Chapter 13: Just Another Mystery

In The Middle Of Nowhere:

Damon Salvatore liked to get people out of trouble; or at least attempt to. He definitely didn't like getting himself into trouble. Unfortunately that's what happened. He couldn't believe himself that he was foolish enough to let his guards down. Now, he was playing hostage with Markos and his salves or followers as he calls them. Markos had no personal issues with Damon but he knew that the elder Salvatore brother could bring him both doppelgangers aka Elena and Stefan. They'd most certainly risk their own lives to save him. Damon realized it too that Markos was using him as a bait which was pissing him off to no limits. He was not only feeling pissed off at himself but at Stefan and Elena too. Would it kill them not to come here and save his ass and in the process get themselves killed? Damon knew it was pointless to wish for Stefan and Elena not to come to his rescue. For all he knew, they must've already come up with a brilliant plan to save him. Sarcasm inserted.

"Getting the doppelgangers is proving to be a difficult task this time. I thought it'd be very easy like the last time. I must admit, I'm impressed. And I apologize for underestimating you lot." Markos said with a calm tone of voice.

"Apology accepted and just for the record, you're never getting them. Not again." Damon said with a sneer which only made Markos smirk.

"I doubt that very much." He said like the evil person he was.

"Neither Stefan nor Elena would let you die. I don't need to chase them anymore. They're going to come to me now."

"They're not stupid. They wouldn't walk into your trap without a plan." Damon said confidently though he himself doubted that statement in his mind. He was just trying to get under Markos' skin so that he would make a wrong move.

"We will see." Was the only thing Markos said. Damon tried to tear out the vervain ropes, binding his hands but it was a futile attempt. After a moment of silence, Damon spoke up again.

"Just being curious here, why are you so hell bent on killing all the vampires? Vampires were created after your time. You can't have any personal grudges against them." He asked trying to understand Markos' real motive here. When Esther tried to kill all her children, she simply wanted her punishment to stop since it was her who created the originals thus created the entire vampire species. Her motive was clear and it made sense. But Markos? Why was he trying to rid the world of vampires? Damon thought Markos wouldn't answer but he actually did.

"You are right, I don't have any problems with vampires. Neither I want to do the world a favor." Markos confessed quite bluntly.

"Then why?" Damon asked wanting to know the reason.

"Vampires are immortal beings, therefore a great threat to the travelers. I'd like to eliminate all the threats against the travelers before taking over the world. I don't want anyone challenging me when I rule." The leader of the travelers said ambitiously. Damon on the other hand couldn't help but roll his eyes to himself. Why all the bad guys want to rule over the world?

"And as you must know that the blood of the doppelgangers is the only thing that can undo a witch's spell. I need Stefan and Elena's blood to undo vampirism." Markos said more to himself than to Damon.

"And here I thought you're done with the doppelgangers when you broke the curse on the travelers." Damon said with bitter sarcasm in his voice.

"You almost killed them last time." He accused angrily.

"They'll probably die this time" responded Markos with flat tone of voice.

"You know even if you drain Stefan and Elena dry, you won't have enough blood to turn all the vampires back to humans again." Damon stated it as a matter of fact.

"Who told you I'm going to feed every vampire in this world doppelganger blood and turn them back to human again. I simply need to undo the originals. The rest of the vampires would automatically die." Markos said as if it wasn't that big of a deal. And it wasn't; for him.

"That's awesome." Damon said sarcastically but he was positively more pissed off.

"Speaking of the originals, I've heard that one original stayed back in the world of living when he was supposed to leave along with the other dead supernatural beings. He doesn't have magic, so what's keeping him here?" Markos asked curiously. Damon, not thinking anything of it told him about Kol and Shanyra sharing a soul together. Markos however was astonished to hear that. How come he didn't hear about this before? Perhaps he was too busy settling down the travelers and chase the doppelgangers.

"This is an ancient magic you are speaking about. A very old spell. Is that spell really working?" Markos asked with serious interest. Damon suddenly started to have a bad feeling about it.

"Well, Kol's still here unfortunately, so I'd say, yes. Whatever spell it is, it's working just fine." Damon obviously wondered why Markos suddenly got so interested about Kol and Shae.

