became visible when Bonnie and I touched it. But neither of us can tell what it means." He saw the young lady flipping madly through the book to show him and also look frantically to the burning cabin and then back at Tyler too.

"You two figure this out," Tyler said nodding to them. "I'll go make sure Elena got out okay."

Caroline looked at him in humble thanks and stepped forward to hug him. The young man put his arms around her and closed his eyes. Elijah could see that he had feelings for her even though she looked to be very much in love with his brother. "Thank you Tyler. Thank you for everything."

He pulled back from her and smiled before he looked away. "Back at you Care," he mumbled and then before she could reply he raced off across the grass toward the cabin.

Elijah bent his head once more to study the old parchments all bound together holding many of his mother's spells. His eyes widened seeing the ancient language and the hastily sketched drawings. The one right in the center of the page looked so familiar from something but he could not place it.

"This is the page that was invisible. Even Nic hasn't seen it," Caroline commented to him. "Do you know what it means? The blood knot and the gold rope twining and not breaking? Bonnie said it had something to do with me. That was why it revealed itself to me. She asked me about blood sharing with Nic and we have done that twice in the last 2 days."

Caroline continued, pulled the hoodie tighter around her and coughing from the acrid air around them. "Nic tried to come in the SUV before and I swear he knew that Bonnie was there but I told him not to and told him that he hadn't heard anything and he backed off with a weird look on his face and left.."

Elijah was all ears, his focus totally on her as he listened. Was it possible? This young vampire that his brother was in love with could compel him? It was true?

They heard more crashes and it sounded like screaming. Caroline gasped, hearing Damon's voice and Nic's too!

"Oh my God Elijah, we need to hurry. I can hear Nic and Damon fighting!" She pulled on his arm and was ready to just run without him. But before she could, he grabbed her wrist and his head swung up to her wide eyes.

Elijah ran over what she was saying in his head, piecing things together...a balance for his brother's power, the blood knot, Caroline had done that with him, the seemingly indestructible gold rope that looked to only make the other one strong like that by winding around it.

"You are the balance. You are stronger than my brother. You bonded to him when you blood shared and you are becoming...oh my." He looked incredulous and just stared at her and she grabbed his arms and shook him.

"I'm what?!" Caroline cried out.

"It's impossible but its true. There has never been one like you in my whole life!" But he turned away from her and looked back at the cabin. He heard his brother scream 'no' and he prayed they were not too late. Did it already happen? He wrapped up the book again and tossed it on the seat in the SUV. With a nod he and Caroline raced toward the cabin.

He finally had the upper hand on his brother. He had a way to control him. It was incredible what was happening and that based on the spell this had been put in place by his mother centuries ago. But unless all the parts fit together; his brother's love for this girl, the blood sharing to change her and give her power beyond what he even had and the Bennett witch to discover his mother's secret, nothing would have ever have happened to bring about this balance.

They were almost at the cabin when he felt the ground shake as something exploded inside the cabin, the furnace maybe and they both just froze as more of the cabins remaining walls fell in with more crashes and the roar of the flames.

Elijah saw his brother and Caroline and had just barely made out that Klaus was on the dock. She squinted through the smoke making her eyes water and could see him! It looked like he had Elena and Damon trapped further up past him with nothing but water around them. She was about to call to him when another explosion just rocked its power out from the cabin, looking like it ripped it in half! She barely had time to shield her head, covering her eyes as she felt the stakes flying out toward them.

The Original cried out in more shock than pain as he felt the stakes bury themselves in his body. His witches spell? They had made him impenetrable to wood. Something happened to them? What was going on? He struggled for breath as he felt the stakes stabbing him all over.

Caroline screamed but nothing was heard over the roar of the explosion. She felt herself falling, pain all over her body. Her head hit the ground her eyes barely open. She gagged on blood in her mouth and felt a stake lodged in her throat preventing her from calling out for help. Then all she felt was pressure, hard and fast on top of her and the roughness of the wood as a tree crashed down trapping her under it!

