Chapter 8: When Things Don't Always Go According To Plan.

Sorry for the loooong wait my wonderful readers. I am begging for forgiveness. I did not mean to let almost a YEAR go by. I got side tracked with graduate school and the plot bunnies were all over the place for this chapter and I wasn't sure how I wanted to put it all together. Hope you all enjoy. I tried really hard to get this chapter finished for you all. Please be patient for chapter 9. There are no ideas in the works yet but I promise something soon.

x-TOPD-x

Down in the basement of the abandoned home they had claimed as their own the shadow creatures surrounded the unconscious figure Pelicarpo had dropped within their lair. The leader of the Shadow People, Betsalel stood over the Striga as he stared at Pelicarpo with his arms folded.

"Tell me, what is it that you expect me to do with her?" he asked, bored. The man simply didn't get it. Pelicarpo glared at the dark figure.

"Is that a trick question? Your kind can possess people, possess her and make her love me again!" he growled. Betsalel just smirked as Sara began to stir at his feet.

"What makes you think that is even possible?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The Striga is well over 2000 years old and she's not human. We possess humans because they are weak, she is far stronger than any other creature on this planet. Besides even if I could, the intense hatred she has for you would be hard to overcome to force her to love you. We'd burn all our energy just trying to control her let alone make her love you."

"But that's impossible!" Pelicarpo was shocked.

"Yes, well she has quite the knack for the impossible now doesn't she?" Betsalel smirked. "Besides you have a much bigger problem."

"And what problem is that?"

"The Striga is coming too and she's been injured, she'll need to feed."

"So?"

"You're the only one in here she can feed off of." At that moment Sara's eyes opened, a flash of white before she pounced on Pelicarpo.

"Ahhhh!" he screamed while Betsalel and the other shadow people laughed.

x-TPOD-x

Damon swore as he threw the empty bottle of bourbon against the fire place causing it to shatter. They had looked all over town for Sara with no luck. They had not seen any sign of Pelicarpo or the Shadow People and there were no signs as to where their hide out could be. They had always come to them and without Bonnie's ability to scribe for Sara's location, they were at a complete lost. The others were giving Damon space, they'd never seen his so angry, but were around to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. As Damon took out another bottle of bourbon and began taking long swigs right from the bottle, Jeremy leaned on the door frame to the living room of the Salvatore Boarding house.

"You know drinking yourself into a stupor won't solve anything."

"Don't you think I know that, but what else can I do?" Damon said before taking another drink from the bottle.

"Who says you need to do anything?"

"What?" Damon glared dangerously at Jeremy.

"She's a 2,000 year old creature that eats souls. She doesn't need us to rescue her. She'll be back." Jeremy's voice held certainty. He believed that Sara was or at least would be fine and would be back with them shortly. Pelicarpo may want something with Sara, but Sara was not one to be trifled with.

"Have you lost it, Gilbert? Did you forget that these things and that fucking bastard want her for some reason? That they want your sister and Katherine and … and Stefan?"

"No, but have you forgotten that they've only gone after Sara despite Elena, Katherine and Stefan also being here? I don't think they want Sara for the same reasons they want the others. I think she's in the way of their plan."

"All the more reason to find her! What do you think they're going to do to her? Lock her up? They…they could kill her!"

"She can't die remember? They can't kill her."

Damon knew that everything Jeremy was saying was true. She had said so herself that she couldn't die and he knew she didn't need him to save her. She could do that all on her own, but dammit he loved her! Like hell would he, Damon Salvatore, sit on the sidelines while the woman he was in love with was in trouble! "We still have to find her. I can't just sit here."

"We will."

"How?"

"I called in a favor." Came the voice of Bonnie as she entered the living room. "I may not be a witch anymore, but I'm not the only one in my family whose a witch remember?"

x-TOPD-x

Sara held the weakened form of Pelicarpo against the basement wall. Even though she had finished feeding, her eyes still remained a bright, glowing white. Pelicarpo's soul was older than her's and therefore she didn't have to kill him to successfully feed off him, but something was wrong. It was almost like she had fed too much, something deep within her didn't feel right.

"Selephia…why? I loved you." Pelicarpo whispered as his vision began to grow dark.

"You don't know what love is." She seethed.

"And you think you're little vampire boyfriend does? You're just a copy of Katherine. She is who he really loves."

"I think you're forgetting who came first, Pelicarpo." Sara said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. She knew Damon felt nothing for Katherine any more.

"Does it really matter? You two will never work out."

"Why? Because the universe says I have to love you? I did once, but you sure destroyed that and any chance of it ever happening again. Because of you I lost everything! My family, my friends, my child! Any chance I had at happiness was destroyed because of what you and your friend did to me! I haven't loved or cared for another person before I met Damon and it's all because of you!"

