Author's note: Sorry for the delay. I've had multiple requests for these next chapters, and I'm kind of up to my ears in edits right now. Instead of making everyone wait for another week or so, these next chapters are the originals from a few years ago.

Warnings: Mature rating, adult content, implied non-consensual adult content, sensitive subject matter, language, violence

"I didn't know you were invited." Damon stood in the doorway blocking Bonnie's entrance.

"No one told me it was a party." Bonnie folded her arms and looked at him with impatience. "I'm here to help, Damon."

"Because you've already been so helpful." He gripped the edge of the door.

"Let her in, Damon." Elena looked up from her seat on the couch. "Right now I'm not turning anyone down."

"Anyone?" Damon shook his head in disbelief. "You might want to rephrase that."

John walked into the room and his guest paused at the doorway.

"Come on, Damon, did you really think John wouldn't let me know what was going on?" Isobel toed the threshold. She shook her head at his reluctance to admit her. "You let her in." She threw a look at Katherine sitting at the opposite end of the couch from Elena.

Damon turned and looked at Elena. He raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question. She was already angry at him for giving Katherine access to their house. If Isobel came in, it was going to be her call. She nodded slowly.

"Isobel." Damon waved in the direction of the rest of the assembled adults.

"Is there anyone else I should know is coming?" Elena ran her fingers through her hair as she looked at the odd collection of friends, family, and people who really didn't care for each other. Lucy leaned against the wall behind the chair occupied by Bonnie. Jeremy, Jackson, and Alaric sat perched on the hearth. John leaned over the back of Isobel's chair. She and Katherine ended up sharing the couch as Damon came over and placed a leg over the edge of the couch and rested a hand on Elena's shoulder. At one time, she'd thought this room fairly spacious, but everything felt very closed in now.

"Alright, then." Katherine was the first to speak. "Lucy filled me in on most of the details. It seems Stefan was under the impression the doppelganger only happens every 500 years." She turned to Elena for confirmation.

Elena shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what he thought. He never told me." She felt Damon's hand tense on her arm.

"Interesting." Katherine nodded. "Do you want to take it from here?" She gave the bag at Isobel's feet a pointed look.

"It's what I live for. You know that." Isobel glared at Katherine, and Elena realized how often the two must be in contact. "So, first things first. When the doppelganger appears is highly random. Otherwise, it would be too easy to predict. The very nature of the curse was intended to make it difficult to break. The doppelganger could appear at any point along the Petrova line, which is why Katherine kept such a close eye on her descendants."

"We assumed it was every five hundred years because that's basically how far apart Elena's birth was from Katherine's. But it isn't quite that simple." Isobel dug through her bag and pulled out a leather book filled with yellowed pages. "Think of a 100 year flood. That just means that a massive flood only happens once every hundred years, but if it happens one year - it can happen again the very next year - and then it'll be 99 more years before it repeats itself. That way it is totally random."

"So Elena being the doppelganger's mother was just random chance?" Alaric sat forward and leaned against his knees.

"Mostly random, yes." Isobel agreed.

"Mostly?" Jeremy needed more explanation.

Isobel raised an eyebrow as she looked at Katherine. She thumbed through the book as Katherine took over the explanation. "With the two of you, the birth of the doppelganger was almost a certainty."

"And why is that?" Damon asked.

Isobel stood and brought him the book. "This is the ledger from the original Mystic Falls historical society. We thought it best that it stay out of the wrong hands." She tapped a line in the ledger.

"Guiseppe Dominic Salvatore." Damon read aloud. "Along with his wife, Maria Petrova Salvatore..." He stopped and turned to Katherine in shock.

"You've never wondered about it?" Katherine's voice dripped with irony. "With two Petrovas, we couldn't expect anything less." Damon blinked in shock as Katherine continued. "Trust me, that was a fact we tried to keep well hidden." She glared up at Lucy. "Don't look so shocked. Your family knew. Didn't you?"

"Only after it was too late." Lucy admitted.

"You witches need to do a better job recording your history." Isobel turned to face Lucy. "If you'd thought this through, none of us would be in this situation."

"I admit to my part in this problem, but if we hadn't been bound by duty to you, then this would never have happened."

"Problem?" Elena raised her voice over the rumble growing in the room. "We're here because a death sentence has been placed on my daughter's head. That's a little more than a problem."

