I paced the living room as I waited for Damon to answer his phone. "Please," I whispered into the speaker. The word became a chant. "Please, please, please." If anyone knew what to do, it would be Damon. He was my support system, my clear-headed deep thinker. He always knew what to do.

"I'm not sure what to do."

I blinked, and my pacing stopped. "Huh?"

A sigh came from the other line. "Lena, I…I don't know what to tell you. We'll get her back, I promise. And we'll keep you safe. I just need some sort of a plan first."

"Well, I think we both know what has to happen first," I reasoned.

"What's that?"

"I'm going to have to drink from Katherine."

"Are you out of your mind?"

I frowned, pulling the phone from my ringing ear. "What's the matter with you? As soon as I blood-share with Katherine, I'll be stronger than Klaus."

"What then? You'll let him drink from you, and then he'll kill us all?"

I cringed at that thought. "Don't you think I can fight him off once I'm at full power?"

There was no pause; he didn't even consider my solution. "That's not a risk I'm willing to take."

"What do you propose we do, then?" I shouted, throwing my free arm into the air. I lowered my voice. "I have Jeremy in the other room making calls to Bonnie, who for all I know has been eaten alive by Klaus. Matt is freaking out over at the Grill because Caroline and Tyler have gone missing. Remember them? They saved our lives." I took a deep breath. "Everyone I love is in danger because of me, Damon, and if I don't do something, they will all die. You and Stefan included."

"I don't want to die anymore than you do, Elena, but over my dead body—my actually dead body—will I let you turn yourself into Klaus's personal feeding bag!"

"It's not your choice!" I screamed at him finally, and after that the only sounds were both of our sharp, furious breathing. I swallowed. "It's my choice; my family, my life. And my mind is made. I'm going to blood share with Katherine, and then I'm going to kill her if she gets in my way, and when he tries to come after me, I'm going to kill him, too."

"You can't."

"I can!" I insisted.

"No, Elena…there's something I should have told you awhile ago, I guess. It slipped my mind, but…If you kill an original vampire, all the vampires he's turned, and all those they've turned, will die as well."

His words sunk in quickly, along with my sense of hope. "So…what are you saying? That if I kill Klaus, we'll all die too?"

"Yes. One by one, we will all die."

I bit down on my lip, a new solution forming. "Then we'll have to contain him instead."

"How?"

"Didn't you say that Katherine was buried in a tomb?"

"Yes, underneath the church—wait, what are you thinking?"

I sat myself in a chair. Jeremy watched me over his folded hands. "I'm going to need your help, and maybe Bonnie's too, but I think I can lock Klaus up in that tomb."

Damon was quiet for a few minutes, considering what I'd told him. "That's insane, but…I think it might just work. We're going to have to do this fast though, Elena."

"How's tonight?" I offered. "The sooner the better, right? If you can get in touch with Katherine, I'll lour her here and then once I take the power, I'll kill her."

"Kill her?"

"So that she won't let Klaus drink from her," I explained.

"I don't know if she can be killed," he argued.

"Well, if anyone can kill her, it's me. Besides, I'm only going to take her out if I absolutely have to."

He sighed. "Okay, I'll make some calls."

...

Damon and Katherine arrived sometime later that evening. I'd spent the entire day with Jeremy, just in case something…went wrong. He hadn't gotten to Bonnie, but I had a feeling that she was probably with Klaus.

Damon knocked on my door for the first time in awhile, interrupting the movie Jer and I had on. I gripped his hand, which was next to mine on the couch. "Jer, look at me."

This was about to suck, but it was necessary. I took a shaky breath as his eyes met mine. "I love you," I said, using compulsion for the first time. His pupils dilated as he became fixated on me. "But it's not safe for you here. You're going to run—to that old lake house where we used to stay with Mom and Dad. You remember it, don't you? I want you to take the car, and call me when you get there. If you see Klaus, you do whatever it takes to get away. Be careful, Jer." His eyes were painfully blank. I gave his hand another squeeze. "Go," I ordered. "Now."

Wordlessly, he stood and left the room. I watched him get in the car, and then I went to answer to my company.

The living room suddenly seemed miles from the door, and my steps seemed to get slower with ever one I took. The walls of the hallway slanted, but I soldiered on. Finally, my hands gripped the cold doorknob, and I twisted it open. The heavy wood swung, revealing a sight that, were I human, would have stopped my heart.

There stood Damon, with his wide, challenging eyes, arms crossed over his burly chest. He tipped his head at me, looking me over from head to toe as if it were the first time he'd seen me in months.