"But we're meant to be together." He pleaded.

"No, we are not!" She shouted as she slammed him into the wall causing Pelicarpo's body slipped to the cement floor of the basement, unconscious but alive. Her eyes shifted from white to solid black.

"Well done, Striga. Though tell me, why did you not just kill him while feeding?" Bestalel asked, intrigued.

"His soul is old; it's not necessary for me to kill him to feed properly." She reasoned.

"Doesn't mean you still can't kill him."

"Hmm." Sara realized he had a point. She had killed people over lesser things at one point and this bastard deserved to die. She had killed him once she could easily kill him again. She leaned down over Pelicarpo and quickly ripped his heart from his chest once more. "Why mess with a classic." She laughed as she crushed the still beating heart in her hand. The shadow people laughed, the bitch had killed their handler.

"Thank you Striga." Betsalel laughed.

"For what?" Sara asked as she turned to face the leader.

"For killing that pathetic excuse of a handler. Now, we are free."

x-TOPD-x

Back at the boarding house Bonnie, Jeremy, Damon, and Bonnie's cousin Lucy stood in the living room. Spread out before them was a map of Virginia and lit candles.

"Alright, I'm all set up. Where's Elena? Or Katherine? Even she would do." Lucy spoke. Since they didn't have Sara's blood, they would need a relative's in order for them to be able to locate Sara.

"Is this going to work? I mean we've never used doppelgänger blood to find another doppelgänger. It won't cause, I don't know, interference?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know, but if it doesn't work we'll use your blood next." Lucy said.

"Oh ok….wait my blood?"

"Well you are a relative are you not?"

"Well yeah, I guess so. Man this is weird." Jeremy said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Where are they? If they don't show up soon, we're using you Jer." Damon grumbled.

"Damon, relax. I'm sure she's fine, we're really just doing this for you." Bonnie said as she placed a hand to Damon's shoulder to get him to stop pacing.

"Were here!" came Stefan's voice.

"About fucking time." Damon growled before pouring himself a drink.

Stefan and Elena came into the living room followed by Caroline who was coming from the kitchen.

"Don't mind him, he's freaking out." Caroline whispered.

"Don't know why, it's not like she's anything special." muttered Katherine from the entrance.

"Okay, Elena if you could." Lucy directed, not wanting to be in the middle of whatever fight that could break out at any moment. Elena walked over to the table that had the map and stood beside Lucy.

"Alright, you know how this works I assume?" Lucy asked as she picked up a dagger she had on the table.

Elena nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright then. Just a small cut and squeeze your hand please." Lucy said as she took ahold of Elena's hand, palm faced up and cut her skin with the tip of the blade. Once the blood started flowing Elena quickly squeezed her hand over the map and blood trickled onto the paper. Once enough blood gathered on the map Elena pulled her hand away and Lucy started chanting.

"Phasmatos Tribum Nas Ex Veras." When the blood didn't move she repeated herself.

"Phasmatos Tribum Nas Ex Veras." Still nothing moved.

"Why isn't it working?" Damon asked.

Lucy tried another incantation. "Sequita Saguines."

When that one failed she tried one more. "Ementas Asten Mihan Ega Petous."

Lucy sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't work. Perhaps we can't use doppelgänger blood to find another doppelgänger. There's too much interference."

Damon clapped Jeremy on the shoulder. "Looks like you're up."

Jeremy nodded and Lucy cleaned up the map to start over. When Jeremy held out his hand she placed the tip of the dagger into his palm and applied pressure. When enough blood was on the map, Lucy began the original incantation.

"Phasmatos Tribum Nas Ex Veras." Again nothing happened.

"I'm sorry you guys." Lucy apologized. The others groaned while Damon swore.

"If we can't use a blood locator spell, what about using an object?" Bonnie asked.

"No hurt in trying. Do any of you have something of hers? Something other than clothes would be preferable." Lucy asked. The others looked to each other, Sara didn't have a lot of things in the house. Everything that was here was new seeing as all her things had gone up in flames from the fire at the motel.

"Be right back." Damon said before speeding out of the living room and upstairs. Damon entered his room and started riffling through Sara's things. When he found her purse under the bed, knowing it was the one thing she had with her from the fire he dumped the entire contents onto the bed. When he found a necklace he sped back down stairs.

"Here. Try this." Damon said as he handed Lucy the necklace.

Lucy took the necklace and let it dangle over the map.

"Here goes nothing." She muttered before she started chanting.

"Permisso Laca Tha Tar." She chanted and soon the necklace began to move. The pendant moved in a circular motion as Lucy moved it over the map. When she reached a certain spot the pendant stuck to the map.

