Important A/N: Due to my annual exams coming next week, I might take a small break from writing since I don't really have much time. I am very sorry, and it is painful for me too because I can't stop writing, but I have so much to study. In fact, in Malta we have a Carnival (Like Halloween but a funny instead of scary theme) and due to my exams, I don't think I'm attending that and I love it, so you can pretty much imagine that I am very busy.

I plan to update My Last Chance In Saving my humanity and hopefully the story Cdaye8184 and I are co-writing, 'What Lies Beneath', before going on my short break.

However, if you do want spoilers/chat/questions, 'like' my facebook page LiveBreatheVampires' fanfiction on facebook. You can also follow me on twitter but I am not signing in frequently. It is Tvdmyheart.

Thanks for your support,

Amy xxxx

Enjoy the chapter-betad by my great friend Cdaye8184-Thank you!

Damon woke up next to Elena's bed. Her hand was still cold in his, and he realized it was definitely night time. Shifting slightly, he checked for any signs of consciousness, but he found none. Her face was pale and her body cold even though he had her covered in blankets.

He suddenly heard little footsteps and turned his head, only to see Victoria carrying a little girl.

"Is that Elle?" He asked her, rising so that Victoria could put the half-asleep girl next to Elena.

"Yeah," Victoria said, tugging her in. "I can't leave her behind me, Damon. If there is a chance of freedom, I'm going to give it to her. Sometimes I get scared…I see how the young slaves are treated. Girls who are as young as thirteen years old. I don't want her to go through that. She doesn't deserve that. No child deserves that. It's cruel."

Damon watched the little girl cuddled up to Elena, and smiled a soft smile. When would his own angel wake up? He'd give anything to see that pretty little mouth smiling up at him, and her eyes sparkling whenever he made her happy.

"She'll wake up, Damon," Victoria smiled. "You'll see."

He smiled back at her, and took his gaze off Elena for a moment, sipping on his scotch. Then, all of a sudden, he saw her hand move.

He immediately turned, watching her as her fingers moved, as if she really was trying to gain consciousness. He went next to her and grabbed her arm. "Come back to me, baby. I love you."

And he felt her, again, moving her fingers…

Then blinking.

Half a second later, he saw the life return in her chocolate brown eyes, those eyes that made him weak. The love he had for this girl was consuming.

"Elena?" He asked her gently, trying to keep the enthusiasm out of his voice to keep her calm. He was scared that she'll fear him…How can he prove himself that it was truly him?

Even though Elena looked at him, she furrowed her brows. He placed his hand on her cheek. "It's ok, baby. You're safe now," He said softly, "Victoria, Kol and I are taking care of you. You're safe." He hesitantly reached and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I…" Elena stammered, "Who are you?"

At that moment, Damon felt like the air had been sucked out of him. He looked at the confused girl in his arms. "What do you mean baby? I'm Damon," He added calmly.

"I…" She said confused, "Where am I? Who am I?"

"Elena. You're Elena Gilbert," Damon took her face in his hands. "You're my girl, Elena. You have been in a coma, but you'll be okay…"

At that moment, Victoria entered the room.

"Victoria…she's awake," Damon exclaimed, "But she cannot remember me…"

"It's a short term memory loss," Victoria explained, "She'll be okay. Nothing to worry about. I'll get the witch, she can speed up her memory process."

At that moment Damon let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding. His 'heart' went up his throat for those few moments and he actually thought Elena wouldn't be able to remember herself or him. That would've killed him to say the least.

A few hours later, the young olive-skinned witch that helped them so much, Bertha, went back to the room slowly and concentrating on Elena, who was still confused, she chanted a spell to speed up the process of her memory returning.

It was a long and scary process for Elena who didn't know what the hell was going on. She was scared and confused, and she felt overwhelmed.

"It's done," Bertha said softly. "She'll wake up tomorrow, feeling better."