"Actually, that's not exactly the case." Isobel clarified. "We don't know who is here. They may not know that the curse has been lifted from you."

"So they may still think they're looking for Elena?" Damon hadn't been prepared for that possibility.

"It's entirely possible." Isobel nodded.

"It's not like we announced the fact the curse had been broken. Most vampires really like the idea of being able to walk in the sun. The rest of the curse...it's inconsequential to them." She toyed with her lapis necklace. "All they know is that they've been drawn here. It's the same reason you and Stefan came back to Mystic Falls, Damon. It was because of her." Katherine inclined her head in Elena's direction.

"And if they do know about the sun and moon curse, we still have a little time to work with." Isobel placed the ledger back in her bag.

"What do you mean?" Jackson spoke up for the first time that evening.

"They have to wait until the full moon. Saturday. At least we have seven days."

"Seven days." Damon swallowed. Tonight's news kept getting better and better.

"If you could take the curse away, I want you to give it back." Elena looked at Bonnie without blinking.

"Elena, we can't." Bonnie shook her head.

"Of course you can." Elena insisted.

"Elena, do you realize what you're asking?" Jeremy stood and walked toward his sister.

"I understand completely."

"No." Damon's voice cut through the room like steel. He stepped between Elena and Bonnie.

"Even if I wanted to do it, which I don't, Elena, we can't." Lucy entered the conversation.

Bonnie got up from the chair and moved so that she could see her friend. "You might not remember, but we burned the page of the grimoire that night to keep something like this from happening. We wanted to make sure no one could force you to take the curse back again."

Tears burning her eyes in frustration, Elena swallowed thickly. "Of course you did." She needed to get away from everything for a minute before her emotions overwhelmed her. Escaping into the kitchen, she grabbed a glass from the cabinet and held it under the faucet. The voices from the other room merged into a dull rumble, and Elena wondered how any of her children were still asleep.

"Elena?"

Elena exhaled as she turned to face Isobel. "Bringing more good news?"

"No, but I wanted to talk to you while you were alone." She pulled a chair back from the table and sat down facing Elena.

"Anything you say to me now, you could say to me in front of Damon."

"I'm not so sure."

Her curiosity piqued, Elena picked up her glass from the counter and came to sit next to Isobel at the kitchen table. "Alright. Try me."

"Have you told him about the issues you're having?"

"What issues?"

Isobel looked sternly at Elena. "I'm a vampire, Elena. In case you've forgotten, that means I can hear your heartbeat. When was the last time you went to your doctor?"

"Isobel, I'm fine."

"You didn't answer my question."

Feeling oddly ill-at-ease under the other woman's scrutiny, Elena answered, "Thursday."

"And what did she say?"

Elena took a sip of her water. When she looked back up, she realized Isobel had a hint of genuine concern in her expression. "My blood pressure's a little high." She admitted. "But why wouldn't it be?"

"Elena," Isobel reached out and placed her hand atop her daughter's. "The reason I became what I am is to help protect you. I know you're worried about Emma, but I'm just as concerned about you. Let me help you."

Finding herself in an unfamiliar place, she studied the worry etched in Isobel's face. "I'll try."

Isobel looked at the clock as it approached midnight. "We're not going to get anything else done tonight...not until we know who we're dealing with." She pushed back from the table and walked into the living room. "We still need to know more about who's in the town. Until then, I think our work here is done."

Katherine nodded and approached Damon. She held out her hand. "Keys to the boardinghouse? I don't think you really want me sleeping on your couch."

"No." He fished his key ring out of his pocket and slid the boardinghouse key into his hand before handing it to Katherine.

Elena stood leaning against the column on the porch as the bright yellow school bus came to a squealing stop at the end of the sidewalk. Three days had gone by, and they were no closer to finding out who was stalking the town. Damon was off meeting with Sheriff Forbes after two more bodies had been discovered along one of the bike paths that wound through Fell Park.

Emma, Brayden, and Nathan filed off the school bus and stepped onto the porch.

"Where's Claire?" Elena watched with confusion as the bus began to pull away. She stepped down off the porch and looked to see if anyone was still walking down the aisle of the bus.

Brayden shook his head. "She wasn't on the bus." He dropped his backpack on the ground next to his feet. "She told us to go home without her. She was going home with Bethany." He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "She told me you knew."

"No." Elena closed her eyes and took a calming breath. "She most definitely did not have permission."