Her eyes were closing as she thought she heard Stefan scream and she saw Nic fall, his body littered with wood pieces as he sunk under the water. Oh God no!

Caroline gagged on more blood and silently screamed out for him terrified and in so much pain. Looking around more she saw a figure just laying on the dock unmoving. It had to be Elena, and not seeing anyone else she knew Damon must have fallen in the water too.

The young vampire fought to pull herself out from under the tree. She could not even look around to see where Elijah was or even Tyler or anyone. Had the tree trapping her hit him too? The stake in her throat made her gag on more blood as her eyes closed.

Tyler had been running toward the yelling and roar of the fire. He was rounding the corner of the cabin to the back when he saw someone laying on the ground close to the front door and they were kicking at the flames that looked to be crawling up their body.

He skidded to a stop and spun around gasping as he got closer seeing it was Jeremy fighting fire on his legs. He knelt down in an instant and patted him down, taking of his one shirts and smothering it to nothing. Jeremy just lay his head back as Tyler dragged him further back from the house and behind a tree in the front yard.

"Are you okay man?" Tyler was checking his legs and the burns he had gotten. They were not healing.

Jeremy looked down and then nodded to his friend. "Almost sucked dry. Harder to heal then," he gasped out. "Shit am I glad you were here. I was watching myself burn to death with almost no strength to stop it."

Tyler saw his eyes closing and he knew he looked like he had been sucked dry. There were huge teeth marks on both sides of his neck, the skin that was torn and barely back together in one piece but it looked like his blood was hardly even pumping at all. He laid his head back down as Jeremy's eyes closed again.

He didn't know much about vampires yet but enough from what he had seen already that Jeremy needed blood. He grabbed for a stone and raked it across his palm and held it to his friends mouth. Jer started biting down on it sucking the blood rapidly into his mouth. He held his hand there at least a minute maybe more, letting him replenish his strength till he started feeling dizzy himself.

Jeremy smiled up at him weakly before his eyes closed again, likely still so faint but much less near death

Tyler caught sight of more movement and saw another figure stumbling out from the trees on the edge of the property.

Bonnie.

She was quite a ways from the cabin yet, her feet pushing forward despite exhaustion it looked like. She had sheen of sweat on her and was gasping from breath. Jeremy was safe for now he thought so he sprinted over to her. But before he could say anything he felt the ground shaking and the roar of the fire just nearly burst his eardrums. He barely had time to grab her and spin her around behind another tree before he felt a massive explosion rip through the air sending wood flying in all directions. Most of the stakes missed him but he felt one slam into his back knocking him down. He reached behind him trying to pull it out but it was too low in the center of his back to reach it.

"Bonnie!" he called out seeing her so close but he was unable to reach her. He thought she had been protected from all the wood but then he saw a small trail of blood seeping from her head as she sunk down to the ground behind the tree. She was too weak to help him too as he struggled more to get the stake out of his back as he felt blood in his throat choking him and hardly letting him breath.

Caroline fought to keep her eyes open and wasn't sure if she passed out. She caught flashes of things happening...Stefan crying out, the horrendous sound of ringing in her ears from being so close to the blast, Elena getting up and it looked like she was screaming for Damon. But she could not hear anything and just watched things move in slow motion in front of her. Nic still hadn't come up from the water, and neither had Damon. Then to her horror Elena leaned too far over and fell off the dock!

She heard screaming from Stefan's direction and then scraping on the ground as her vampire hearing started to come back and saw Stefan dragging himself on the ground toward the water. But how could he save her? How could anyone? He looked so weak and she could see even in the hazy air that there were dark black veins stretching up his arm and around his neck to his head and chest. The poison must be so potent in his system by now, so close to the end. She opened her mouth to call to him but choked again on the blood from the stake in her throat. Her arms were pinned down so she could not even move it more than an inch and any movements hurt like hell.

She felt her eyes closing again from the blinding pain against her back and could make out sounds of someone struggling right near her. Maybe Elijah could get the damn tree off her? Forcing her eyes open she fought to stay conscious.

