First.

I wasn't completely sure what to make of it at first. I could sense a presence, more than one actually, nearby, before the scent attacked my senses. There was blood, human blood as far as I could tell, somewhere close and headed in my direction. I could feel the transformation, my fangs descending from my pale and atrophied gums, a surge of energy as my arms outstretched, pushing my body weakly up off of the bed. I heard the door of the house creak open, my head snapping to attention. If they called out my name I couldn't hear it over the roaring of my own meager supply of blood coursing through the delicate vessels in my ears. I watched as the shadows in the hallway shifted in the afternoon light, waited until the moment was right and my body reacted, rushing towards them at full force, driven by starvation, betrayal and rage.

My body crashed into the invisible barrier that held me in the room, catapulting me backwards, whipping my head back and knocking me to the floor. I was back on my feet in seconds rushing again at the door. I was rabid; sweat was already starting to form across my forehead, my body trembling with anticipation and desperation. I could see who they were, whose blood was causing me to react so violently, in a way that any other day would have mortified me. A rage that I had not felt since the night I was killed and turned, the night I was denied access to my precious daughter, was causing my blood to boil. I lunged again, stopping short of the barrier with a hiss as I stared them down, fear lighting up both of their eyes and then anger settling into one.

"Bonnie, I think you should probably wait outside," I heard Caroline say as a growl worked its way up into my throat, "I'll calm her down first, then you can work on getting her out."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she responded as she backed down the hallway then ran for the door. My head snapped back towards Caroline standing just out of reach fishing around in her handbag.

"Calm me down? Just who do you think you are anyway?" I snapped at her through clenched teeth. Just as I finished asking she finds what she was looking for, turns to me and produces a bottle of red liquid and cocks her head obnoxiously to the side. I rush one last time towards the door hissing and clawing at my invisible nemesis as Caroline frowns in at me.

"I'll give you this, but only if you promise to calm down," she told me with an authoritative tone. Was she kidding me? I certainly wasn't going to be taking orders from a newborn, but I needed that blood so I forced my face to relax and nodded as she threw the bottle into the room.

I don't think I have ever felt euphoria quite like this before. The instant the blood passed through my lips I could feel my body regenerating, transforming back into the human form it had once held. My joints relaxed, the tight skin across my face and lips regained its elasticity, the monster I had become started to disappear and the fog lifted from my mind. I crushed the bottle in my hand ensuring every last drop was emptied from within it as, at last, the film over my eyes dissolved.

My once again malleable knees gave way and I sank to the floor, my eyes closed, and head fell back against the polished wood, unable to speak. I opened my eyes as Caroline pulled a second bottle from her bag and rolled it in to me. This one I drank slowly, determined to savor it like a fine wine as I glared back out at her, still not certain that I could trust her.

"Wow," she exclaimed, "You really do have a lot of Katherine in you."

"Don't you ever compare me to that bitch," I spat back at her unable to bite back my words, "She is nothing to me, do you understand? Nothing!"

"Fine," she snapped back, "I'm not getting in the middle of family feuds. I'm here to help Bonnie break you out. Stefan figured that you might smell Bonnie's blood and lose control so he sent me with her."

"Why would he think that? I've never lost control like that before. Not since the night I was turned and my husband denied my entrance into my home, denied me the chance to say goodbye to my little girl."

"Well, I guess he just assumed that you would react the same way as your mo…" she stopped short, "as Katherine."

I couldn't believe that I was getting compared to her. My entire life people had told me how different we are, how beautiful she was, how slight her build was, how popular with the men. I was never any of those things. I was plain looking like my father, my body was shorter, round and soft. I had never really known true love, I thought I had with Thomas but it turned out that he was compelled to love me; none of his feelings for me were real. Katherine represented everything that was bad about vampires. She was evil and manipulative with no concern for human life. Was I really so much like her that others could now compare us?

Caroline must have noticed the panic on my face. She rolled her eyes and told me, "You're not like Katherine, okay? As hard as this is for me to say considering that you have tried twice now to rip my head off, you are one of the good ones Norrah." I gave her a weak smile back as we momentarily made eye contact and then turned quickly away. Caroline looked down at the corpse of the woman on the floor. "A friend of yours?" she asked with a hint of sass in her voice as she picked up and examined large piece of wood that I had thrown at Katherine in my fit of rage.