"Is she in trouble?" Emma pushed the front door open and caught Molly as she was attempting to make her escape.

"That depends. You three go do your homework."

Brayden stood and stared up at Elena. "Mom, I don't have any homework."

"Well, then, go upstairs and play with your Nintendo." Elena waved him off. He didn't need to hear what she was about to say on the phone. She punched in Claire's cell phone number. Four rings...no answer. She keyed in a text message. If her daughter knew what was best for her, she seriously needed to answer the phone.

Of course she didn't.

She walked into the kitchen and found the school's phone directory. Flipping through it, she came to Mrs. Tarvin's class. She ran her finger down the list of names until she saw Bethany's name. Drumming her fingertips on the kitchen cabinet, she waited for the phone to be answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mrs. Simpson. This is Elena Salvatore." She waited a moment for some sign of recognition. "Um, I hate to ask this, but is Claire at your house?"

"I'm sorry, Elena. She's not here."

"Can you ask Bethany if she heard Claire say whose house she was going to? Braydon seems to have misunderstood."

The phone clinked as the other woman placed it on the counter. She held her breath as she waited for Mrs. Simpson's return. "Elena, Claire didn't tell Bethany. Can I help you with anything?"

"No. I'm sure everything is fine. I'm sorry to have bothered you." She cradled the phone in its handset and dropped into the chair at the head of the kitchen table. Pulling the phone out of her pocket, she checked to see if Claire had returned her text message.

She scrolled her phone to her call log and dialed the topmost number. "Damon?" She wasn't surprised when he answered on the first ring. "Claire didn't come home from school today."

"Kennedy, just keep them inside. They can play video games or something." Jenna backed toward the car. "We'll let you know when we've found her."

Alaric, Damon, and Jackson had all been gone for over an hour. So far, they'd been to each of her friends' houses, the soccer fields, both town playgrounds, and the cemetery.

Elena couldn't sit idly at home any longer. When Jenna came to drop Kennedy off, she agreed to join in the search. She turned to Elena. "Jackson did this when I had Reagan, remember that, Elena? It took three hours, but we found him skipping rocks in the creek."

"I know." Elena nodded stiffly. "But things are different now."

"We'll find her." Jenna wrapped her niece in a quick hug. "Be strong now. You can fall to pieces when we get her home. You sure you're okay to drive?"

"I know my driving is a running joke, but yes. I'll be fine. I just want to find Claire." She slid behind the wheel of her car and backed down the driveway. Elena turned down the street with no particular destination in mind. "Come on, where would you go?" Letting her mind wander, she tried to remember her daughter's favorite places. "It couldn't be that easy." She steered the car into a driveway and turned around. Soon she was winding down a familiar wooded path.

She parked her car in front of the boardinghouse and slammed the car door behind her. "Claire!" Her voice echoed through the trees. "Claire, please! I know you're here." Elena carefully stepped over the tangled undergrowth behind the house.

The boardinghouse was often rented for private events, but no one really came back here anymore. The vines and weeds tore at her skin as she walked deeper into the woods. If the path wasn't so familiar from years gone by, Elena wasn't certain if she'd know the way to the little pond.

Damon first brought Claire to the pond deeply hidden behind the house when she was 5. She'd raced back and forth across the wooden bridge watching her mirror-self reflecting in the still waters. When she was six, she begged them to have her birthday party in these woods so she could show all her friends her pond. They tied pink and silver balloons to the ends of the bridge and wove matching crepe paper through the bridge railing. With tiny tea sandwiches and lemonade served in real china cups, the fairy tea party was discussed for weeks after the event. The other little girls at the party loved watching the turtles blink up at them while they tossed pink-painted wishing stones into the water.. None of them had their own pond.

"Claire." The edges of her vision sparkled, and she grabbed hold of the trunk of a tree.

It was nothing. Nothing. Nothing to be worried about. Elena was simply overcome with the emotion of almost losing her daughter.

Still-dizzy with relief, Elena stopped and caught her breath. Her daughter sat in the exact center of the bridge - her feet dangling beneath her. Trying hard to control the mixture of emotions welling inside her, she simply asked, "What are you doing here?"

Claire turned to her - dried tracks of tears clear on her face. She shook her head and tossed a pebble into the water.

Elena slowly made her way to her daughter's side as she sent a text to Damon. "I found her." She grabbed hold of the bridge railing and lowered herself slowly onto the weather-worn boards of the bridge.