Damon finally surfaced, and then dove down to look for Elena. She still had not seen Nic anywhere. Was he okay? She thought nothing could kill him? Stefan was almost to the edge of the water when suddenly when she blinked next, Jeremy had run toward him and knelt down. Then Damon resurfaced with Elena in his arms! Thank God.

Caroline watched Jeremy help drag her to the shore. She looked so still, her head hanging off Damon's arm before he sunk down onto the ground and started CPR. The blonde vampire felt her eyelids heavier as more of her blood stained the ground under her cheek as the stake kept a steady supply of it dripping from her veins before they closed again, her body too weak from the lack of blood.

Elijah's eyes flew open as he lay nearly crushed under the tree. He had seen it falling, the ground shaking and seeming to tear it from its roots. It was headed straight for Caroline's small body as she had just stood there once she had seen his brother. Elijah had put his hand out to stop the tree hitting them and had almost pushed it back over away from them when suddenly hundreds of stakes flew out from the cabin and his strength plummeted as fast as he fell, blood gushing from numerous wounds. He could hear Damon calling out yelling that she could not die on him. He was screaming and crying. Was he too late. He fought harder trying to push the massive tree off him but he was losing so much blood from the wood in his body all over.

What the hell had happened to his witches? Why would the spell to keep him immune to wood not be holding up now? Had Klaus somehow gotten to them and killed Dr. Martin and Luca?

And Elena! He needed to get to her or it would be too late. This had to work. If he couldn't revive her in time she would really be dead!

"Elena damn it! Don't you dare die on me!"

The voice floated up from the emptiness she was feeling as she tried to focus on it. She felt so strange, like she was floating in a dream world and could not find her way back to consciousness.

Damon? She cried out his name, knowing his voice like her own. Damon?

"Elena, come back to me! You can't leave me now! Come back Elena! Fight!"

"I'm here Damon! I'm here!" she called out desperately and felt water spraying down on her body. Why could he not hear her?! Where were they? The last thing she remembered was his arms around her as she heard him cry out and she saw wood stakes just flying at them on either side of her before she covered her head. She had no doubt that many had hit her love as he protected her and their babies from the knife like wood. She had felt herself falling and falling like into an abyss unending as the water swallowed her up.

She had been drowning! Oh God, she had fallen in the lake!

But she could hear him now and feel him. He breathed in her mouth and she felt his lips against hers and she longed to kiss him. She wasn't drowning...was she? What was happening? Why couldn't she reach him, or get him to hear that she was okay? Elena felt his hands on her chest pushing down over and over as she heard him crying.

"I'm here Damon. I can hear you. Hear me please baby!" She tried to open her eyes. Why weren't they working?! Then she felt him collapse, his body on her, his head against her chest, his soft hair sweeping gently over her bare skin and she pulled at her hand trying with all her strength to lift it to run her fingers through the wet strands of his hair. She needed to reach him, to show him she was okay. He was sobbing against her and she could feel his arms around her waist pulling her in toward him. He felt so warm. He was home and she ached to comfort him.

It was like he thought she was dead...Oh God! Was she dead? An ice cold chill rushed through her at the thought of not being with him. Not holding him or waking up with him. She tried again to force her eyes open but there was still nothing but blackness in front of her.

Elena felt his body shaking and then slowly his head moved down to her stomach.

Their babies…

She felt like she must have been holding her own breath when she did not even know if she was breathing as she felt Damon pressing his head to her belly, his ear against her skin, his hands cradling her hips. The next moment she heard her love let out the most heartbreaking wail and she tried to scream to understand what was happening.

What?! What was wrong with their children?! Dear God please they have to be okay! She felt him pull her up and into his arms, his nose buried in her hair as he cried. Were their babies dead?!

Damon! We are okay. We are right here! she screamed again, her heart pounding so hard in her chest that she could hear the blood in her ears. He rocked her for a long time, his head against hers.

