Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. It belongs to L.J. Smith.

Mysteries Part Four

Elena's POV

I stood behind Damon, my finger nails sinking into his leather coat. He tensed as Katherine's mouth slowly turned up into a wicked grin. Why did she have to be so crazy? I should have listened to Stefan and stayed away. No good can come of Katherine.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, my voice cracking. Katherine cocked her head at me and smirked.

"Simple, hon, you have the two boys I want wrapped around your finger. Do you not know that they used to be wrapped around my finger? Both of them?" she asked, leaning against a tree. Damon rolled his shoulders.

"Why do you have to be such an ass, Katherine? Why can't you just put the past in the past and move on?" he asked. I could tell he was hurt without even looking at him.

"Because, Damon, you hurt me too," she said and appeared in front of him. Damon pushed me back and I sailed through the air, landing in someone's arms. I jumped out of them and found Stefan's eyes. I sighed in relief and spun around.

"What about Damon?" I whispered, not caring if Katherine heard. He shook his head and wrapped his arms around me. Katherine was now standing behind Damon, her teeth an inch from his neck.

"But, it was you I always liked, Damon, a rebel," she murmured. Damon spun around and his eyes landed on mine briefly. "Ignore the girl and boy, Damon, it can only be us if you don't want the past to repeat." I gasped and stepped on Stefan's foot, but he didn't say a word.

My mind was wheeling. What could I do to save him? Huh, I actually wanted to save Damon, nothing weird there! But, it was weird. Suddenly, I felt a connection to Damon, a connection that was never there before. It was like suddenly I was jealous that he might get Katherine back, like I was the only one who could fill the hole in his chest.

I needed to find something to kill that bitch. There I go again! I had been calm and mellow since I met Stefan, but Damon had that effect. He made you think things you would never normally think. He made you think outside the box.

Outside the box. Beheading her would kill her, but I wasn't that strong. I'd be lucky to touch her. I looked around. There was nothing but rocks, ferns, and twigs. Rocks and twigs. I looked for a sharp rock and a thick twig and turned to Stefan. I handed him the rock and mouthed distract to him and I crept off, careful not to make a noise. She didn't hear me.

"What the hell?" Katherine screamed in her shrill voice, but when she spun around, no one was there. Stefan had already fled. "Stupid birds." I gave Damon a look and he turned Katherine towards him again.

That's when I made my move. I ran forward at my strongest speed and heard someone screaming. Oh, it was me! I tackled Katherine and caught her off guard. She wrestled with me, but Damon held her down while I plunged the twig into her chest. He grabbed my arm.

"Come on, it'll only keep her down for maybe two minutes," he said and we took off into the words. I switched to Stefan when he fell in step beside me. He threw me on his back and I held back a scream as the woods became a blur.

"What do we do now?" I whispered. It wasn't like Katherine could hurt us with Mrs. Flowers downstairs. Stefan was staring out the window while Damon paced. I sat on the bed, shaking.

"Nothing," Stefan muttered. Damon nodded. I frowned. Were they actually agreeing to something?

"If we do anything else, we'll just piss her off and she'll kill all of us," Damon said, seeing my gaze.

"So? You just want me to die? Is that how your brain works?" I asked. He got a look on his face and looked away.

"He made a deal," Stefan said, coming over to sit next to me.

"What kind of deal?" I asked. I hadn't heard them make a deal. But then again, they can hear the slightest noise, so I may not have heard it.

"He's going to take your place," he said. I jumped to my feet.

"No," I said sternly. They stared at me. "No one is going to die because of me. I'm going to do what she wants me to do."

"In case you haven't noticed, Elena, we already tried that. It didn't go too good. This is the only way," Damon said, his dark eyes boring into mine. I shook my head and crossed my arms stubbornly.

"No, it's not the only way. You'll die for nothing. She'll find me when I'm alone and kill me too," I said, moving away from Stefan when he tried to get me to sit down.

"Elena-" Stefan started. I spun around.

"I can take care of myself, I'm not an idiot," I snapped.

An arm suddenly enclosed around my neck, not suffocating, but it caught me off guard. I gasped and the arm left. I spun around to find myself face to face with Damon. I pushed past him to look out the darkened window.

Fine, they had a point. Maybe I couldn't defend myself, but I could survive. That much I knew. I wasn't a child, I knew how to fend off a vampire…but, wait, the only time's I've had to defend myself, someone had been with me. I was still going to do it. I couldn't let them sacrifice themselves for me.

"No and that's final," I whispered. I heard Damon sigh. I spun around and found the two of them giving each other death glares. "You two are impossible!" I pushed past them, grabbed my coat, and left, slamming the door shut behind me.

"Child," a voice whispered. I screamed and spun around to find Mrs. Flowers. "Sorry, I hadn't meant to scare you. Can we talk?" I nodded meekly and saw Damon and Stefan on the stairs. Damon pushed past Stefan and left. He slammed the door shut behind him. Stefan gave me a longing look before going back upstairs.

To be continued in chapter six…possibly…I don't know what to make Mrs. Flower's want. Any hints would be helpful!