"How did you know I was here?" Claire sniffed.

"We were running out of places to look. Your dad, Alaric, and Jackson had already checked everywhere else we could think of. I got in the car and thought about what might be your very favorite place. That's when I knew." Elena studied Claire's appearance. Apart from some extra dust, she appeared to be just fine. "This is a long walk from school."

"I wasn't in a hurry."

"Nathan was worried about you."

"He worries too much."

Elena bit back a laugh. "He does." She rested her hands behind her and looked up at the sky. The setting sun cast a pinkish orange glow on the woods. "But he was right to be worried - we all were. No one knew where you'd gone."

"Doesn't matter." Claire slid her locket back and forth on its chain around her neck.

"How can you say that? We were afraid something had happened to you." The thought of what might be watching her daughter in the woods sickened her. Quinn died not three miles away.

"You don't want to know."

"Of course I do." She reached over and brushed her daughter's light brown hair off her shoulder.

Claire wiped her face on the sleeve of her jacket before she spoke again. "Madison heard her mom and dad talking. Uncle Alaric had been talking to you and dad. My dad, Stefan, he made a mistake." She turned away from Elena. "He made a mistake and I was born. You never wanted me."

"No, no, Sweetheart." Elena clumsily crawled on the bridge till she was looking Claire in the face. Her brown eyes stared earnestly into Claire's bloodshot green eyes. "No, you were not a mistake. Don't ever think that."

She pulled her daughter tightly against her chest. "Your dad may have made some mistakes in his life, but giving me you was not one of them." She ran her hand over Claire's wavy hair. "You have no idea how much we both wanted a baby. We didn't think it was possible. We even tried to adopt for...two years. I still remember the night we found out I was going to have you. I've never been so surprised - or so happy." Tears came to Elena's eyes, and she didn't bother to brush them away. "You were never a mistake." Elena leaned over and kissed the top of Claire's head.

"But Madison heard..." Claire pulled away in protest.

"Your cousin needs to learn not to repeat everything she hears." Elena was less than excited about the coming chat she'd be having with her aunt. "I promise you, though, no matter what - I have never regretted having you."

"Such a touching moment. I truly hate the fact that I have to interrupt." A vaguely familiar voice came out of the ever-lengthening shadows. The absence of any emotion made Elena's blood run cold. "But I do." A tall, thin red-haired man stepped out from a grove of trees.

"Mr. Silverman?" Claire tilted her head as she studied the man who owned the Mystic Falls newspaper.

"Well done, Claire. I knew you were a bright one the first time I spoke to your class at school. It's always important to remember names."

"What are you doing out here?" Elena studied the man as he approached her, and her heart skipped a beat when she noticed the ring on his left hand. She scampered to her feet and tugged Claire behind her.

He noticed Elena staring at his ring. "You've discovered my secret. I'm honestly surprised it took you this long." His lips turned up in an evil grin. "You needn't be afraid - at least not today." He turned slightly and looked up at the sky. The mostly-full moon was just coming into view.

"She's of no interest to you." Elena's arm tightened its hold on Claire.

"You're wrong about that. Her value lies in her importance to you." He took a step and closed in on the pair. "Just look at you now. Your pulse is already surging. You're ready for a fight." He gave a low laugh. "Of course you are. You're so like her."

"Claire," Elena half-turned until she was looking at her daughter. "Listen to me." She waited till her daughter's eyes left the man standing at the end of the bridge and focused on her. "Walk away. Get out of these woods." Her chest tightened as she slid the ring from her hand and dropped it into Claire's pocket. "Now go."

"I won't run from you. Just let her leave." Elena fought to steady her voice as she willed Claire to follow her instructions. She watched as her daughter faded into the distance before she turned her attention back to the man standing not five feet from her. "Thank you." She closed her eyes in relief as she realized he truly was letting Claire go.

"There's no need for me to be less than civilized." He tipped his hat in her direction. "I believe you're already aware of why I'm here.

Elena nodded.

"Excellent. Then we can skip over the formalities." He took a step closer to her. "I always find it so insulting when the villain in a story pauses to explain his motivation. Insulting to the reader, don't you think?" He circled Elena as a tiger circling its prey. "Thank you for not talking down to your readers."

Elena couldn't hide the surprise on her face.

