Chapter 13

A/N Sorry I am late posting this chapter. I have had trouble with my computer and could not get on the Internet. I think it is fixed now.

Bonnie used a clean knife from the kitchen and nicked one of her fingers. She let the blood drip onto the crude map as she intoned some words. The flames of the candles on the coffee table close to the paper flickered. To everyone's disappointment, the drops of blood spread out thinly over a whole section of the Mystic Falls map, including the house they were in.

"Well, either the spell didn't work or Elena is somewhere here in town," Damon said with a snort. "Maybe being moved around."

"Let us be optimistic and assume that she is still here somewhere," Elijah said. "We do not have to drive to the college or to Charlottesville. It appears to me that the blood diluted and was absorbed by the paper. Perhaps it is more concentrated in one area."

They all stared at the paper on the coffee table. The blood seemed evenly distributed, but it definitely had spread out farther than normal blood should have.

"Is it the magic or is my blood thinner than it should be?" Bonnie wondered aloud.

Damon's phone rang and he looked at the caller I.D. "The sheriff," he muttered and took the call. "What's up? Did you find anything?"

"Not Miss Gilbert. I just wanted you to know that two security cameras at the dorm caught a lot of the action outside the building. You. Mikaelson. Aaron Whitmore carrying a body over his shoulder and an assault weapon. All of you jumping out a second-story window. That sort of thing. The security cameras at the Whitmore mansion had been disabled."

"We didn't disable them. I suppose Aaron did," Damon said. "What are you going to do about the recordings?"

"I don't know yet. I'll let you know if there are any charges. You aren't leaving town, are you?"

"If I do, it probably won't be any farther away than the college or Charlottesville," Damon said. He ended the call and looked at the group that had been listening.

"The recordings should show that Aaron is a kidnapper and an armed and dangerous person," Elijah said. He carefully picked up the paper and held it under the nearest light. "I do not see any concentration of the blood."

"Let me sit and concentrate on Elena," Bonnie said. "Maybe I can narrow the field of search."

Everyone backed off to let Bonnie try to do as she hoped. The rest of the group went to the bar and poured themselves drinks.

"Did either of you get to speak to Aaron?" Caroline asked. "Did he give a reason for taking Elena?"

"He told me he did it to punish Damon," Elijah said after taking a sip of his drink.

Caroline was going to ask for more details, but there was a knock on the front door.

"Who the hell is that?" Damon snapped, frustrated and short-tempered. He went to the front door and opened it, half expecting to see a deputy. It was Enzo. Damon just stared at him in surprise and annoyance.

"I'd invite you in, but I can't. What are you doing here?" he finally asked.

"Curiosity got the best of me, mate. Had to come see what is going on," the handsome, dark-haired vampire said with a grin.

"Damon?" came a woman's voice and he turned to see Mrs. Flowers coming along the hall in a dark green velour bathrobe and slippers. It appeared she had run a comb through her whitish gray hair before coming from her room.

"We woke you. I hoped we wouldn't," Damon said. It was still a couple of hours before dawn.

"There's been a lot of activity and I'm a light sleeper."

"As long as you are up, can you invite Enzo in?"

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Please," Damon said, but he did have some reservations about it. He didn't entirely trust Enzo, wasn't sure whose side he was on.

"Come in, Enzo," the woman said politely. She now had five vampires in her house. She was capable of un-inviting any of them, if she used certain words, and then some supernatural force would make them leave. It would hurt them to be in a house they were uninvited to be in. She looked at her wrist watch and added, "I'm going to make coffee. If anyone wants any, come to the kitchen." She then padded silently down the hall.

Enzo followed Damon into the study where he was introduced to Elijah.

"Elijah Mikaelson. An Original! I'm impressed," the new fellow said, shaking Elijah's hand. "I know you and your family were living here in Mystic Falls for a while and then went to New Orleans."

"One of our former homes, yes," Elijah said, nodding slightly.

"Have you any news about Elena's whereabouts?" Damon asked Enzo.

"No. I came to see if you did."

"All we know is that she's somewhere here in town. So that means Aaron is also," Damon told him.

Bonnie spoke up. "You turned Aaron, Enzo. Do you have any mental connection to him? Where he might be? Any control over him?"

"I don't have any control. I haven't tried to contact him mentally. Or sense him," Enzo admitted. To Damon he added, "Are you going to be a proper host and offer me a drink?"

Damon gave him a hard look, but went to the bar. "What do you want?"

In a minute Enzo had his drink and perched on the arm of the couch by Caroline.

"What was Lily doing when you left her?" Stefan asked, thinking of his mother.

"Talking to her 'family.' I don't like that group. Call themselves the Heretics. They're weird and have some dangerous ideas," Enzo admitted. "But your mum seems to want me around."

"It's weird that she'd rather have you with her than me or Damon," Stefan said, frowning.

"She knows me and not you," Enzo pointed out.

"I still say it's weird. How can she forget children she gave birth to and raised?"

"I don't know, Stefan. It is what it is," Enzo said with a shrug. He didn't care what the woman remembered or not. Lily Salvatore had only recently met her real sons and knew only what they had told her about the past. She felt no ties to them, and her sons had come to realize that. Enzo, on the other hand, she had saved from death by making him a vampire and he was like a son to her, one she had not forgotten.

Bonnie began mumbling, grew silent, mumbled again. She nodded, mumbled, frowned, shook her head slightly.

"She's talking to someone," Stefan whispered. "Elena?"

Damon put a finger to his lips to signal silence and they all remained quiet, staring at Bonnie.

The pretty African-American had indeed made contact with Elena.

I don't understand what is going on, Elena said in a mental voice that reflected alarm.

It is Aaron Whitmore who has you, Bonnie explained.

Can't you and Damon come get me?

Not yet. We don't know where you are. Can you tell anything about where you are?

I'm cold. I think I'm in a car that is moving. You and I. We're going to a dance.

No, Elena. We aren't going to a dance. I am with you only in your mind. We are trying to locate you.

Going to a dance. I'll dance with Matt. He is such a cool boy, don't you think?

He's great. But no dance tonight, Elena. Are you in the back seat of the car?

I don't know. Yes, I am. With Charlie West. He's kissing me and feeling me up. Should I let him?

No. Not tonight. Tell him to stop. Ask him where it is you are driving to in the car.

We're going to the dance.

Where?

Dad's lab, I think. Charlie's carrying me in his arms. He is so strong. He plays football with Matt.

I know. So he's taking you to the dance down in your dad's lab?

Yes. It's all decorated up with balloons and crepe paper draped here and there. Did you do the decorations?

Yes, Bonnie lied.

I'm sleepy, Bonnie. I think I need to sleep for a while. I'll just lie here.

Bonnie's eyes flew open and that returned her to the study.

"Dr. Gilbert's lab! She thinks she is there, but she might be confused about that!"

"Alright. Good work," Damon said, encouraged. "We better take weapons this time."

There were appropriate weapons right there in the room, including a crossbow mounted over the fireplace. In a cabinet, there were wooden stakes, guns and wooden bullets. In a minute, Damon, Elijah, Stefan, Caroline and Enzo were armed.

Everyone rushed for the front door. A quick discussion decided who drove with whom in what car. Elijah and Bonnie got into the Chevy Camaro with Damon, while Caroline was with Stefan in the Porsche. Enzo considered using his own vehicle and following the others, but asked to go in Damon's car. He was curious to see how this adventure progressed.

Mrs. Flowers, who heard the hubbub and the front door close, came to the door of the study and found it empty. Except for Alaric snoring away upstairs, she was alone.

A/N Hope you found this chapter interesting. Aaron seems to be one step ahead of the good guys.