"Baby, you have to come back," she heard him whimper as she felt his head nuzzle closer to hers. "You can't leave me angel. I need you so much..."

Elena could feel his cheek against her own and the sensation of wetness that trailed down onto her face...oh god his tears. Her precious baby was crying like she was gone and she cried right along with him that she could not get him to hear her. Was she really gone?

"I can't...I can't live without you..." he mumbled into her hair, his breath so shallow between his sniffles and more tears sliding down her own cheek. She felt his fingers on her face tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. "Please, please baby," he begged her, his voice so raw with emotion.

And then she felt his lips, so warm and so soft on hers. He kissed her deeply, passionately, holding her so tight in his embrace. She would never tire of the feeling of being in Damon Salvatore's arms. He felt like perfection and there was no feeling in the world like it. Elena felt her body relax into his kiss but as much as she strained to kiss him back, her lips refused to move. She knew he felt that she was not kissing him back and within a few moments his sobs came again as he rocked her more in his arms.

"Damon! Baby, I'm here," she squeaked between breathless sobs, her own voice cracking it hurt so much to hear him like this. She needed to climb in his lap and hold him against her. She needed to wrap her arms around him and bury her head against his shoulder and promise him over and over that nothing would ever come between them. She needed to kiss him with wild abandon and, hold his face in her hands, tug on the dark curls at his neck, clutch his shoulder in her fingers needing to touch him everywhere at once to sooth his sadness.

"DAMON!" she screamed out raw with anger and desperation before she whimpered his name over and over between shaking breaths.

But nothing worked. Nothing could reach him and she felt the biggest ache in her heart at the thought of never reaching him again.

Another voice whispered and she could not make out what they said they were so faint. But instantly she felt him tense. His whole body pressed against her just went rigid and she heard the breath panting out of him as his grip on her increased.

"You!" she heard him spit out and she knew it had to be Klaus.

"No Damon no! I'm not dead! Please don't get yourself killed!" she pleaded. "Please, no!" She felt his body shaking and she could just imagine the rage running through him, thinking she was gone. His lips were on her forehead and she could feel he was letting her go. His grip lessened and she could feel the ground beneath her again. His one finger stroked down her cheek and she knew what he was going to do..."No Damon don't please!"

But her cries were drowned out by the sounded of growling and snarling and she could hear him screaming at Klaus that he took her away from him. She cried harder, screamed louder but nothing reached him and she had never felt more alone in her life.

Caroline could hear him, Nic. She forced her eyes open and could see him and Damon fighting. He was alive! Damon was alive. Elena? She could not see her moving. She was on the ground beside Stefan and they both looked so still. No!

She grunted and pushing at the tree trapping her with all her strength. She heard them yelling, and more splashing and growls. She had to stop him. She opened her mouth to call out again and still her throat felt so weak, so thick with her own blood that no sound came out.

She pushed again on the tree trunk and to her amazement it started moving! She heard grunting and groaning behind her and in the next second she could breath like never before and sucked in air like she had starved. She saw Elijah, bloody and panting above her and he wasted no time and pulled the stakes from her body. She cried out but still her voice was so weak. She felt warm rich blood on her mouth and gulped it up with fervor feeling it healing all her wounds.

Elijah bent his head to her. "I have to stop him. I can't let him kill Damon. She will never forgive me." And he raced off as Caroline struggled to sit up. She could see Nic holding Damon down against the dock his hand around Damon's throat. She knew Elijah only meant to render Nic immobile just like he had done to him but it still scared her.

Caroline pulled herself to her feet, her legs shaky as she saw Elijah lunge at him and stab him in the back, through the heart. Even though she knew it would not kill him, it still scared her knowing what was going to happen to him. He would look just as if he had died.

Elijah stood back waiting and watching for his brother to fall. He had completely taken him by surprise and knew the dagger had gone right through his heart. But instead of slipping to the ground...Klaus just turned to him, looking...irritated? Like he had just merely told him the score of a sports game he wanted to watch.

