A/N: This chapter is a little short. Truth to tell, I've never been too happy with it, because it's basically just a filler chapter without any depth. But it's needed to tell you if Damon's plan to open the tomb finally succeeds, and to find out if Katherine is really in there...

ELENA

Three days after our meeting with Sheila, she let us know that the comet was in the right position for the ritual to open the tomb. We couldn't have missed it anyway: Using every opportunity that presented itself for turning an insignificant cause into a community event, the Mystic Falls Party Committee had invited the townsfolk to celebrate the 'Night of the Comet'. This basically translated to people gathering in the park and charity clubs selling candles to be lighted at midnight. Caroline had tried to explain the deeper meaning behind this – something about passing on the light in a gesture of love and friendship and wishes for the future – but it had completely escaped me.

Given that I had a different kind of ritual to perform which mainly consisted of passing on my blood in a gesture of friendship so that Damon could have back his love and a future, I hadn't really paid attention.

Ironically, the ritual to open the tomb needed to be performed before midnight – between ten and ten thirty, according to Sheila, because that was about the time the comet would be at its peak. So after freeing Katherine, we would still have ample time to gather with Matt and Caroline to pass on the light of friendship at the town's square. Provided there weren't any nasty surprises in store for us.

Stefan picked me up at nine thirty, together with Alys. Both had insisted on coming with me, mainly for moral support. But I strongly suspected also because they didn't want to take any chances with Damon.

When we arrived at the tomb after our short hike through the wood, Sheila, Bonnie and Damon were already there. Sheila gave me an encouraging smile. She hadn't revealed any specific details of the ritual, claiming that they were nothing I needed to concern myself with. But she had assured me that I was not going to suffer any lasting harm.

Still, I couldn't help feeling nervous as we stood in silence and observed the meticulous preparations that Bonnie and Sheila were going through. If I had ever imagined what the preparations for some serious piece of witch work might look like, this would be exactly how I had pictured it. It involved a whole lot of candles, the burning of herbs in silver platters and arcane looking chalk patterns drawn on the ground, all of this accompanied by incomprehensible chanting.

It might have seemed funny or silly, looking at it in plain daylight and without being involved. Now, in the pitch darkness of the forest, with the blackened walls of the chapel ruins casting vivid shadows into the flickering light of torches, and with the purpose of opening a magically sealed tomb that hid a possibly vengeful vampire, it was a totally different matter. Knowing that my blood needed to be spilled any time now made the whole thing gloomy, spooky and downright scary.

Damon was the only one who seemed entirely unaffected by the sinister atmosphere. But then, he was the only one who had anything to gain from it. For him, those days of waiting for the comet to finally make its appearance had probably been the real torture.

I hadn't seen him since our visit to Sheila. There had been nothing more to say. He had made his decision, and it didn't matter anymore if there had ever been a 'thing' between us, or if something might have developed if he hadn't found out the truth about Katherine. Now, I was nothing but a tool to help him fulfill his dreams and get back the girl he loved.

It shouldn't be so hard to accept that. After all, I had only known Damon for a few months. That was hardly significant compared to a love that had survived a century and a half and had been pledged to be eternal. Not even considering the one kiss we had shared, although that had felt pretty significant to me.

Afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep it together much longer, I threw a glance at my phone. A few minutes past ten. Sheila beckoned me to her and positioned me at a specific intersection point of the chalk lines.

"Shouldn't Elena be wearing a white dress?" Damon asked somewhat flippantly, mocking what seemed to be a whole lot of hocus-pocus. Or maybe he was only trying to make light of a unsettling situation.

Sheila gave him a reproachful look. "You can always wait in the woods if this seems all too ridiculous," she suggested icily. Damon threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No. Fine with me. I like her better in those perky shorts, anyway."

He retreated to a corner near the door of the tomb and casually propped himself against the stone wall at his back. If he was even the tiniest bit nervous about all this, he surely was doing a good job at hiding it. I probably wasn't. My legs felt a little bit shaky and I shivered upon seeing the ceremonial dagger that Sheila had laid out next to a silver bowl. I hope she didn't intend to fill it entirely with my blood. I had always felt slightly nauseated at the prospect of having a sample of my blood taken for a check-up, but knowing that I would soon be cut with a sharp looking knife was much, much worse.

Stefan threw me a sympathetic glance. He had offered to use his blood, since he was a descendent of Katherine's line, too, but obviously, it had to be human blood. Too bad.

Bonnie took my hand and gave me an encouraging squeeze. "Don't worry, you'll be okay," she said in a low voice, before taking up her designated position within the chalk pattern.

"It is time," Sheila said in a solemn voice and shut her eyes, joining hands with Bonnie. They both started chanting again in some strange language that sounded like Latin, and their voices reverberated from the walls surrounding us. After going through a few repetitions of their verses, Sheila suddenly stepped forward with the dagger in her hand and took hold of my wrist. Turning my hand upwards and holding it tight, she made quick slash across the palm of my hand. I bit my lips to suppress a gasp of pain. Sheila held my hand above the bowl and waited for the first drops to fall. I averted my eyes at the sickening sound of my blood falling into the bowl and searched for Stefan's gaze. He had his own hands curled into fists and looked tense. There were traces of dark veins under his eyes again, but he still seemed to have himself under control. Feeling slightly concerned, I looked to Damon. He still seemed relaxed, but had slightly changed his pose, too, his attentive gaze fixed on Stefan. He was clearly ready to pounce if need be.