Damon woke up laying between Elena and little Elle-Ellie, as everyone called her- who was awake, playing with a toy on the bed. His hands were around Elena, knowing that his lover would soon wake up because he simply believed in her. He blinked several times but his heart nearly started beating again when he felt delicate fingers in his hair, gently stroking it. He turned only to see Elena smiling warmly at him, her eyes filled with tears of happiness. This was her. This was his Elena. It felt way too long since he'd seen her gorgeous smile.

"Oh my God," Damon exclaimed, trying his hardest not to shed a tear even though he had never cried in his life. But seeing her alive, seeing her breathing next to his body…He grabbed her gently and started to kiss everywhere he could reach. "Oh my God…" He kept saying, kissing her so tightly it started to hurt. Elena kissed him back with equal passion, crying in his shoulders.

"It's really you," She said, "You're not gone…Damon, I love you so much…"

"Shh, baby, don't cry, you're okay. Nothing's going to happen to you. I've got you," He stroked her face and held her in his embrace. "I'm so sorry you went through this, Elena. You know it wasn't me, right? I had no choice-He was controlling me. You know that, don't you?"

"Of course," Elena said between sobs. "I understand. I love you, Damon…"

"I love you too, baby," Damon said, touching her nose and leaving another kiss on her cheek. "I'll get you out of here, Elena. I'll help you survive this. You just have to trust me, okay? Victoria and Kol are on our side. They'll help us, and we can set everyone here free, my angel."

"I trust you," She said, "I trust you with my life and my soul."

He stroked her cheek, soothing her. "You have no idea how much I wished for this to happen. I was so scared that I lost you…" Emotion clogged his throat as he spoke.

"I know, Damon, I know…" She said, holding his hand.

"I'm sorry for everything, Elena. This is my entire fault. I shouldn't have kidnapped you in the first place."

"Damon," She said firmly. "I don't want you mentioning that word again. All that matters now is that I love you, and that you love me. It doesn't matter how we met…" She stroked his face gently. "Just hold me, and don't leave my side."

"I'll never leave your side." He told her. "Never."

"Promise me." She pled. "Promise me you'll never leave me again. I wouldn't survive it this time... I've been through too much." She closed her eyes tightly at the memories of everything that had happened. She tried to push them out of her thoughts. "I've seen too much. I've been in hell without you, Damon. And I can't-I won't go through that again."

"I promise, baby." He kissed her forehead gently as he tried to keep his tears at bay. Everything was so overwhelming. He hadn't felt emotions like this in a very long time and they were all hitting him like a train going full speed. "I only saw some of the things you went through when I was gone and I can only imagine the pain and suffering that you've gone through. I will make it up to you, Elena. When I get you out of here, I will spend the rest of my existence making sure nothing harms you ever again. I will give you the life you deserve. I'll keep you happy."

She hadn't heard a promise like that before. So sincere-so honest and heart filled. His words nearly erased all of the bad omens circulating in her thoughts. Because what he promised her made her want to conquer the world, by his side of course. She smiled at him, a true genuine smile. "I love you more than anything."

"And I love you, baby." He kissed her gently.

Every day that went by meant that Elena got her strength back. In a week, she was walking around, slowly at first, until she eventually had the strength to get on her feet on her own. In fact, she was even eating properly and playing with little Ellie.

Unfortunately, however, each day that went by meant a greater risk of being caught by Klaus or being discovered by someone. Kol wanted to hurry up and start to train Elena but Damon refused, stating that Elena was still too weak. This was until Kol entered the room once and announced the horrible news.

"Klaus murdered five fourteen year olds today," He said bitterly. "Do you know why? Because he was mad that he can't locate you. But did you know why he chose those specific girls?"

Elena shivered in horror.

"Because their names were similar to yours. He is going on a killing spree if he doesn't see you, Elena."

"You aren't actually stating that we should send her back, are you?" Damon flashed in front of Elena protectively. "Because there is no chance of that happening."

"No," Kol said, "But we have to start preparing for this." He looked at Elena. "Your guardian powers are rare, but a friend of mine is going to take the risk and come here to teach you. She is a vampire, but she used to be a guardian when she was human. She was turned tragically."