No...why wouldn't it work? He had to get to Elena and fast. He needed to get his brother out of there. He watched him twisting his arm around and pull out the dagger and toss it on the ground. Klaus mocked him showing him again how he would always be a step ahead. Damn it!

He was scared to ask but had to know how long Elena had been 'gone' and cringed at the answer. If he didn't get his brother out of there in the next couple minutes it would be too late.

"Rip my heart out. Let me die," Damon was begging for Klaus to kill him and Elijah could see the tears streaming down his face. "Please, I just want to be with her." He looked torn apart, like he was not even alive anymore, like he was gray and veiny and gone from this world forever. Elijah tried to get his attention somehow, anyhow but he could not tell him she was alive with his damn brother still there!

Elijah heard him plead for Klaus to rip out his heart and he nearly leapt forward to beg Damon to live. He had to live! There was no way he could bring her back only to find out that her love had been killed in his grief and she would be raising their babies alone. God no he had to stop him!

"No!" he burst out. Elijah was reeling with what to do. "Klaus release him." But the younger Mikaelson just shook his head back and forth. He was ready to try to leap on him to snap his neck. Anything to stop what was happening. He heard the small voice of the other brother, so close to death too and Elijah wanted to help him too somehow. Damon was actually begging to die and wanted Klaus to heal Stefan when he was gone. Was this all going to be for nothing? Klaus needed to leave now!

He looked around. Where the hell was Caroline?

As if she could read his mind her voice, weak and shaky cried out to his brother. "Nic, please stop." She looked like hell warmed over, blood on her jeans and her hoodie that was likely Klaus' and much to big on her. She stepped toward them, her eyes locked on Klaus'. She looked focused and yet her eyes held so much love in them, hope that she could stop this. Was she compelling him now? "Let him go Nic," she said strongly. And instantly his brother complied. It worked. He could actually be compelled! Elijah was shocked.

He wanted Caroline to stop him...right now. But she seemed lost in his eyes, in his tender expression toward her and they moved as if a magnet pulled them together till she was in his arms.

Bloody hell! There was no time for this! He nearly screamed, looking back down at Elena. He couldn't wait for her to compel him into submission and leave. He wasn't even listening to Klaus and her mumbling to each other.

Elijah heard Damon call out again to his brother after it seemed like he was looking himself for a way to kill himself. He couldn't tell him he needed like 2 bloody minutes and he could turn that lovesick boys heart and world back right side up again!

He tried once more to reason with him. "No Damon, don't. You don't want to do that." But the boy was as stubborn as he was strong and he didn't even look in his face to see the desperation in Elijah's eyes before the Original's gaze darted back to Elena. He had minutes he was sure. His mind made up he swore under his breath and grabbed for the blonde young lady his brother would likely die for as Klaus let go of her to kill Damon. Klaus would kill him for this. But this was his last play.

"Klaus, let go of him now!" he yelled out. As if in slow motion he watched Klaus turn around, his glare pure hate, vampire visage firmly in place. Oh yeah, he was dead to him whether this worked or not.

Klaus snarled threats at him, Caroline pleaded for him to stop but there was no more time to find out if she could compel him to leave. Klaus reassured her that she was fine and Damon called out once more, his damn death wish on his lips. He heard the smallest, weakest cry from Stefan too but it did not even seem Damon had heard him cry out his name once more. He took a deep breath and did it.

The stake plunged...Caroline screamed...Klaus turned and cried out her name...And he could see the world drop out from under his brother. His eyes held a mix of sadness and shock, and anger and absolute panic like he could not figure out what he felt more.

Damon fell to the ground and Elijah saw Klaus hurl the stake he had plunged into Caroline at him so hard he fell back at the impact in his stomach. Elijah watched his brother cradle his love in his arms as her skin turning grayer and her veins bulged. It had to work…

But he wasn't paying attention to Damon and the utter shock and disbelief on his face until Elijah followed his gaze to see Stefan's open eyed empty stare. Oh no! He tried to stop him but it all felt like it happened in a blur. Damon looked back and forth between his brother and Elena. He looked like death. The veins from the werewolf bite were almost across his face, and nearing his heart. Their tentacle like black fingers ringing the life out of him. Despite Elijah calling him, begging him to stop he was gone, vamp speeding across the yard and out of sight. No, no, no…

Klaus looked at him with the vilest hatred in his eyes before he picked up his dead love and blurred away. He knew that nothing was finished with them, maybe ever. He had once and for all destroyed 'Always and Forever'.

