Alright people… here's the next chapter, and there will be no flowers and sunshine in this one, so be prepared! As always, a huge thanks to my readers and reviewers and EXTRA big thanks to AVECIA (go read her stories, they are AWESOME), my lovely beta.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'bout TVD, I just mess with them for fun!

On with it!

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It was eerily silent as they arrived at the clearing. The only sound to be heard was the gurgling of the river as it flowed nearby. Everything else was mute; no birds chirping, no wind rustling through the leaves on the trees, no animals rushing through the woods. But they still knew that they weren't alone. The air was thick with tension and smelled of magic and blood. Not even figuratively, but literally. The rusty-sweet smell of fresh blood, and the mix of brimstone and burned ozone that was a telltale sign of something magical nearby.

Elena could have thought of a thousand other places she'd rather be at right now but… this town was her home, and the people beside and behind her, were her friends. She would protect them with everything she had, no matter what.

"Oh Emilie! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Well, it was probably not the best way to go about, but she wanted this to be over with as quickly as possible. And if that meant to make the witch angry, then so be it.

"Well, you are here, little Elena. And you brought aaaall your little friends. I thought that this is between the two of us? But all the better, now I can wipe them off the face of the earth in one go. Saves me time."

Before Elena answered, she risked a glance into the dark of the woods behind Emilie, and saw what she had expected. The yellow glow of predator eyes, and the gleam of the moon that reflected from claws and canines.

"No, I am not alone. But I honor my word, and the only one to attack you, will be me. I doubt though, that those… creatures you have with you, are here to look and observe. On my part, it was self preservation that made me bring my friends. I don't think the same can be said of you, or am I wrong."

Instead of another jibe, Emilie threw her a nearly serene looking smile.

"No, of course they are not here to look. They have been bound to a house and boredom for weeks now. They need bloodshed and pain. And as it is your fault – yours and your friends – that they had to lie low, I thought it only to be fair for them to come here tonight, and have a little fun."

The smile had turned into the grin of a maniac before the witch suddenly moved and attacked. It was a good thing that Elena counted on something like so, or else the dagger that bounced off her sword, would be firmly lodged in her throat right now. But as it was, that was all that was needed as a starting sign. In minutes the once silent clearing was overcome with shouts, screams and swears. And in the middle of it all were Elena and Emilie, circling each other. The witch with her short dagger, the blade gleaming with some sort of magic, and the other woman with her sword.

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Damon tried to have one eye on Elena at all times, but that was anything but an easy task. The women moved too fast most of the time; the fact that for every creature that fell by his hands, there were two more coming. He had no idea where they were coming from – or what, exactly, most of them were – but it seemed like a never-ending stream. He was just lucky that they were really dumb, not even trying to attack as some sort of a closed front.

Every time he did manage to catch a glimpse at the two women in the center of the clearing, it was the same picture. Elena, lips drawn into a thin line, expression hard and ready to strike; Emilie, still with the scary grin on her face, looking as if she planned on dancing, and not killing someone. His father and those other idiots of the Founders Council had managed to drive her into madness, and the time she had spent dead, hadn't helped that in the least. Even under normal circumstances he would be worried about having someone like Emilie as an enemy. But now she was unpredictable at best, and it made her even more dangerous. He wanted to do something, anything to help Elena, to make sure that she survived this. But he also knew that Elena probably had better chances at winning this than he would've had. So he did what he could to help: decimating the number of possible other attackers.

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Bonnie was standing at the edge of the clearing, eyes half closed and chanting under her breath. She wasn't much of a fighter, but she could make sure that the other did as good as possible, giving them a little more strength, making them – if just for the moment – a little stronger then they usually were, and helping them healing a little bit faster when they were injured. That was all she could do at that moment, and she hoped it would be enough in the end.

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Hacking and ripping through creatures that, by all means, should only exist in books, Katherine cursed a blue streak. She was probably a little bit of a hypocrite, what with her being a vampire and all that, but still. It was one thing to be a vampire, mostly human-looking; it was another thing entirely to believe in a thing like a Pan or a troll… no-brainer, really.

Also… it was a good distraction from Elena. She couldn't afford to be preoccupied right now or she would end up dead. The permanent kind. But it was still damn hard to not look out for the other woman, because that was exactly what she's been doing the last few years. Looking out for her descendant, growing closer to her every day. First, she had been her mentor, and then slowly they became friends. And over time, even that line blurred, and now they were family; as close as the twins they had played in the beginning, as they still had looked the same. But Elena had power. She was strong, stronger than anyone else she knew. And not just physically. She just had to believe in her, and everything would work out. It had to. She couldn't lose her, because she was the only thing that kept her humanity together. Without her, she probably would go back to being the cold hearted, murdering bitch. She might love Stefan, but sadly that was not quite enough to keep the demon and the human in her together, fighting the same fight.

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It could have been minutes or hours since they began to fight – the sense of time long gone – and still there had been no winners. There were many dead lying on the ground, creatures exotic in looks but not strong enough to win a fight with a vampire or even a human, if said human was prepared and knew what he or she was doing. But it was tiring, for all of them, friend or enemy. No one was without injuries – cuts, bruises, broken bones – and everyone was tired by now. Everyone but Emilie, or so it seemed. She was still grinning, taunting her opponent, and wide awake with the thrill of death all around her.

But the grin started to look forced, and her expression grew to one of boredom as the minutes ticked by.