Behind him stood Katherine, my spitting image if you overlooked the wild curls. Her eyes were narrowed coolly, as if she were ready to jump us all. I shuddered when she took a step closer to me.

"Elena," she murmured sarcastically. "How nice to see you again."

I took a wobbly breath. "Katherine. I would invite you in, but Jenna owns the house now and as you can see, she's not home, so I guess we'll just have to do this outside."

Disgustedly, she muttered, "How classy."

I wasn't about to apologize. As I stepped out of the house, Damon put his hand on my arm. I smiled up at him, but it was shaky. "Thanks," I whispered.

"Are you sure about this?" He touched his thumb to my lips, and Katherine all but disappeared.

I nodded. "It's our only option."

"No, it's not. Elena, we could run right now. We could put miles between us and Mystic Falls. It would be years until Klaus finds us, and by then we already could have moved on."

I shook my head. "I won't live my life running, Damon. It's this or nothing."

Katherine piped up. "We must be related, after all."

I turned to her. "I want to ask you something before we do this."

She shrugged. "I suppose we have time. What do you want to know?"

"Why are you doing this? What does Klaus have that makes you agree to this?"

She snorted. "Obviously, strength. As soon as I'm strong, I'm out of here. I'll be out of your way and as far from Klaus as possible. It will be the first time in my whole life that I won't have to watch my back. That's all I want."

I nodded. "Then I would advise you to leave fast, Katherine."

She tilted her head questioningly, but did not ask. I thought she wasn't going to say anything, but after a minute she quietly mumbled, "Thanks for the heads up."

"You're welcome." I glanced over at Damon and made eye contact. He nodded in understanding.

Our coast was clear.

"So…" I slapped my plams against my thighs. "How do you want to do this?"

She rolled her eyes. "Neck is conventional, but I think we can both agree that that would be a bit awkward, no?"

Behind me, Damon coughed to disguise his laughter. I couldn't help but smile along.

Katherine wasn't so bad. She was only looking out for herself. In her place, wouldn't I have done the same?

"Okay," I laughed politely, and bit into my wrist. Her face contorted as she mirrored me, digging her own fangs into the vein in her wrist. Blood trickled up my arm, reaching the crease in my elbow.

"Let's go before these cuts close," she hinted. I nodded and, gingerly, held my arm up. She offered me hers and I tried to squelch the terror building in my gut as I leaned in.

The smell of her blood made me want to jerk back, but I toughened up and pressed my mouth straight to the cut. I felt her start to suck the blood from my own wound, so I began to take deep sips from her. The taste was electric, like if you touch a battery to the tip of your tongue to see if there's any charge left. I pulled back as she did, both of us holding our jaws. My cut glazed over and disappeared. I watched, a jittery feeling similar to a caffeine high flowing through my whole body, as my vein started to pulse. Then, I gasped, a choked feeling washing over me. I couldn't breathe. The world turned black fast. Blindly, I felt around for Damon. Arms came around me as I fell, gasping. I wasn't sure if the retching sounds were coming for me or Katherine, as surely we were both having the same reaction. I gripped my throat, coughing. I was being strangled.

Then the fire built in my stomach. It was ice cold at first, drenching my whole being in power. Then it turned hot, burning. I screamed out with what little air was left in my lungs.

"Blood," I heard someone rasp. "We need h—human blood."

Damon scooped me up into his arms. My eyes opened a little. "Hang on, 'Lena," he whispered. "I'm going to help you."

We were running then, I would assume, because my hair began to whip behind me. It didn't last long, but it did make the fire worse. I think I started to cry, but I wasn't positive.

Eventually, I stopped being aware of my surroundings. I think he took me into his house. It would make sense, considering he and Stefan kept blood in their cooler.

Something wet dribbled into my lips. I swear, it was the sweetest blood I'd ever tasted. I let out a cry and reached for the bag. It opened my lungs back up and extinguished the white hot pain in my veins.

My sense began to strengthen, and I kept hearing something—drums. Someone was playing drums. I sucked dry the blood bag and opened my eyes. "D—Damon?"

He frowned, caught somewhere between horror and admiration. "Your—your heart."

"What?"

It hit me then; the sound wasn't anyone playing the drums or banging on the walls of my head.

It was my heart. My heart was beating.

...

We got to Katherine as quickly as possible. She was lying in a heap on our porch, skin turning a grayish color. Feeling her pain, I tore open the blood bag we'd brought and placed it right to her colorless lips. After a few moments, she began to drink on her own. The sound of the beating of her heart joined my own, paced exactly the same.