He ripped the stake from his gut, jumped to his feet and pulled the syringe from his pocket. He pulled her hair back and plunged it into her neck before pulling it out and letting it fall to the grass. He knelt by the dead brother wishing he had been faster. Damon had just ran thinking he lost everything. His love, his children and his brother. He had to find him before it was too late! He hung his head, wanting to fix everything.

His head flew up in the next second and he scrambled up looking madly on the ground...where the hell was it?! His eyes finally focused and he grabbed for the handle of the dagger and held it up. Blood...Klaus' blood all over it from when he plunged it into his heart.

Elijah scraped his finger across the red wetness and pushed it between the young blonde vampire's lips, wiping all the blood off both sides of the sword. He fell to the ground between the two young people and just waited...

He wasn't sure how long it was that he just sat there waiting when suddenly there was a gasp and choking sound and Elijah let out a deep breath as the blonde vampire sat up in shock, his eyes so wide and his breath heaving out of him.

Stefan looked around wildly. What the hell had happened?! He blinked and realized he was sitting, his arms behind him, supporting him more than they had been for hours. He saw Elijah just collapsed on the ground, his suit wrinkled and his eyes as equally wide at him. "What… how…?"

Elijah merely looked at him holding up his red sticky hand. "Blood, I got my brother's blood." Stefan seemed completely stunned and wiped his lips feeling the substance against his mouth.

He was healed, cured? He turned his head and felt no pain. Then his head fell down to the arm that had been destroyed by the bite and he watched in amazement as the veins faded, and receded and his skin turned back to its normal color. He sucked in a breath and pinched himself just to be sure. Oh my God. He wasn't dreaming!

He looked back at Elijah and his gaze fell down to Elena. "Elena?" he breathed out remembering Damon cradling her in his arms. Crying over her, trying to get her to breath for ages. "But Elena..." he trailed off.

Elijah held up his hand, shaking his head. "Its all my fault if she doesn't wake up," he whispered.

"Wait what?" Stefan's head shot up from looking down at her pale and so still body. He pulled himself to his feet. It felt amazing to be able to stand, to feel strength in his muscles. He could hardly believe it. He took a few shaky steps forward till he could kneel at Elena's side. "She's asleep?...not dead?"

Elijah nodded to him. "Yes I gave her a drug, back at the cabin, once she fainted when Klaus threatened to burn down the cabin. It had a delayed reaction time, hours later. It would make her appear dead, slow her heart to nothing and still keep her and the babies alive."

"Are you being serious right now?" Stefan gasped. "She is alive?...even Damon's babies are both alive!?" He could not get out of his head the devastation on Damon's face, tears streaming down his cheeks as he had his ear to her belly and realized his babies were gone. Stefan felt tears in his own eyes that his brother's family would be okay. Wait...where was Damon?

He jumped back to his feet, feeling strength in his body more than he had in days. "Damon! Where's my brother?" He looked back to Elijah.

"Your brother ran. Just before Klaus took off." He saw Stefan ready to run too. "I'm sorry Stefan. It had to look real. He had to believe it. I told you before that the only way we could stop him was if we nullified one of the ingredients in his spell. He needed Elena alive...so now that she isn't, she will be safe. She can leave here, be cloaked and protected."

Stefan threw his hands up in the air. "You mean that my brother. My SO love with this woman and his miracle family big brother, thinks Elena...his children...and I are all DEAD?!"

Elijah nodded slowly.

"Well we need to find him. He will be reeling in pain. He will kill himself!" Stefan cried out panicked.

