**Chapter sixty**

The revelation

*Hailey*

For one split second, I considered telling him "yes," and letting Elena go, while I was damned to an eternity with Nicolai. But then Damon popped into my mind- I was supposed to spend my eternity with him, not Nicolai.

I looked at Elena, knowing that I would throw away forever with Damon for her. but Elena had her own game plan. "If you truly loved Hailey, you'd want her to be happy without you. You wouldn't bribe her into spending forever with you," Elena told him. Shut the hell up, I told her with my eyes, but she ignored me.

Nicolai turned to look at her, anger obvious in his brown eyes. "You don't love Hailey, Nicolai. You love Victoria, and just want Hailey for who she looks like. That's not real love. Deep down, you know it too," Elena continued.

Nicolai glared at her with cold fury. "You don't know what you're talking about!" he snapped, before his hands were around Elena's throat.

"No!" I screamed, as Elena gasped for air. "Stop, Nicolai! Stop it!"

Suddenly, he was across the room, breathing heavily. Elena gasped, and I struggled to get to her. Nicolai watched as I felt like I was walking through cement to get to Elena. I collapsed against her, and she hugged me tightly.

"The offer still stands," he said coldly, before leaving and slamming the door behind him. I glared at the spot where he stood seconds ago, knowing that there was no way I could spend forever with him.

~LMF~

*Damon*

"I told you Stefan, I'll distract the tomb vampires, and you get the girls," Damon insisted, pacing their living room.

Stefan was reluctant to agree to his brother's plan. "I don't know if it's good enough," he said, though he was willing to walk through fire to get Elena back.

"You've never seen me distract before," Damon said, no humor in his eyes. for the first time, Stefan noticed how dead they looked.

"There's a good chance that I won't get in back to help you, and you'll die," Stefan insisted. He didn't want Damon to die, though he'd never say it out loud.

Damon was silent. Stefan suddenly realized that Damon was fully aware that he'd probably die if they went through with his plan, and he didn't care. "It's our best chance, Stefan," Damon insisted, and his brother silently agreed with him.

"Fine, but just remember Hailey and how she'd react before you do anything suicidal," Stefan said, before leaving the room.

Damon remembered his Hailey. He could picture her reaction- she'd feel guilty as hell, since he would have basically died for her. she'd be pissed too- he could imagine her yelling at him and telling him that'd she'd kill him if he weren't already dead.

Damon would like to think that she'd cry over him, that Hailey would be upset and sad. But he didn't expect much, after what he'd put her through in their dysfunctional relationship. She'd always said that she loved him, but would she be just a little relieved- just a little bit- that he was gone for good?

Damon shook his head. He didn't want to know the answer to his own question. Instead, he walked to the fridge and got a bag of blood. He needed to be strong if he had any hope of making it out alive tonight.

He hoped that he'd make it out alive, mostly for Hailey. Though, he'd die tonight, if it meant that she'd live.

~LMF~

It was night as I stretched out on the uncomfortable bed. I had my broken arm tied to my chest in a makeshift cast- which was really just ripped t-shirt. Elena was silent, and I couldn't tell if she was asleep or not.

Through the walls, I heard a sudden commotion, like something was happening. I was scared- did they get Stefan and Damon? I was left to my fears, as my heart pounded in my chest. almost ten minutes later, the door creaked open.

I looked up to see Nicolai, looking smug. I saw that Elena was awake, and she stared up at him with a mix of curiosity and fear. "I thought that you should know," he said to me, "That Damon Salvatore is no more. And his brother isn't far behind him," he added to Elena.

I felt destroyed at that instant, like I was dead. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Nothing. I felt as if the news had knocked the wind out of me.

No. no. no. no. no. no. no. no.

That's all that I could think, all that I could feel. It wasn't possible. I would've felt it. I would've felt it, I would've felt something. I couldn't cry- I felt too numb, too dead to even feel anymore. Elena watched me, sympathy clouding her eyes. I couldn't look at her. she didn't know how I felt. Stefan was still alive.

I stared coldly up at Nicolai. "I don't care if I die anymore. I don't care if you kill me yourself. I just want you to know that I don't love you, and I never, ever will. Your friends, the rest of the tomb vamps, just killed the only man I will ever love. So just leave me to be in my own misery," I said in an emotionless tone.

The numbness left me, and soon cold, harsh pain took its place. A sob erupted from my throat, as I struggled to comprehend that my Damon was dead. It didn't seem plausible, real. When I closed my eyes, I pictured him sitting in the boarding house, a glass of bourbon in his hand. He was still alive, he had to be.

Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I covered my mouth with my hand to hold my cries in. I didn't want to cry in front of Nicolai and the rest of the tomb vampires. I didn't want to give them the pleasure. I was torn between curling up into a ball and never returning to the real world, and seeking out the exact vampire that took Damon from me, and making him suffer before I finally killed him. I wanted to do both so badly.

As Nicolai watched the woman he had convinced himself that he loved shake silently with tears shed for another man that hadn't died- yet- he realized something.

Everyone was right. He didn't love Hailey Anne Ellis. Not really.

At the thought of Hailey Ellis dying, he felt only an empty, hollow pang at his heart. He only felt that because she was his only connection to Victoria, and if Hailey died, that connection would be lost forever.

He didn't feel that heart-wrenching, life-ending, lose-all-meaning-to-life pain that this girl obviously felt. He hadn't felt that since Victoria, and he would never feel that pain again. He wouldn't feel it for the young fairy in front of him.

The thought of having nothing to love anymore hurt more than the thought of losing Hailey Ellis, the girl he was convinced was the object of his desires. She wasn't though, she was just his desperate attempt to hold onto Victoria. but Victoria was gone forever.

Nicolai couldn't explain his actions following his revelation even if he wanted to. It was as if he was as if he had no control over his body anymore, like he was possessed.

Nico ripped the ropes binding Elena to her chair off. then he walked over to Hailey, bit his wrist, and forced his blood into her mouth. She gasped and struggled, but then Nicolai hissed, "He's alive! I lied! He alive!"

Hailey accidently swallowed a mouthful of his blood, and stared blankly up at him. Nicolai didn't look at her or at Elena. He just walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, leaving the doppelganger and the fairy gaping after him.

~LMF~

A/N: god, the thought of this story ending makes me super sad, but we only have four chapters left! Sigh…

Thank you to: SomebodyWhoCares, jacquline, vdemily, KimmyWSmith, Ravenator, Stefanie, Kelsey, CharlotteAHJones, and Samantha meyers for reviewing!

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~Abby :)