Sorry it took so long for the update! Life has been crazy busy, but here is chapter 4.

I sit on the bed in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, with old books and journals scattered around me. Tossing one aside, I run my fingers through my hair after hours of searching through pages and pages of useless information. Elena walks in with two mugs and my laptop, handing me both.

"You got anything for me?" she asks, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Nada," I sigh, "all I'm getting is that vampires cannot procreate."

"Well obviously there is an exception."

"Yeah, obviously," I take a sip of my drink, "I'm still betting on it having something to do with your doppelganger history."

"It's possible, but I'm also a vampire, so my blood isn't exactly as valuable as it used to be." I shrug, not quite sure what to tell her.

"Nope, but your bloodline is," Bonnie says, hurrying into the room, "and since you are the last doppelganger of Amara's descent, you are the only one that can continue your kind."

"Oh my God, she's right," I gasp, leaning up against the headboard, simply flabbergasted.

"Wait, I don't quite understand," Elena shakes her head and sits down next to me.

"Ever since Silas and Amara took the immortality elixir, thousands of doppelgangers of those two have walked this earth, but now that you and Stefan are the only ones left, to restore balance, you have to be able to have children or else the doppelgangers would be history."

Elena's jaw drops as the reality of our situation sinks in. Running a hand through her wavy brunette hair, she finally speaks up, "and how did you figure this out?"

"It's the same with any species. It's survival of the fittest and the doppelgangers are adapting."

"How does that even happen though? How could my body just automatically know that when Katherine died, it was time to be suddenly fertile?"

"She's right," I speak up, "natural selection only happens through heritable traits or characteristics passed down through generations. It would be unnatural for the system to work any differently." I silently applaud myself for that bit of biology knowledge that I've retained.

"But that's the thing, the doppelgangers aren't exactly natural. Immortality is what started doppelgangers and it isn't natural. Just like there is an exception to vampires having children, there is an exception to the evolution of doppelgangers."

In that instant, a blood curdling shriek echoes throughout the house, belonging to Caroline.

We all run into the kitchen where the scream came from. Caroline lies on the floor with a kitchen knife in her abdomen and Bethany's bowl of cereal spilt on the floor, but no Bethany.

"Where is Bethany?!" I yell, frantically spinning in circles, hoping that Bethany erratically decided it was time for a game of hide 'n' seek.

"They took her," Caroline shrieks, moaning as she slowly pulls the knife from her body.

"No," I shake my head, grabbing Caroline by the neck, "which way did they go?"

"Damon!" Elena shrieks, not liking my methods, but right now I couldn't care less. I put my daughter in the care of Caroline and she let her get taken. If I were thinking rationally, I might be able to recognize that it's not Caroline's fault, but I'm not thinking reasonably. And I have a pretty damn good reason to be uncontrollably furious.

"Front door," she chokes and I immediately release her, sprinting out the door. I follow the scent of Bethany's bubble gum shampoo and unfortunately the smell of blood, praying that it isn't hers. I run and run and run, past the point where the scent goes cold, probably due to the aid of a vehicle.

I sink to my knees and yell out in pain for my little girl. And then I cry, which almost never happens. I mean, hell, I'm Damon Salvatore; vampire since 1864, survivor of 150 yearlong heartbreak, victim to torturous lab testing. But Elena and Bethany are my family. They've given me a purpose in this otherwise purposeless life. I have to find her. I will find her.

"Damon!" Elena yells as I rise to my feet, already trying to shove my emotions from my mind, so we can get to work.

"They took her, Elena," I say stoically. Elena nods her head before tears start to fall. I don't let myself hug her or give any sort of affection because the moment I do that, is the moment I accept defeat.

"Let's go." We run back to the house in silence. I immediately head to Bethany's room to grab her stuffed animal and a map from my desk, so Bonnie can perform a locater spell.

"Bonnie," I say, shoving the items into her hands, "find her. Caroline, call Klaus and sweet-talk him into giving you information; any information because surely he's got some. He wanted doppelganger blood to make hybrids; maybe somebody else is out there trying to do something similar."

"I'm going to go grab some of Alaric's old hunting stuff." I briskly walk away, avoiding eye contact with Elena, but she follows me anyways.

"Damon, wait." I don't. I just keep moving until I'm in the basement, scrounging around for stakes and vervain bombs. Finding several boxes, I hand a few to Elena and then take the rest, myself.

"Damon, talk to me, please," she finally cries, "I don't know what's going through your head."

I take a deep breath, stifling whatever tears threaten to fall, "I am going to plunge my hand deep into their chests and pull out their hearts. After that, in that one second where they take their last breath, I am going to show it to them and for good measure, I'm going to rip their fucking heads off."

Elena is mortified, "You're scaring me."

"I know." I gently place my hand on her cheek.

I quickly turn on my heels and climb the stairs to the family room, where Bonnie is getting ready to perform the spell.

"Well, here goes nothing," Bonnie says before she begins.

Holding our breaths, we all stand around watching as the flames flare up and then the blood starts to move across the map.

Thanks for reading!