"Yes, I've read your books." He shrugged his shoulders. "Amazing the amount of time one has when you've been alive over 800 years." He stopped somewhere behind her.

Elena refused to turn and look. She wanted to hold his attention. Every moment he was with her was more time for Claire to get away.

A twig snapped just behind her.

The evening wind picked up - sending long-forgotten leaves scuttling over the dry earth, but that wasn't the reason goosebumps rose along the exposed skin of Elena's arms. His inhumanly cool fingertips ran through her hair and brushed it all onto her left shoulder.

He nuzzled the sensitive hollow at the base of her neck as one of his hands slid over her arm before coming to rest at her waist. As he used the other hand to pull her collar to the side, she used all her strength to resist the urge to fight against him - even when she felt his fangs pierce the sensitive skin atop her collarbone. A finger skimmed the swell of her breast, and sweat broke out on Elena's brow. She fought the urge to be sick.

"Vervian?" She could hear him swallow. "My dear, I'm not so different from a certain family of original vampires I believe you've met. Klaus and Elijah. And the others. So many of them…I tend to loose track of all their names. Always so convinced they're the only ones like us. But the witches back then, they were eager to help - especially for the right price. Trust me, you're going to have to work harder than that."

"So you're an Original?" She tried to decipher how long she'd been standing here. Had she given Claire enough time to get to the road? The breeze hit the stream of blood running down her back and she couldn't fight the shiver.

"Why bother with titles. That's always so messy. Just know that a simple stake won't do me any harm. Are you cold?" His hand reached up under her blouse. His vaguely-too-cool fingertips plunged beneath her lace bra. "I suppose it is chilly tonight." His free hand toyed with the waistband of her pants.

"I'm pregnant."

"I know." The lecherous chill too his voice made her hands begin to shake. "If you'd rather I looked somewhere else for entertainment, I suppose that could be arranged. Claire can't quite have reached the road yet. I still have time to catch up."

"Don't hurt her! No." She spun and faced him, reminding herself that she was doing this to save her daughter. "Let her go."

"We both know I'd much rather have you." He unbuttoned the top of her blouse with a flick of his thumb. And then moved on to the next button.

"I thought you were just here to break the curse."

"A little entertainment wouldn't hurt." He tugged her blouse off and appeared to be amused by her lack of response. He laughed. "You really do have the Petrova fire. Katherine was addictive. I imagine you'd be doubly so." He slid the strap of her bra down over her shoulder. "I don't know what it is about you that I find so intoxicating." He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. His eyes roamed her newly exposed skin. "You're truly exquisite." He brought his lips back down to her neck before trailing a line of kisses lower and lower.

Elena pulled away, but his hand caught the small of her back. "Careful."

Elena bit her lip, silently cursing the tears clouding her vision. She wasn't here. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. Still, with each warm breath against her chest, she knew it was.

"Still, you're not a replacement for the one I lost." His voice was low and vaguely disappointed.

"Neither was I, Josef."

Elena was struck by the irony of being relieved at the sound of Katherine's voice.

"Katherine? How lovely for you to join us. Unexpected. Definitely unplanned. I'm afraid I wasn't aware you'd arrived in Mystic Falls."

"I haven't been here long. And you know how quickly news like this travels around here." She glanced at Elena. "Back away." Katherine closed the distance between herself and Josef. "Let her go."

"Then you know about the newest doppleganger?"

"New doppleganger? I was talking about the upcoming addition to the Salvatore family. I didn't know you were fond of babies, Josef. You need to leave."

"But we were only just getting to know each other." He looked pointedly at Katherine.

"She's not yours - at least not tonight." She stepped in front of Elena. "You you're your Perenelle back - you're going to have to wait until Saturday." She looked at him in challenge. "I have something you need. Meet us in the clearing next to the falls on Saturday, and you can have the moonstone."

"And the doppelganger?"

Katherine narrowed her eyes at him, and her voice took on an icy edge. "She'll be there as well."

"Until Saturday, then." He tipped his hat in Katherine's direction and disappeared back into the shadows of the night.

"Claire!" Elena spun and tried to run in Claire's, but her knees buckled beneath her.

"Easy." Katherine caught her before she fell. "Here." She helped Elena back into her blouse. "Everything's alright. You're safe. Your daughter's fine. She saw the lights in the boardinghouse and started beating down the door. Isobel has her. She's driving Claire home now."