Reassured, I took a deep breath and realized that Sheila had let go of my hand. There wasn't all that much blood in the bowl – barely enough to draw a miniature version of the symbol that was on the floor onto the steel door of the tomb.

Sheila and Bonnie resumed chanting, while Stefan stepped behind me and gently took my hand into his. I didn't see it, but I knew that he had slashed his own palm open with his teeth beforehand and stopped my bleeding. I smiled at him gratefully and proudly. Despite clearly struggling to keep a grip on himself, Stefan had managed to remain at my side, taking care of me and offering his support. He had come a long way.

The hypnotizing sound of the chanting abruptly stopped. All of a sudden, there was an almost tangible tension in the air that made my hair stand on edge and sent shivers down my spine. For a split second, the door of the tomb blazed as if struck by lightning, then darkness fell a again.

The door had sprung open. Damon immediately grabbed a torch and, without hesitation moved towards it, opening it further.

"Damon, wait," Stefan said, "I have a flashlight."

"Don't bother. I can see perfectly well in the dark. I just thought Elena might want some light in there."

"What?" Stefan looked at him aghast. "Elena is not going in there!"

"Sure she is. Or do you think I'll go in all by myself so you can seal me in, too?"

Sheila and Bonnie exchanged a worried glance, while Stefan looked ready to jump on Damon.

"Stefan, it's okay," I said, freeing myself from his hold. "I'm going. He needs leverage, I understand."

I nodded to Damon and took the few steps to the door. "Come on, let's get this over with."

He motioned for me to go first, and I briefly felt the warmth of his hand on my back when he followed behind. The air inside the tomb was stale and smelled of mold. It was so quiet that I was able to hear the beating of my own heart and Damon's breath near my ears. In the flickering torchlight his features seemed contorted, cast in bizarre shadows. He took my hand and pulled me with him, down the stairs into an open room.

There were three sarcophaguses standing on the ground, but more coffins were placed in niches in the wall. Most of them seemed pretty rotten by now, a few had even fallen apart, revealing the skeletons inside. They were still dressed in tattered pieces of clothing. Some of the corpses were not quite as decayed as to be mere skeletons, and looked even more gruesome with pieces of hair and flesh still on them. Shuddering, I moved closer to Damon.

"You're funny," Damon said, casting me a bemused glance. He wasn't even toning down his voice, which I doubtlessly would have done, not wanting to desecrate these graves any more than we had to. "You're following a vampire down into a moldy tomb, and it's the dead humans that scare you? They're not going to hurt you."

Well, probably not. But they were still creepy, and I was still unsure what else we might disturb down here. There were probably rats and spiders...

Almost freaking out by that though I made sure to stay close to Damon, who moved around in the dark with ease.

Finally, we spotted what we had been looking for in one of the corners. Katherine. A stonelike figure on the floor, propped against the wall in a semi-upright position. She was wearing a threadbare, formerly white dress that looked like a night gown. Her skin was grayish and flaccid and so dry that it had cracked. She was basically air-dried.

All the flesh she must have had her body had shrunk to the point of her bones being outlined beneath the leathery, wrinkled skin. The lackluster, yellowish hair on her head was still full, though, which made her whole appearance even more gruesome. She looked like an old woman. With eyes that had sunken into hollows, chin and cheekbones were oddly prominent in her face. Compared to the other corpses, Katherine seemed remarkably intact. For a living being, though, she didn't look so good.

Damon didn't fuss about. He knelt down beside her, sliced his wrist open and brought it to her mouth, letting his blood drip onto her dried and cracked lips. First, I thought it was not going to work. There was not sign of life in her at all, and a small part of me feared that vampire blood was not going to do the trick and that it would require my blood again to bring her back. But no – without warning, her eyes suddenly flew open.

Despite having expected something like that, I almost suffered a heart attack. Her body jerked as if electrically shocked, then her hands moved up stiffly and skeleton fingers dug into Damon's sinewy arms. With fierce determination, they held tight, pulling his wrist closer to her mouth. I could see her swallow rapidly, her eyes closed again, a low moan tearing from her throat. And with every gulp she took, she was visibly transforming.

When Damon gently, but firmly took his wrist away, she didn't look quite as much as like a gnarled, old woman anymore – though I could still not detect much of a resemblance between me and her. Or if there was, it wouldn't exactly be a compliment for me.

"She's waking up," I said, somewhat in awe.

"Of course she is," Damon said, as if he had never had the slightest doubt about it. "She'll be needing something other than vampire blood, soon. You'd better leave."

"What are you going to do?"

"Feed her." Damon pulled a couple of blood bags out of the pockets of his jacket. "Go, Elena. It's better if she doesn't see you. I can handle it from here."

"Don't you want me to wait for you?"

His gaze was full of things that might have been said but remained unspoken. He just shook his head. "I trust you."

I nodded and silently got up, leaving him behind with the girl he loved cradled in his arms.

A/N: So, yes - Katherine really was in the tomb. I've been wondering ever since season one what might have happened if she had indeed been in there, so writing this story was a way to find out. Poor Elena, she's going to have a bit of a rough time ahead of her. :(

Sometimes, we have to lose something first to fully appreciate it's value - something or someone, and that's also true for Damon. I hope Katherine will keep you entertained through the heartache! Everything's going to be alright, I promise!