"I tried to stop him Stefan I did. But I couldn't tell him in front of Klaus and his reaction had to be real or Klaus would not have bought it."

Stefan was already picking up Elena in his arms, his arms under her legs and back.

"Wait where are you going?" Elijah stood up too. Completely exhausted from everything but still hating that things had gone so wrong.

Stefan adjusted her in his arms so her head was more against his chest and not falling down limply off his arm. "I'm bringing Damon's family back to him. He has to know there is still hope!"

He kicked the massive wooden door open with his foot and stumbled into the boarding house. His raven hair was wet and still somewhat sticky with blood. He leaned on the door frame, his fingers gripping the edges as his eyes red from crying looked around the room.

Damon dragged himself along the wall toward the parlor nearly tripping at the step down before falling against the couch. He looked around, his tears pooling in his eyes again at the empty room and flung his weak and dying body at the drink counter. He grabbed up the bottle of bourbon and lifted it to his lips, getting most of it in his mouth. Some dribbled down his chin to his bloody open shirt and he just fell back onto the couch.

Clutching the bottle in his sweaty hand, he wiped his burning hot forehead. He took another huge gulp of the bitter liquid before dropping it beside him in the cushions. He could see the dark black veins nearly inches from his heart and he gagged feeling more blood in his throat.

He spun his daylight ring around and around on his finger just staring at it like it was a carousel that he so desperately needed to get off of. His tears were flooding his pale almost gray blue eyes more now, that he could barely see the ring in front of him.

Damon pulled himself back up from the couch and walked back to the door and stepped back outside. He stood on the front lawn stumbling more to the center of the grass and sunk to his knees, his ripped and bloody jeans hitting the grass staining it red where he knelt.

He took one more look at his ring. Her sweet beautiful voice ringing in his ears.

"Damon," she looked shocked at him. "Let me go."

He nuzzled into her hair, his hand holding her head still against his. "M mm. Never," he breathed. "Don't you ever ask me to let you go." His eyes were locked on hers, his expression deadly serious. "I would die without you sweetness. Rip my ring off in the sun and burn to nothing die, if I lost you."

She cradled his face in her hands. "I'm sorry baby. That will never happen. You will never lose me. And that ring," she stroked his hand on top of his huge daylight ring. "Is staying right where it is. Without it keeping you safe, I could lose you too."

He pulled her tighter into his arms. "You won't. Don't even think of that."

He let out another sob, his chin quivering before his head fell to the ground. He sniffled back more tears and sat back up wiping his hand on his shirt before ripping it off him and tossing it aside.

He pulled the ring past his knuckle and then he stared at it hovering in mid air on his finger. "God Elena," he cried out once more before pulling it all the way off and letting it fall to the ground. He lifted his head, his tears running down his cheeks and dripping off his chin and bare chest before closing his eyes.

He was ready to be with her, with all of them.

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK 4

This was the end of The Power Within. I have had so many more people reading this series lately and so I decided to end this book here and continue with one final installment to wrap everything up better. It will be full of angst and separation, but also joy and getting ready for the babies to be born. We haven't seen the last of Klaus yet either or other characters here too.

I will finish off my latest story Captive of Her Beauty first and then work on Book 4 here. Let me know what you thought of the end. Elena is okay. Damon's babies are alive and Stefan was healed. But Damon doesn't know any of it yet and its gutting him. It won't be like that forever but was necessary for the plot so just hang with me and you will get to your happy ending I promise!

So sorry it has taken so long to get back to this. Real life and health issues and toddlers and teenagers all made writing both this and Captive of her Beauty at the same time way too much for me and so I stayed with what had the most response and focused on that. I will have COHB finished this week, its June 21st now 2018 and will be going to back to start book 4 of this series and be writing it as well as the COHB sequel through summer and on.

I will never bail on my stories. It just time to get back to this one and I mid way through re reading TPW now to refresh myself to keep going with this version of Delena and company. Thank you for your patience and watch for updates in the next few weeks! Again so sorry for how long I have left this one on hold.