"They're beating in time," Damon whispered in awe. He hadn't taken his eyes off of me since I'd awoken from whatever pain-coma I'd been on, and now I understood why.

Katherine looked different. Her hair was healthier, her lips darker, and her eyes wider. She looked like a model, and if we were identical, then I must've looked pretty damn good myself.

She stood smoothly and brushed herself off. "Well," she began, her voice somehow musical. "You look like a goddess, so I'm going to guess that that worked." She stretched her arms out. "It's strange, but I don't really feel too different. You know, besides the heart and all. Anyways, I'm going to get gone before whatever you two are planning takes action." She waved to me and blew Damon a kiss, resembling a free man just let out of prison. "Watch your backs," she offered as a goodbye, which was probably about the closest to a 'take care' that we'd ever receive from Katherine Peirce.

"You too," I mumbled. With a relieved dance in her eyes, she was gone.

Damon's jaw dropped. "I've never seen anyone run that fast." His loving gaze returned to me. "And I've never seen anyone so beautiful." He leaned down to kiss my lips gently. "How do you feel?"

I shrugged. "Fine…sorry, that was probably hard to watch."

He looked pained now. "It might've hurt me more than you."

I scrunched my nose. "I doubt it. That hurt like a motherfu—"

"Elena." The voice wasn't Damon's and immediately, my heart began to beat faster.

I turned towards the source of the British twanged voice. "Klaus."

"How nice it is to see you…you look incredible."

Damon growled, stepping in front of me. I rolled my eyes. "You forget that I'm stronger than you." I looked at Klaus pointedly. "Both of you."

Klaus folded his arms over his chest. "I was going to ask; have you seen Jenna lately?"

I let out a snarl of rage. "Don't you dare touch her."

"No need," he said, tone placating. "So long as I get my taste."

I narrowed my eyes. "Go right ahead." I held my wrist out.

Damon's eyes widened in horror. "You can't be serious, Elena!"

He had to understand; Klaus would be less powerful if he drank from me. He needed human blood to help him, just as I'd needed it, and without it, he'd be defenseless against Damon and me. We'd have more than enough time to get him into the tomb, and then I'd use the blood as leverage to find out where Jenna was. "It's the only way to keep my family safe, Damon." I tugged the sleeve of my shirt up and bit into my wrist. "Not too much now, Klaus."

He gave me a devilish smile and flashed to my side. Without hesitation, he drank deeply. I think I lost about a quart of blood before Damon lifted him off me by the collar of his expensive shirt. It was sick to take pleasure in the sight, but I smiled as I watched Klaus crumple in agony. He gripped the sides of his head as he screamed in pain.

I bent down to his level and gave him a look of innocence. "What's the matter, Klaus?"

He looked at me in hatred. "You—you," he wheezed.

I patted his back melodramatically. "Try not to talk too much. You're going to need all of your energy." With that, I gave Damon a signal and he lifted Klaus by his neck.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Damon hissed. He dragged him alongside as he sprinted for the tomb.

The run was fast, and it smelled of sweet victory. I almost laughed as I took off with Damon at my heels, navigating my way through the silent, blackened town. The tomb was a ways into the forest, off the graveyard. I reached it a few steps before Damon, and dropped into the dip in the ground. My feet slapped against the hollowed out hole. I glanced around until I found the heavy door covered the tomb. Using all my vampire strength, I lifted it away. The smell of mold, must and desiccation engulfed the room, making me cough. A second later, Damon and Klaus landed next to me. Klaus began to struggle, but it was feeble. He was too weak.

Damon tossed him far into the darkened tomb, and a crash sounded. I grinned at Damon and hugged him tightly. "It worked!"

He ran his hand through my hair affectionately. "For a minute there, you had me scared to death."

"I'm sorry," I said truthfully. "I thought you'd follow me."

"It took me a little bit, but I did figure out what you were doing." Half a smile appeared. "It was the only reason I let you go through with it." There was a pause, and Damon's hand traced its way to my heart. "I love that sound."

I smiled lightly. "I think I can get used to it. Hey." I pulled my hair back from my neck. "Let's find some human blood, and you can have some."

He stroked the length of my neck, causing my pulse to quicken. "You sure?"

"Of course. Stefan will have some, too. I'd like to keep it small so that the power doesn't fall into the wrong hands, but I think the two of you definitely deserve it."

"Let's go get some blood, then."

Hand in hand, we ran off, the night seeming damn near perfect.

Hey guys! I hope you liked, and so you know, there will be a few more chapters—this isn't the end quite yet. Reviews are appreciated, and I love you all!

—Cora (: