Disclaimer: As you know by now, I don't TVD. If I did, a great many things would be different. Any recognizable characters, plots and dialogue belong to L.J. Smith and the CW.

A/N: By now, you know the drill. I love all of you, and adore every single comment. I'm overdue for going to bed, so I'm going to keep this short. Enjoy the new chapter! 3

Caroline

There was a knock on the door, and Caroline answered it while Kol continued walking Bonnie through the unlinking ritual. They were throwing around a lot of words that she couldn't follow, and Jeremy was looking back and forth between the two like he was watching a tennis match.

She opened the door and froze for a moment as she looked up into Klaus' face.

"Uh, hi," she said. "Were we expecting you? I don't remember ordering a pretentious psychopath."

"You wound me, Caroline," Klaus said. "But I'm here to talk to my brother, love."

"Let me guess," Kol said as he sauntered over, "one of your minions told you I was in here with your pretty blonde and you needed to check on the situation."

"Some yes, some no," Klaus said. "I got a call saying that you and the little witch were up to something. Now, Elijah says you're working on freeing us from Mother's machinations. Tell me, what's the plan?"

Kol opened his mouth to answer, but instead of words, the only sound was a muffled choking sound. He stumbled, and Caroline caught him.

"Kol!" Bonnie shouted as she ran into the room.

Klaus stumbled as well, but rather than desiccating as Kol was, he merely glowered down at the group around his brother. He reached out, but his hand stopped at the threshold barrier.

"What did you do?" he shouted at Bonnie. He pounded against the barrier before grasping at his chest. "Elijah…. I'll be back," he growled before flashing away.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and Jeremy supported Kol's limp form between them and settled him on the couch. Once done, Bonnie looked at Caroline.

"Who would have daggered them?" she asked.

"I think it's pretty obvious," Jeremy said. "Only one person I know who acts without all the information and without thought."

"Damon," Bonnie and Caroline said together.

There was a momentary pause before Caroline exclaimed, "Wait! If they're daggered, then Elena-"

"Dammit, Damon!" Bonnie said.

Rebekah

For nearly an hour, silence had reigned in the tunnels. Rebekah had played solitaire rather than think about Elena and her words. When she turned to look, she noticed that the doppelgänger was slumped back against the wall. She looked barely conscious, and when she focused, Rebekah noticed that her heart rate was slower than it should have been.

She had taken a step toward the girl when she felt it - the familiar and unwelcome sensation of a dagger sliding into her heart. But this time, it wasn't happening directly to her. The realization had just crossed her mind when she refocused on Elena, who was now sitting upright and had her hands pressed against her chest. It was doing nothing to stop the crimson spreading across the front of her shirt.

Acting on instinct, Rebekah flashed to Elena's side, and with the last of her wavering strength, she forced a bleeding wrist to Elena's mouth. She collapsed backward, and the last thought flickering through her mind before the blackness took over was that she hoped she had done enough to protect them all from death.

Esther

Finn was collecting the last of the supplies Esther needed in order to finish the ritual to turn her children just human enough to erase the entirety of their species. He was reaching for the torches when he grasped his chest instead. His eyes were wide as he looked up at her, his skin already taking on a grey tinge.

"Mother…"

She stepped closer to him but knew there was nothing she could do for him, and as she thought about it, she knew that she would have used one of Niklaus' charmed daggers herself if she had been able to find one. He had daggered his siblings for the slightest infractions over the centuries. Finn was completely desiccated now, and she waited to see if his body would combust, which would tell her that her task had been completed. However, he remained intact, and she knew that someone had protected Elena.

"Damn," she muttered. It appeared she needed to continue on with her plan.

She picked up the torches Finn had been reaching for. In the end, this was just as well. Her sons couldn't interfere in their current state, and the worry that Finn might yet change his mind could be put from hers. Whoever had acted should be thanked - they had saved her a great deal of worry hassle.

Elena

Pain.

Elena lay on the ground, and all she could think was: pain. It had come out of nowhere. Looking down, she had seen dark blood rapidly spreading across her shirt and felt it running down her stomach. The lethargy she had felt before increased as she lost blood, but she had enough awareness to try putting pressure on the wound that wasn't her own.

It had done nothing to stem the flow.

She struggled to remember what happened next. The world had been spinning, but she remembered Rebekah flashing to her side. She hadn't had the presence of mind to pull away, even as a bloody wrist was thrust against her mouth.

Elena's eyes shot open as she remembered the tang of Rebekah's blood on her tongue. Doing so didn't help her disorientation. She found herself to be still lying on her back, but the sight above her was not the dark, damp stone ceiling. Instead, vibrant blues, greens, and purples swirled across a star-strewn sky. Inky black outlines of trees stretched toward the dancing lights. Elena watched the aurora twist for a moment before sitting up to try to gain her bearings.

Nearby, a bonfire burned. Beside it sat Elijah, who was staring intently into the depths of the flames. She could see Kol and Rebekah a short distance away on the far side of the fire. Finn and Klaus were nowhere to be seen though, so Elena clambered carefully to her feet. She hurried to Elijah, intent on apologizing for not telling him about his mother's plans. She also wanted to ask where he'd been.

As she approached, though, he looked up, and when he caught sight of her, he stood as well. He didn't move for a moment, and in the firelight, she saw a myriad of emotions cross his face. The most prominent was a relief that she knew was reflected on her own features.

She whispered his name, and saw his lips form her own before he flashed over to her. They were just at the edge of the fire's circle of light. His hand ghosted over her cheek, but never touched, even as his eyes scanned her for injury. She pulled herself back from hugging him like she would have if he were any of her other friends.