"I can't understand though," Elena said, "Why can't we get out? Why can't this spell be reversed?"

"It can be reversed on a full moon by someone who has enough power. Humans have to be 'marked' by Klaus, otherwise you cannot leave. It was an agreement written by blood. In fact, as you know, all the slaves have an engraving on their bodies, indicating that they are slaves. That is a mark by Klaus, or someone assigned by Klaus. Everyone who has that mark cannot leave until Klaus sets them free on a full moon."

"But I don't have a mark," Elena objected.

Kol's eyebrows furrowed. "That is not possible. The mark is the first thing Klaus does when he brings a human. Klaus does it…Or Stefan sometimes does it for him. It is a bitemark with a magical seal. You were bitten before, right?"

"Yeah," She said, "More than once."

"I don't understand…"

"Elle doesn't have it, either," Victoria said, holding the little girl. "I've never told anyone. I wanted to save her from the pain. She doesn't have it, either."

"So what you're saying is that maybe I don't need Klaus to be free?" Elena said in astonishment. "Do you think that I can escape?"

"This is a situation I have never been in before," Kol bit his lip. "It isn't possible. Klaus makes sure that his slaves are marked-It is the only way of knowing where each of you are and how many slaves he has to work for him. He couldn't just forget to mark you. We cannot take any risks, Elena…what if this is a test?"

"This doesn't make any sense...Why me and Elle? We are the only ones, right?"

"Yes," Kol said, turning to Victoria. "And Victoria…Klaus probably knows that Elle doesn't have the mark. You can't hide a thing like that from him, even though you've never said anything."

"But if he does know, then why didn't he ever come and mark her?" Victoria nodded her head. "It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe he did," Kol said, wide-eyed. "Maybe it just didn't work."

He turned to Elena. "I think you had memories which were taken from you, Elena…"

"What?" Elena exclaimed, "It isn't possible."

"Focus on me," Kol held one finger upwards. "You're going to remember everything you've been compelled to forget."

"Please, don't hurt me," Elena begged as Stefan held her in his arms and threw her roughly on the hard floor. She closed her eyes in terror when she realized that Klaus was there.

"Take off your clothes," Stefan demanded, and Elena curled into a ball, shaking her head no. Klaus moved forward and roughly pulled her up, tearing her dress in half. She shivered as she stood there in her lingerie in front of two monsters, until Stefan grabbed her and put her on what seemed like a stretcher, strapping her in so tightly that it cut off her blood flow.

"Please…" Elena begged, fearing the worst, and Stefan took a few steps back, allowing Klaus to stand in front of Elena. He bent down and disgustingly placed a kiss on her lips. "Shh, it's just going to hurt for a moment."

"Get away from me," She yelled, "Don't touch me."

"You see…I haven't marked you yet," Klaus smirked at her, "It is usually the first thing I do when little bitches like you come here. But since you are special, I thought I'd give you some chance to settle down first…And I can make this more enjoyable. For me, of course." He placed his lips on her neck, inching down, biting and sucking on the skin as a witch looked at them without remorse, chanting a spell. Klaus picked a spot on her thighs and started to bite, and Elena screamed in pain, unable to move.

"Where's the mark?" He growled at the witch after a few painful minutes.

"It didn't work," The witch gasped, "Her body is rejecting it."

"Well, make her accept it you filthy thing!" Klaus roared, "I can't have a slave walking around with no mark!"

After several tries, he gave up.

"Dress her," He ordered Stefan, "And make her forget that this happened. I can't have her trying to escape because she knows her privilege."

"Oh my God," Elena said, "I can remember everything now. He tried to mark me, but it didn't work."

"He probably did the same thing to Elle," Damon said, "But I cannot understand, Elena. I know that you have certain abilities, but what does Elle have in common with you? She's just a little girl."

"Actually, she is more than that," Victoria said after a few breaths. She turned to Kol. "Kol, she deserves to know."

"Know what?" Elena demanded.

"Elena…Ellie is your sister."