"Not mine, Katherine's. She killed her to send me a message to stay put." I shook my head looking out the small window at the dead grass and dust that seemed to stretch on for miles and sighed. "Okay, so maybe I antagonized her a little, but even if I had figured a way out of this room I have no idea where I am. Wait, how did you and Bonnie find me? Where are we anyway?"

Caroline looked confused as she looked over at the window and then back at me. "We're in the woods just outside of town. It took Bonnie a few days to work out how Katherine's witch was able to spell the cabin so that it was invisible to any supernatural being, and another few to work out a spell to make it visible so we could find you.

I turned to the window expecting an argument, but I didn't see the field or the sky. I saw trees and daylight breaking through the branches, dead leaves carpeting a damp forest floor, a bird swooping down to land on a low hanging branch. What the hell was going on? Where did the trees come from, the moss covered log, the animals scurrying from one tree to another? I knelt on the bed and crawled towards the window placing my hands on the pane, it was cold. It had been warm every time I touched it before now with the scorching sun streaming in.

I pushed the glass and my hand went through, jagged pieces cutting into my skin. I pulled my arm back and stared at the wounds, my jaw felt slack as I turned my arm in repeated semi-circles. I put my face next to the hole in the window and took in a deep breath of fresh air. It felt cool as it hit my lungs. I took in the familiar scent of the damp bark and leaves. We weren't far from town; I had walked through this part of the woods hunting with Stefan.

Bonnie poked her head in the door as Caroline gestured for her to come in. With the fresh air streaming in through the broken glass the stench of the woman's body on the floor became overpowering. Caroline read my mind, she bent down and hefted the limp remains over her shoulder. "She's all yours," she said to Bonnie as she left to dispose of the woman's body. I watched Bonnie move uncomfortably into place in front of the door, a large leather-bound book in her hands. "Emily…" I let the whisper escape my lips as I met Bonnie's eyes. She simply nodded and opened the book on the chair.

"Bonnie, wait," I broke in, "How did this cabin get here? I've been through this part of the woods before, there was nothing here. I had no idea where I was, all I ever saw out the window was a barren field and the sky."

"Katherine really did her homework, she must have been planning it for a long time. Her witch, whoever she is, is incredibly powerful. What do you remember about her?" she asked me.

"Not very much," I told her. "I heard them come in that night, she and Katherine, talking in the other room. I couldn't hear what they were saying. She wasn't feeding me enough so my hearing was limited."

"Do you remember anything about the witch that was with her? Did you see her?"

I thought for a moment, "No, I never saw her, I think Katherine was distracting me while she reinforced the spells on the cabin outside. I remember Lydia telling me about how powerful spells had to be reinforced or sealed with a talisman or else they could be broken."

"Yeah, that's how Emily sealed the vampires in the tomb in 1864, she used an Amber crystal as a talisman. She used me to help her destroy the crystal, sealing them in permanently, at least she thought so," Bonnie explained. "My grams and I were able to combine our power to remove the seal, I was still so new, I wouldn't have been able to do it alone."

"And now, will you be able to get the seal off of this room and get me out of here?" I asked, worry creeping into my voice. I wanted out of here ASAP, before another run-in with Katherine or her witch.

"I don't know for sure, but I'm going to try."

"That's all I can ask," I told her. "Thank you for going to all this trouble for me."

"You're Elena's family, one of the last she has left," she explained, "and we're friends, I couldn't leave you out here alone." She smiled in at me as I smiled back.

"I'm going to try a few things," Bonnie told me, "it might take a while though. The spell that Katherine's witch put on the cabin was strong. I've been able to remove the shield around the house so that we could see it to get in, and the charm that she put on the window. It's been a while since I've taken down a seal and I think it's going to be much harder this time, but I'm going to try." Then she looked down at Emily's grimoire and shut the world out as she concentrated.

Well I don't have anywhere else to be, so take your time, I thought as I sat back down on the bed.