"This is phenomenal." Markos exclaimed with excitement.

"What is phenomenal?" Damon asked with confusion. The traveler avoided answering his question and looked at one of his followers.

"Bring me the girl." He ordered to bring him Shanyra.

"Now." The other traveler left in hurry.

"Whoa! Dude. What the hell just happened?" Damon asked, feeling utterly confused now. He was obviously clueless about why Markos suddenly wanted Shae. However, when Damon looked into Markos' eyes this time, he saw a strange gleam in them. A gleam that promised death and destruction.

"If what you're saying is true, then this girl or her soul is no ordinary soul" said Markos sounding very thrilled about it.

"What do you mean?" Damon asked getting more confused but Markos didn't answer him. He only smirked at Damon and walked out of the room. He obviously had an evil plan brewing in his mind. Damon on the other hand couldn't help but ask himself, did he just get Shanyra into trouble with Markos? Kol would so kill him for this.

At The School:

"I want to be a writer" said one of Shanyra's friends; Emily. Emily Lockwood.

Just like her cousin, Shanyra Forbes as well got many friends at school. She was popular. Some would say even more than Caroline thanks to her English accent and her connection to the Mikaelsons. After all the Mikaelsons were the wealthiest in the town. However, even though Shae got a lot of 'friends' but for her they were all just her followers rather than her friends. Because truth to be told, none of them genuinely cared for her. They only stayed around because of her popularity. If there was anyone at school Shae considered close to a friend, it was Emily and Maggie Fell. Emily was a sweet caring girl. Shae liked her simplicity. And Maggie was full of life and possessed a good heart. Shanyra's real friends were of course- Kol, Caroline and Rebekah. The only reason Shae even considered making friends at school was to avoid sitting alone during lunch breaks everyday. But she wasn't emotionally attached to anyone. Not even to Emily or Maggie.

"Well I certainly want to be a doctor" said Maggie.

It was their lunch break. Shanyra and her friends were in the cafeteria. They were talking about their desired career and future plans. The topic started out of nowhere but everyone was talking about it quite seriously.

"Shae, what do you want to be?" Emily asked her curiously.

"Hollywood celebrity" said Tania teasing Shae to which everyone laughed a little. Even Shae smiled at that, not minding the teasing at all.

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it yet." Shae said truthfully.

"Well you should start thinking about it. My dad says if we have our goals set then our paths will be clearer to us." Shanyra nodded to that, letting Emily know that she understood her advise. Before this conversation could proceed further, a girl named Bria exclaimed with excitement.

"Hey look." Everyone looked at the way she was looking. A bunch of boys were walking in the cafeteria.

"Here comes the hottie with his buddies." Another girl said in a low tone of voice but loud enough for the girls to hear. She was talking about a boy named Kevin. He was one year senior than Shae. Kevin was considered hottest among the hot boys of school. As Shae watched Kevin and his friends walk by their table, their eyes met and he smirked at her. Everyone knew that, Kevin got a serious crush on Shanyra. He never missed a chance to flirt with her. But Shae never showed any interest in him. As if to remind Kevin that she was not interested in him, Shae simply looked away from him whereas others kept ogling the boy quite obviously.

"I don't understand why do you find Kevin so hot?" Shanyra asked that to no one particularly while rolling her eyes to herself. She found it quite lame that most her friends swooned over Kevin as if he was the hottest boy they've ever seen.

"So you don't find him hot?" Bria asked with disbelieve in her voice as she raised her eyebrows at Shae.

"Obviously she doesn't" said Tania rolling her eyes at Bria.

"No one here is good enough for Shanyra Forbes." She said, pretending to simply tease Shae but she was really just being a mean girl.

"I don't believe this. I mean look at him. Kevin's the hottest guy at school and probably in Mystic Falls as well" said Bria sighing out dreamily. It was no secret that she got a huge crush on Kevin. That's why she was secretly quite jealous of Shanyra.

"In school maybe, but in Mystic Falls; no way. You've met Kol and his brothers at my birthday party, haven't you? No one in this town is as good looking as them. And Kol is by far the most handsome man I've ever come across." Shae said rather strongly. She even compared Kol and Kevin in her mind and as expected Kevin was nowhere near Kol. Kevin could never have the grace, personality, or the life experience that Kol has.

