Only a couple chapters before this story wraps up. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 20

"Why on earth did I allow Bonnie to convince me to take you with me?" Elena groaned as she grabbed her luggage from the carousel at the airport.

Stefan sighed, "Because despite being nearly invincible, she didn't want you to go alone. I'm older than you are, I can help."

She just grumbled her response and followed him out of Portland International, wondering what they were going to find when they finally pinpointed Elijah. As Stefan rented a car, her mind drifted to all the different possibilities of where Elijah could be. Bonnie had given them the address of the Gemini Coven along with another few houses that Kai had taken her to in the prison world.

"All right, we're all settled up," Stefan said, walking up to her with keys in hand, "Let's get checked into a hotel and then scout our first site."

She nodded and followed him to the car, slipping inside and throwing her bag in the backseat. She watched Stefan get in the driver's seat and he turned to smile at her.

"Come on, it's a road trip!" Stefan said enthusiastically, "We can bond and random stuff like that."

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she let out a deep breath, "Stefan, I love you. I really do. But I have one mission and one mission only and that's to find Elijah so I can get him back in my bed."

"Blech," he said, looking away and keeping his eyes on the road.

"Oh hush!" She chided, "You can't tell me that you don't want to get back to Rebekah and have your way with-"

"Elena! Can we not discuss my sex life?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide at the turn of conversation, "That's not something friends talk about."

She laughed, "You mean friends that used to sleep together?"

"Yes."

"So, this is the first house Bonnie told us about," Stefan said as he pulled up next to a seemingly deserted house. The foundation looked to be crumbling and it desperately needed to be repainted.

Elena gazed at the house in disgust, "Really? Ugh." She paused and allowed her bond to sense for Elijah. Coming up empty, she groaned, "Not here."

Stefan appraised her for a second before he grimaced, "Well, I'm just going to check. Wait here, okay?"

She nodded her consent and sat back in the seat, allowing her mind to wander. She knew that the Gemini Coven didn't possess a white oak stake and they wouldn't attempt to use the last of their magic to put down an Original, but she still worried about him. He could still get hurt, still be tortured, but he was tough. He could handle whatever they tried to do to him.

When she saw him again, she wouldn't hesitate to tell him how she really felt. After all this time, she was tired of waiting. Life was short and unpredictable, even for an immortal. She wouldn't wait anymore. She knew for a fact that her and Elijah were supposed to be together.

"Nothing," Stefan uttered as he got back into the driver's seat. His face looked discouraged, but he pulled out his phone and plugged in another address. He gave her a small smile as she looked over at him, "We'll find him, 'Lena. Don't lose faith yet."

"Has he been here at all?" She asked softly as he put the car in drive and left the depreciating house behind them.

He shook his head, "No. No one's been there for a few months at least."

She sighed and stared at the road in front of them. The faster they found Elijah, the faster her mind would relax.

Elijah sat in a dark and dirty room that he could only assume was a basement. His wrists and ankles were bound by what he thought were vervain soaked ropes as they kept him anchored to a chair. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, only that it had been days since he was taken. All he could think about was Elena. What if she had been taken as well? What if she was suffering worse than he was?

"Elena!" He called out into the darkness of the room, "Where's Elena?"

He heard footsteps above him and strained his hearing to listen. Lack of blood was causing his abilities to lose their edge. His mind was slightly fuzzy, but he had to know that she was okay. He was an Original; he could survive whatever they threw at him, but she was still just a mere vampire.

"You're finally awake," a voice drawled from the top of the stairs, "I was beginning to think we gave you too much vervain."

A man with dirty blond hair and blue eyes descended the stairs, keeping his eyes trained on Elijah. The man looked worse for wear; dark circles hung under his eyes and his skin was a sickly ashen color.

"Who are you?" Elijah asked, raising his voice in impatience, "Where is Elena?"

The man made a clicking sound with his tongue, "Perhaps we should start with introductions. My name is Luke Parker. And I believe you knew my sister, Liv. She was killed in New Orleans and I was made aware of your family's part in it."

Elijah made the quick connection between the witch who had been executed and Elena, realizing that Elena hadn't been lying about the Coven dying out. He narrowed his eyes at Luke, "My family wasn't responsible for her death. However, the man that arranged it has been…disposed of. I would have notified next of kin, but I was informed that your Coven had died out-"

"My Coven is very much alive," Luke roared, cutting Elijah off, "For now anyway. They're all drawing power from me, but it won't last much longer unless I can absorb my sister's power."

Elijah nearly growled at Luke's stupidity, "And it never crossed your mind to go to New Orleans to do just that? Where's Elena?"

"Elena? Elena Gilbert?" Luke's face betrayed his surprise, "What the hell does she have to do with anything?"

