Stefan stood in the entrance hall of the hotel, he had smelt the blood a few miles away he was surprised it hadn't attracted any of the vampires of paris or been noticed by any of the passersby. The front desk, the bar and seating areas were covered in blood and the floor was littered with bodies, the sweet metallic smell filled Stefans nose and his mouth began to water. The thought of dropping to his knees and sucking what was left from one of the corpses refused to leave his head, he was so fixated by blood that he failed to notice Caroline come up behind him. "My god Stefan what happened?" he jumped at the sudden noise in the quiet room, "i think losing Katherine has had a bigger impact on Nadia than we thought" he said unable to take his eyes of the blood "nope she's just as bloodthirsty as that bitch" Caroline spat her face screwed up in disgust "come on let's go up to the room and away from all this". Caroline walked over to the elevator being careful to avoid the pools of blood, she pressed the call button and Stefan quickly followed and the elevator doors opened, when the door opened there was a slumped body of a red headed woman lay in the corner and bloody footprints on the floor. Caroline groaned and carefully tip toed into the lift making sure to avoid stepping in the blood "when we see her we show no mercy" Caroline said balling her hands into fists, Stefan nodded pressed the button for Nadias floor and the doors closed.
Nadia suddenly went quiet, she could hear the sound of the elevator whirring, Nadia quickly jumped to her feet and shoved the gag back into Nickys mouth despite the protests. She grabbed the back of Nickys chair, her first instinct told her to shout for Katherine and jump out the window but the image of Nickys burning body came into her mind. Nadia dragged Nicky out of the room and into Katherines, she left Nicky in the corner and went over to the bed to shake Katherine awake, Katherine jolted awake and grabbed Nadias throat. "Katherine it's me" Nadia gasped. Katherine quickly released her grip "what are doing waking me up like that?" she grumbled rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Nadia pointed at the door "someone's coming up the elevator and since i can't hear sirens im guessing its not a normal person" Katherines eyes grew wide with panic and darted to the window. "I already thought of that but she'll bake in the sun" Nadia stated gesturing over to the girl in the corner, the room went deathly quiet as both women tried to think of a plan the sound of the elevator getting closer and closer.
Katherine climbed out of bed and pulled on the robe she left next to the bed "right take her into the wardrobe and keep her quiet" Nadia snapped the ropes holding Nicky to the chair and dragged her over to the wardrobe pulling the door open she shoved nicky inside "what are you going to do?" she asked climbing inside. Katherine walked over the door "figure out a way to do the swap and i'll meet you back here tomorrow night" and with that she closed the door to the room and Nadia heard the door lock. Nadia pulled the wardrobe shut and put a hand over Nicky's mouth, she held her breath and listened.
Katherine took some of the spare rope Nadia had used to tie up Nicky and did a quick knot binding her wrists together, she heard the elevator ding signalling its arrival on her floor Katherine sat on the sofa and ruffled her hair it was the only thing she could think of to look like more of a hostage and waited for her rescuers to arrive. She heard them step out of the elevator and walk over to the front door each step seemed to take longer, a cold nervous sweat began to form on Katherines brow which she quickly wiped away. A swift kick hit the door and it swung open, Caroline and Stefan rushed into the room fangs bared, Caroline eyes quickly found Katherine "ELENA" she shouted running over to her and throwing her arms around Katherine. Katherine could feel wet tear hitting her shoulder, "CAROLINE"
Katherine screamed feigning happiness "i can't believe you found me", Caroline stepped back and saw the rope around Katherines wrists "Stefan get a knife" she ordered Stefan nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Caroline quickly scanned the room "where is she?" Katherine shrugged "i don't know" she said as Stefan came over to cut the rope "she leaves me here alone most of the time" Both Caroline and Stefan frowned "i dont understand" said Stefan "why didnt you just run away?".
Katherine brain frantically began trying to think of a reason, then Emily jumped into her mind "there this girl, Nadias compelled her to kill herself and as many people as possible if i try to escape" before anyone could ask anymore question Katherine grabbed both of them and pulled them into a hug "its just great to see you again, Nadia was these horrible things about what she had done to all of you she said she killed Jeremy". Stefan shook his head "no, everyone's fine she just took you and disappeared" Katherine gave a sigh of relief, Stefan pulled out a piece of paper and held it in his hands "was the girl Nadia compelled a doppelganger?" he asked. Katherine eyes grew wide before she could stop them, "another doppelganger?" she asked staring at the paper in Stefans hand, Katherine held out a hand gesturing him to hand it over. Stefan was hesitant at first but after a prompt from Caroline he handed over the paper, the paper was folded so Katherine unfolded it revealing the ghastly image on the inside. Tear began to fall down her cheeks as Katherine look at the picture, she knew it wasn't her but in her head it was Elena laying there with a stake in her chest, the torrent of emotions she felt when Nadia had committed the horrible deed came rushing back. The feeling of hopelessness and sadness along with thoughts of an eternal life as half of a whole. Stefan took back the picture as Caroline put her arm around Katherine to comfort her, "she killed her" Katherine whispered sniffing back tears, Caroline nodded "it's okay Elena the important thing is that you're safe and we aren't going to let her do this again".
Nadia listened carefully as the "rescue" took place, Nicky was surprisingly compliant and only struggled against Nadias iron tight grip once or twice, but everyone in the other room must have been to preoccupied to take any notice. Once they had Katherine Caroline and Stefan left taking her with them once they were sure the Nadia hostage was the dead doppelganger, to be safe Nadia waited an extra few minutes before emerging. Katherine and most of the clothes and books they had stolen from Elena were gone as well just as Nadia had expected, she brought Nicky back into the livingroom and sat her on the sofa.
She needed to see the travelers again but that would mean either leaving Nicky or bringing her along, both options were filled with opportunities for the captive to escape, "it would be some much easier if i could compel you" she sighed. In the end she decided to leave Nicky in the hotel so she tied her back to the chair with a few extra knots and lengths of rope thrown in for good measure before putting her back into the wardrobe and place a chair against the door. Happy that Nicky was trapped Nadia left the hotel to compel a taxi to take her to the Traveler camp.