"You know my sweet little Elena, this is staring to tire me. I have been very easy on you – I thought you might be a little bit stronger, a little bit more of a challenge. But it seems that I've been overestimating you."

Elena knew that the witch was too strong for her, too powerful. But she had owed it to Damon to at least try and defeat her this way. But she was drawn out, tired and injured. She was barely able to lift her left arm, the flesh from shoulder to elbow ripped open, ligaments torn to shreds. When she moved her upper body, she could feel the ends of broken ribs grating together, sending burning sensations throughout her body. She couldn't procrastinate anymore, she had to end this. And she knew exactly how.

Right behind Emilie, the river was still flower along, deep even right at its edge. She turned around for a moment, searching and finding Damon. Their eyes locked at the same moment, and she whispered something to him, making sure he could read the words off her lips. Then she turned around again, threw the sword aside and ran at Emilie, tackling her into the water. The other woman was so surprised at the sudden action, that she couldn't do anything to stop them from hurtling over the edge of the river, and right into the water.

With their heavy clothing and Elena's sword still clutched in her one hand, they sank quickly to the riverbed. Emilie tried to struggle lose from her, but Elena just tightened her grip and held on.

"Do you really think you can get rid of me like this? I can just form a shield around me. You're just harming yourself this way."

The words were only in her head, but still full of ridicule and mocking laughter. But she didn't care; she just held fast, her own lungs crying out for fresh air, her eyes stinging in the cold, dark water.

"Fine, if you want it to end like this, then so be it. Don't say I didn't warn you though!"

This time, the words seemed to be far away already, and her mind was getting fuzzy. She was glad that she was underwater right now, because she would hate to give Emilie the satisfaction of seeing the tears rolling down her face. Not tears for herself though. She couldn't care less about her own life right now. She was just sorry for Damon. As everything faded to black around her, her last thought were of him, of his smile, as he realized that she really was in love with him, of the intensity of his blue, blue eyes when he looked at her.

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Just as he was pulling a stake free from another chest, he saw Elena, her back to Emilie, eyes searching for something. Then they locked on his, and a sad smile adorned her lips before she spoke. Of course he couldn't hear a thing because of the damn noise all around, but he could still make the words out, reading them from her lip.

I'm sorry Damon. I love you.

And then she turned around and disappeared under the water of the river, taking Emilie with her. He wished he didn't know what she was talking about, but sadly he did.

Flashback

Two days ago; Salvatore Boarding House, Damons room

…. Also, ripping the magic out of her would also mean that little-Miss-raise-the-dead here would lose hers. Because of the family line…

And as I'm already at the options you should avoid… the easiest way to send her back is to cut the strings that are keeping her here. Meaning, to kill you and Damon. Because, you see, she can only be here, because you are here. The spell that the little Bennett witch here did, only worked out because Damon had been there. The spell… it cut Damons…. Well, his immortality in half. One half stayed with him, the other settled itself inside of you. We know, of course, that you brought a few… extras from wherever you ended up. Anyway, Emilie hitched a ride with you; clung to the path you made, and stole a little from you both. She lives on borrowed energy. When the supply gets cut off, she dies. Also… if either of you die, the other does too. You and Damon are bound to each other. Either you both live, or you both die."

End of Flashback

He knew what Elena was doing right now. She wasn't strong enough to kill Emilie the normal way so she just… made sure that she died herself. He felt his heart clench together, too many feelings at once trying to break out, but he put a stop to that. There was no point in grieving right now. He wouldn't have to stay behind.

It seemed like an eternity had come and gone by the time Emilie came out of the water again, pulling a limp Elena after her. He wondered for a moment why nobody had bothered to end him, as he had been standing here for a few minutes, not even trying to defend himself. But he didn't care, not really. His eyes were trained at Elena who was carelessly tossed to the ground. Her skin was very pale and her lips had turned a purple-blue color. Her chest was still, no breath widening it. Right now, her heart probably was still working, even if weak. It had too, because he was still standing. But soon it would stop its struggle.

And just as he thought that, he could feel himself growing weaker, an ache building were his heat was – a real pain this time, not the one caused by emotions.

He fell to his knees beside Elena (when had his feet started to move? He couldn't even remember walking towards her), taking her cold hand in both of his and leant down to place a soft kiss on her unresponsive lips.

From somewhere behind him he could hear screaming – but not the scream of someone fighting, hurting or dying. It was the scream of someone losing a loved one. And soon, there were others joining the first one. But he couldn't care. Nothing was important anymore. As his strength left him, as he slumped to the side, he could see that all fighting had seized, all parties looking in their direction. He rolled onto his back, even if it cost him almost all the strength he had left. But he had to see if it had worked. And really, just as Isobel had told them… Emilie was on her knees, gasping for breath that wouldn't come, staring horrified at her hands that were starting to resemble a mummy – As did the rest of her skin. He had seen enough now though, and turned his head back to Elena. There was nothing else he'd rather see in his last moments. And then he felt his heart slowing down and finally stopping, and he knew no more.

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Yep, I know. Cliffhanger – again! But I do love cliffhangers (at least, I like WRITING them), so you have to bear with me. Only the epilogue to go after this one, so there are not many chances left for you to tell me what you think about this story! So go and click the little button below people, I can't WAIT to hear what you think. Also, reviews are love!

So long,

Zora