"You don't have her," Elijah's question came out in a statement as he sighed in relief. His mind relaxed tenfold when he learned that she wasn't in danger. She was probably at the Compound worried sick, but safe all the same. Letting his thoughts go, he looked back up at Luke, "Why do you need me?"

Luke laughed, "Do you think that I didn't try to get to New Orleans? The Coven there won't allow me to get close to where they consecrated my sister's remains. But I can channel it through memories. I needed someone that was there when she was murdered and an Original seemed like a perfect candidate. And you were the only one that Genevieve could get alone."

"What does Genevieve have to do with this? She's a French Quarter witch," Elijah asked.

"She was promised her life by the ancestors if she helped out my Coven," the blond said as he tapped his foot, "And, since she's such a selfish creature, she readily agreed to betray her own Coven for her life."

The Original sighed, "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and do what you need so I can leave this godforsaken place."

"I must warn you," Luke began as he stepped right in front of Elijah and placed his fingers against the vampire's temples, "It's going to be extremely painful."

With that, Luke broke into chanting and Elijah yelled in pain. His brain felt as if it was exploding over and over again. He felt warm liquid splash against the front of his tattered shirt and only then did he notice that blood was pouring out of his mouth.

He was losing his fight with consciousness, as the witch's chanting grew louder. His vision blurred before his mind registered that there was someone else in the room. He heard a shrill cry before everything went black.

"Stefan, this can't be right!" Elena cried, staring at the empty field that was supposed to be their last address. The others had been nothing but dead ends and this was their last chance. She sighed, "There's nothing here."

Stefan shook his head as he got out of the car and walked towards the field. He waited as Elena followed him and turned to her, "Something's here, but something's hiding it. Can't you feel the static in the air?"

"So like, hidden by magic?" She asked hesitantly. Could this be it? Was Elijah here?

"If I had to guess, then yeah," he said as he looked for a chink in the illusion, "We need to figure out how to break it. We know Kai was fond of his invisibility spells."

"But whenever I touched them, they fell apart," Elena murmured remembering how she had uncovered a dead body on a table by simply touching where it was supposed to be.

His eyebrows furrowed for a second, "It's because you're the doppelganger. You're a magical being that wasn't created by choice. You're an anomaly."

"I'm a magical being," she repeated, reaching her arm out towards the empty field, "That means I can break the spell."

The air shimmered around them as the illusion disintegrated under her touch. Suddenly, the pair of vampires were standing in front of a large house. They looked at each other before Stefan walked up the stairs leading to the home. He paused and reached out his hand to her and she took it gratefully, allowing him to lead her into the seemingly deserted house.

"Can you hear anything?" She whispered as they examined another room. There was no sign of Elijah yet and she was starting to get worried.

Stefan shook his head, "No, nothing. But-" he stopped suddenly as he looked around, "Can you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Elena sniffed the air, coming up empty as she stared at Stefan intently.

His face shifted for a second before he settled into a grimace, "Blood."

Elena was suddenly alarmed, "Blood? That means that there's someone here!"

She whooshed up the stairs as Stefan did a sweep of the downstairs. When they met back on the ground level, she furrowed her brows in disappointment.

"Wait, most houses on the West Coast have basements, right?" Stefan mused loudly as he began opening the doors on the ground floor, "He might still be here. Just because we can't hear him, doesn't mean he's not here. Witches know how to do silencing spells."

She nodded as she began checking other doors. With only one door left, she held her breath and turned the knob slowly. As soon as the door swung open, the smell of blood assaulted her nostrils. Her ears picked up the sound of pain and she was down the stairs before she could blink.

Her eyes landed on Elijah's form as Luke was chanting. He was covered in blood as he yelled out, trying to staunch the pain as much as he could. The sight was nearly enough to break Elena, but she tried to hold it together. More blood poured from his mouth and she lost it.

"STOP! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" She screamed as she grabbed Luke and threw him against the far side of the basement.

She rushed to Elijah's side and pulled at his restraints, hissing when they burned her hands. She quickly took off her jacket and covered her hands before pulling against the ropes, smiling when she heard the telltale snap of them breaking. She repeated the actions with the ropes against his ankles and he slumped forward, letting Elena see that he was unconscious.

"Stefan!" She yelled, cradling Elijah's head in her lap as she stroked away the damp hair that clung to his forehead.

Stefan appeared at the top of the stairs and took in the scene before his eyes traveled to Luke.

"Get him out here before I hurt him," she said darkly, referring to the blond. He nodded and picked him up before leaving the room.

Elena looked down at Elijah as tears formed in her eyes, "Come on, baby. You need to wake up." Realization hit her like a ton of bricks as she held her wrist to her mouth, biting deeply before holding it to his lips, "Drink, 'Lijah. You need it."

When his mouth began to suckle the wound, she sighed in relief. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she watched his deep brown eyes finally open again. She smiled as he continued to feed before she whispered, "I love you, Elijah."

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~Grace