"She's there." Lucy said as she wrote down the location. Damon snatched it from her and was off.

x-TOPD-x

"Handler? I don't understand. He was controlling you?" Sara still didn't know why the Shadow People were working with Pelicarpo other than to gain bodies of their own.

"In a way. Shortly after being brought back to life the fool ran into our kind. He saw how we took control over people and thought that we could do the same to you. His master gave him control over our kind thinking it would aid in his plan. We wanted bodies and believed he could give them to us, but he was so obsessed with finding you we've had little chance at gaining our own." Betsalel informed, finally revealing why they were all in Mystic Falls. It seemed it was all her fault.

"So why not kill him yourself?"

"We couldn't. We possess and kill humans, not supernatural creatures. A little fact he did not know. Even though he was human, he's a doppelgänger and therefore out of our grasp for control."

"So you really have nothing to do with all this do you?"

"No. We know not of what he or his master wants with the doppelgängers. All we know is that he wanted you for himself." Itzal spoke.

"But surely his master needs me? He needed Pelicarpo…"

"He needs Doppelgängers, Striga." Betsalel spoke.

"But I'm…."

"Immortal."

"But so are…"

"The vampires can die, Pelicarpo could die, but you cannot. His master doesn't need you. You are in the way of his plans and he wants you gone, but now that Pelicarpo is dead we no longer have to follow his orders. We and essentially you are free."

"I see. Well you do realize that I won't let you harm the people of Mystic Falls right?"

"You think you can stop us?" Betsalel smirked.

"You think I can't?"

"You control those by feeding off of souls, we have no souls."

"Neither do the people I control. Yes they did at one point, but that's not how I control them." She said as she smirked dangerously. The weaker shadow creatures cringed and began to recede into the shadows in fear at the waves of power that rolled off of her. "You've been around long enough to know enough about myself. How confident are you that I won't be able to control any of you?"

Betsalel was old, but not as old as the Striga. He had spent that last 800 years as a slave to her ex-lover, like hell would he be one for the remainder of his years to her. His kind did not live forever, he would eventually die.

"You win, Striga. We will leave Mystic Falls in peace. You have my word."

"Good." She said and her eyes finally returned to their brown hue.

The Shadow People receded into the shadows and disappeared from the house. The uneasy feeling Sara had felt had disappeared along with them. Sara gave a final glance to the body of Pelicarpo before she turned to make her way up the stairs. Before she even placed a hand on the railing a sound reached her ears. It was a low, ringing tone that she knew to belong to a cell phone. Knowing it wasn't her own, seeing as all she had on her was Damon's shirt, she walked back over to the body and fished the ringing device from Pelicarpo's pants.

"Hello?"

"Hello Selephia. Or should I call you Sara?" a male voice came through the other end.

"Who are you and what do you want with the doppelgängers?" Sara demanded.

"Seeing as how this doesn't concern you, I don't see how this is any of your business."

"It involves those I care about so it is my business, thank you." She snapped.

"I'll only warn you this once Striga. Leave Mystic Falls and the doppelgängers alone or else."

"Or else what? You can't kill me."

"No, but I can make your life miserable or have you forgotten all those countries I've ran you out of."

"That was you? What are you doing with the travelers? What does it have to do with the doppelgängers?"

"Leave Sara or I'll be forced to run you out once more. You wouldn't want anything to happen to that vampire of yours now would you?"

"Damon? You even try to hurt him and you will regret it." She growled.

"Stay out of my way Striga and I won't have to hurt him. However, I don't see that happening since I need his brother now more than ever." And with that the call was ended.

Sara needed to get back to the boarding house. She quickly placed the phone in the shirt pocket and raced up the stairs. Sara hoped she wasn't too far from the house. She had to still be in Mystic Falls. As Sara entered the main level of the house she heard what sounded like the slamming of car doors. As far as she could tell this house was abandoned, who would be here? Soon something else was reaching her ears, it sounded like shouting. What were they saying? It almost sounded like her name. The sound of the front door being kicked open was heard as wood splintered and the house shook with the force.

"Sara!" It was Damon. He had found her.

"Damon!" Sara shouted as she ran through the house and into Damon's waiting arms.

"Are you alright? Where are the creatures? Where's that bastard Pelicarpo? I'll kill him." Damon said while looking her up and down, making sure Sara wasn't hurt.

"I'm fine. I'm alright, Damon." She assured him before she reached up and kissed him. It had shut him up for the moment. "They're gone. The shadow people have left, promising to leave Mystic Falls in peace and Pelicarpo is dead."

"So…it's over?"