"Where did you-"

"Where have you-"

Both began to ask their questions at the same time, and the words crashed together in a jumble. A shy smile crossed Elena's face.

"Sorry," she said. "You were saying?"

"No," Elijah said, now watching her face intently. "You first, I insist. But, let us sit."

Elena followed him back to the log he had been sitting on. As soon as they were seated, she turned to him.

"Where did you disappear to last night? I looked for you. I need to tell you… Your mother is planning to kill all of you. Though, depending on where we are, maybe she succeeded."

Elijah looked around them, his eyes lingered on the lights in the sky for a moment before he turned back to Elena. "We're in a memory," he said. "Don't worry, I don't believe we're dead - not completely. This is where my siblings and I are always banished when we've been daggered." He paused and ghosted his hand over her arm again. She could remember the feel from when he had done it at the ball and found herself wishing he would touch her again. "My mother's plan, at least in part, has been revealed to us. I also have been searching for you. I worried, last night, that you had fled rather than tell me what had been discussed."

"I gave you my word," Elena said. She frowned at him. "I thought- Never mind. What have you found out?"

"Instead, tell me what she discussed with you. You are the primary source. We've been piecing things together."

"When we were told that whatever was in that coffin would kill Klaus, I had no idea she wanted to kill all of you. Elijah, she linked us all, but she took more of my blood than she said she would need. I don't know what more she did, but I felt like I was on fire and then freezing."

"I felt the same," Elijah said slowly. "I wonder if the others felt the same." He told her then that they believed if Esther succeeded in killing her children that it would mean the end of all vampires.

After she clarified that it included all of her friends, tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "How do we stop her?"

"Unless we are revived, there is nothing we can do from here," Elijah said. He gently took her hand in his, and she felt a warm wave of comfort sweep over her - like a quilt wrapping her in safety. The exhaustion that had been seeping deeper into her bones faded a little. The longer the contact was maintained, the more whole she felt.

Elijah stared down at their hands, and the tension that had sat on his shoulders slipped away.

"Mother is thorough," he muttered.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Nothing. I think I'm figuring out what she did with the rest of the blood she took." He looked over his shoulder at the dark forms Elena took to be Kol and Rebekah. "I need to talk to my brother. "But first, let us take advantage of this meeting to formulate a plan. Back in the real world, you're with Rebekah, yes?" Elena nodded. "We need her to return to Niklaus and I. By now, she will have seen what I meant about doubting Mother's intentions. Kol is still with your other friends. Mother has spelled them into your house."

"He hasn't hurt them, has he?" Elena asked. But even as she worried for their safety, she held tighter to Elijah's hand. His thumb was drawing circles on the back of her hand, and it was as though her focus was centered on that spot.

"He has not," Elijah said. "In fact, from what he said, he rather enjoys Bonnie and Jeremy's company." Elena frowned but didn't say anything, so Elijah continued. "I believe he's helping Bonnie to figure out how to unlink us. He's also, I'm certain, working on a plan for whatever Esther has done to keep you and I from communicating except in this place."

"I was worried you would think I had helped your mother willingly," Elena admitted in a voice he had to strain to hear.

"I disregarded the thought as soon as it passed through my mind," Elijah said. "That is not you, Elena. Do you remember our meeting at your parents' lake house?"

"Yes, of course," Elena said without looking up. She was still haunted by the actions that Damon had forced when he had acted rashly. In that moment, she was certain that he was behind the dagger this time to, and that meant he was responsible for the pain she had felt earlier.

"I saw, on your face, how much you hadn't wanted to act," Elijah said, squeezing her hand gently. "I believe, perhaps to my detriment that you wouldn't willingly act to hurt…" He trailed off, and Elena, at last, looked up to meet his eyes.

"You?" she asked. "You'd be right about that." The last was said in such a quiet voice she wasn't sure he would be able to make them out. In fact, she was hoping he wouldn't. He leaned forward and started to say something, but the world shifted. Her words lingered in the air even as the aurora-strewn sky faded away.

The pain was back, and Elena gasped as she sat up. She was back in the tunnel, and Rebekah was still sprawled on the ground next to her. Even if she had wanted to run, she didn't have the strength to get to her feet. Instead, she watched as Rebekah's skin regained its usual tone. She was taken back to watching Elijah reanimate in the Salvatores' basement.

As soon as Rebekah sat up, she turned to stare at Elena. "I am going to kill whichever one of your boyfriends thought that was a clever idea," she growled.

"It'll have been Damon," Elena said, reluctantly, but she was mad at him herself. That had really hurt, and she could have died. "You're going to have to get in line behind at least two of your brothers." Elena caught the astonished look on Rebekah's face. She shrugged. "I could stand to hurt him myself. I'm sorrier than ever that I did that to you. It freakin' hurt." She hesitated before saying, "Thanks for saving me, by the way."

"Save your empty apologies," Rebekah snapped. She hauled herself to her feet and started down the tunnel. Elena hurried after her. "And I didn't do it to save you. I did it for my family."

"I know, but thanks anyway."

They walked in silence. When they reached the stairs that led back to the open air, Rebekah turned back to her.

"I still hate you," she said.

"Of course. Right back at you. Elijah wants you to meet him and Klaus."

Rebekah nodded and flashed away, leaving a bewildered Elena behind her. Having no idea what else she could do, Elena started back toward her house to see how the others were coming on formulating a plan.