"Yes Shae, I've seen your precious Kol and yes he is very handsome but he's too old for girls of our age to fantasize about. He's probably ten years older than you or more" said Bria making a valid point here that Shae unhesitatingly discarded.

"Eight." She said to Bria, correcting her instead of agreeing with her.

"Kol's eight years older than me."

"So? It's still too old" argued Bria. It wasn't her fault though that she didn't know that Kol has stopped aging a thousand years ago and it was only a matter of time before Shanyra is going to catch up with him.

"You do know that Kevin's quite interested in you, don't you?" It was Maggie who said that to Shae. Perhaps unintentionally but moving the conversation from Kol and his age gap with Shae.

"If fact, he's looking at you right now."

"I don't care" said Shae with a shrug off her shoulders, showing attitude.

"I'd have if I were you" said Bria but she was glad nonetheless that Shae wasn't interested in Kevin at all. Which meant, she still have a shot with him. One day, she might catch his eyes. But unlike Shanyra, she would appreciate his attention.

"Shae!" Emily called Shanyra, suddenly giving her a suspicious look.

"You don't have that kind of feelings for Kol, do you?" She asked sounding quite serious about it. Shae immediately wanted to say no but then she couldn't. Instead she felt confused. Very confused and conflicted. Something was happening to her. Lately, Shae started feeling things for Kol that she didn't feel before. She couldn't tell for sure, what those feelings are but they were there alright. Nowadays, Shanyra would stare at Kol whenever she thought he wasn't noticing her. Or steal glances at him now and then. Not to mention the strange feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach whenever Kol held her hand now or caress her face or embrace her affectionately. Shae definitely didn't feel that feeling before. Last night, she even fantasized about kissing Kol. On his lips. The thought of their lips touching each other sent a shiver down her spine instantly. And it felt so strange. Shanyra couldn't explain it with words.

"Shanyra?" She snapped out of her thoughts as Emily said her name again. She was looking at her more suspiciously this time.

"No." Shae said quickly.

"I mean I don't know." She couldn't look into Emily's eyes when saying that.

"You don't know what? Whether you have feelings for Kol or not?" Maggie shook her head to herself saying that.

"I'd say- yep. You do girl" said Tania confidently.

"It's written all over your face."

"Shae, he's your guardian. You shouldn't have romantic feelings for him." Bria said it in a way as if she was feeling a little grossed about it.

"Besides, he'd never look at you that way unless he's a pedophile." Maggie stated. She was confident that her friend was making a mistake here by harboring feeling for someone so older than her. On the other hand, Shanyra suddenly realized that Maggie maybe right after all. Kol would never see her as anything else but a friend if not a little sister. That thought really darkened Shanyra's mood right away.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Shae requested. She didn't want to talk about Kol with anyone let alone her so called school friends.

"Okay." Emily said understanding Shanyra's dilemma and discomfort with the topic. But before they could change the topic of the conversation, an older girl came over to their table.

"Shanyra Forbes?" The girl asked.

"That's me." Shae responded.

"Your cousin is waiting outside for you."

The girl informed Shae. She got confused hearing that. What was Caroline doing at her school? And when did she come back to Mystic Falls? Last night when Shae spoke to Caroline, she was still in Whitmore attending her classes. Did something happen? Shae started to get worried thinking that.

"Excuse me." She said to her friends and walked out of the cafeteria with the older girl. The girl led her out of the school building.

"Where is she?" Shae asked when she saw no sign of Caroline.

"In the parking lot." The girl answered smoothly. Unfortunately Shae couldn't notice something off about her. When they reached the parking lot, there was still no sign of Caroline.

"Where is my cousin?" Shanyra asked once again. Instead of answering her question, the girl turned around to face Shae. Suddenly her eyes turned pitch black. A gasp escaped Shae's lips because she knew exactly what it meant. It meant, she was trapped.

"Travelers." A fearful whisper escaped Shae's mouth. She attempted to run away but someone grabbed her from behind. Before she could scream for help or do anything, the person grabbing her hit her head and knocked her out. When Shanyra woke up again, she found herself in a stranger place. Little did she know that many things were about to change for her and most probably not for the better?