"Far from it. We have to get back to boarding house. You're not going to believe what I've found out!"

"Let's go." Damon said with a nod. The two got into Damon's Camaro and drove back to boarding house.

Back in the basement the former body of Pelicarpo quickly decomposed at an alarming rate and the bones turned to dust. Was Pelicarpo finally gone? Something haunted Sara telling her that she had not seen the last of Pelicarpo's soul. She just prayed whoever the man on the phone was that he didn't intend to use Stefan's body to bring him back once more. He had been brought back for a reason after all and she now knew it had nothing to with her, if not to keep her away. She was after all doomed to live forever.

x-TOPD-x

Back at the boarding house, everyone welcomed Sara back with open arms. That was everyone besides Katherine. They had all be worried about her and when she entered the living room, Elena had been the first to hug her quickly followed by Caroline, Jeremy, Bonnie and even Stefan had offered to give her a hug which she accepted with a smile. Once everyone had settled and Sara had showered and put on clean clothes that were hers they gathered around the living room ready to listen to what Sara had found out.

"Okay, so first thing first, Pelicarpo is dead. I killed him …again." Sara announced.

"Oh Sara, that must've been horrible for you." Caroline gasped.

"Actually…I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed it. Quite frankly I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Not that you have anything to worry about Stefan." Sara joked as she saw the small flash of concern on Stefan's face. At least she hoped he didn't.

"Right." He said.

"Next, the Shadow People are gone." Now this new shocked all and angered one.

"What?!" came the collective response.

"You mean we went got all those fucking crystals for nothing!" shouted Katherine, outraged.

"Sit down, Katherine." Damon told her.

"There was a reason the crystals were collected for. That reason is no longer necessary now that Pelicarpo is dead. He was in a way in charge of the shadow people, his slaves if you will. Now that he's dead, they're free and moved on. If Pelicarpo was still alive we would need the crystals, hell we still might." Sara explained.

"So if they're gone, does this mean it's over? We won?" Jeremy asked. Sara, sadly, shook her head.

"No, it's far from over Jeremy. He's still out there."

"He? He who?" asked Caroline.

"The man behind all this, Pelicarpo's master. I don't know who he is, but I did speak with him briefly." She said as she pulled out the cell phone she had taken from Pelicarpo from her back pocket. Unfortunately, that number that had called earlier wasn't saved in the phone and the number wasn't listed in the call log. "I couldn't get him to tell me what he wanted the doppelgängers for, but I do know this. He doesn't want me, but he does want you three, and Stefan… you may be in danger the most. Pelicarpo is gone, you're the last remaining Silas doppelgänger." She informed. The news didn't go well by anyone.

"Why doesn't he want you?" asked Katherine, who received glares by everyone. "What? It's a valid question." She said with a shrug.

"No, it is." Sara assured everyone. "And the reason why I am not a part of this, apart from Pelicarpo's obsession with me, is because of one simple fact. I can't die." Before Katherine could even try to argue Sara continued. "I'm immortal due to the curse that was placed on me. However, even as vampires you all can still die. Sunlight, a stake to the heart, any of this ringing a bell? This guy, whoever he is, never wanted me. In fact, he's warned me to leave Mystic Falls and all of you. I still don't know why he brought back Pelicarpo, maybe he thought I wouldn't interfere if the man I hated was involved, but clearly that didn't happen."

"So the Shadow People were part of Pelicarpo's plan to get you back?" asked Stefan.

"Yes." Sara nodded. "When Pelicarpo's soul had been resurrected he had stumbled upon the shadow people and saw how they could possess people. When he learned I was still alive he thought maybe they would be able to possess me and make me love him again when he learned the legend about us doppelgängers. But what he didn't know was that the shadow people can't control supernatural beings. So his plan was all for not, but the shadow people thought that they would be able to gain access to more bodies to possess. In fact they weren't going to leave, but as everything comes to learn, you don't mess with this Striga." Sara said with a wink as Damon wrapped his arm around her and placed a kiss to the top of her head, a proud look on his face.

"That's for sure." Jeremy agreed with a smirk on his face. Everyone nodded in agreement. Sara was not a woman that you scorned.

"So, can I just asked, are you two like a thing now?" Caroline asked, pointing out what they had all known/suspected.

"Yes, Caroline. We are, as you so put it, 'a thing now.'" Damon said with a roll of his eyes, causing Sara to elbow him in the ribs.

"Damon, behave." Sara warned.

"Yes, dear." Damon said with a wink before placing a kiss to her temple while everyone else in the room laughed. That is everyone but Katherine who was trying to keep down her breakfast from earlier.

"You people make me sick." She hissed before walking out of the room causing everyone else to laugh harder.