In apology for the terrible cliffhanger, the next update is arriving sooner than usual. I had so much fun writing this chapter, I really love the characters involved.

Thank you again for all the lovely reviews, messages, and any other way you've made me feel like this is all worth writing! I'm determined to finish this soon, I'm too excited to see how you all respond to the end.

Enjoy!

x-x-x-x

She hated this, she hated being the damsel in distress awaiting rescue, but she really wasn't sure what else she could do. The windows were mostly boarded, loose sheets of wood propped against them where they were not. Whoever had captured her was evading the dawn.

Elena wanted to kick herself; if she had followed her instincts and gone home, she would have been inside as the sun set. Without invitation, no vampire could have captured her so easily. She had practically offered herself to them with the decision to stay and dance, and now she was certain someone would be looking for her. What if the vampires who captured her were older than the Salvatores? What if they were older than Anna?

No, she would have to find another way, a way they wouldn't risk themselves saving her. Pulling herself up to stand, she surveyed her surroundings. There was definitely running electricity, a number of free-standing lamps were lit; the bulbs exposed with no shade. Perhaps there would be a phone line?

The room was large, part of a traditional house; a plantation house or something similar. The ceilings were too high for it to be a modern house; the state of the wallpaper and floors suggested the house had been empty for a long time.

Without vampiric hearing, she had no clue how many others were in the building. There was only one way to find out. Taking the few steps up to the doors in front of her, she slipped through into a large hallway. A traditional staircase led upstairs, and a magnificent chandelier hung from the ceiling. This house would have been magnificent in its prime, the front doors across the room stood tall, a display of the former grandeur.

The boarded windows had suggested her captors were unable to walk in the sun. If she could get through those doors and run, they might burn in the attempt to chase her. Could she make it?

Steeling herself, she ran towards them. The force of the impact came from the side, as she was lifted into the air and slammed against one of the damp walls of the hall; a billow of dust erupting around them due to the sudden movement.

The woman holding her to the wall was petite, her hair styled fashionably with choppy bangs- a leather jacket and big gold jewellery completing the look.

"My God, you look just like her." She uttered, amazement in her eyes. Elena could see a man over her shoulder, his hair messy but wearing a similar style of clothing. Neither had obvious daylight jewellery.

"I'm not Katherine." She managed to splutter out, despite the pressure on her vocal cords. She was getting sick of being compared to her, even Elena had to admit the similarity was startling, jarring. Did every single vampire have to comment on it, though?

"I know." Her captor snapped, glancing at the doors, "There's nothing around here for dozens of miles. Run now, and we'll still find you at dusk."

The hand on her neck released, causing her to fall to the floor, crumpling in a heap of petticoats and lace. The man, standing further away from her, was pacing, clearly nervous.

"There's still time to run, Elijah isn't here yet. We could leave, Rose, keep living." He was begging her; Elena could tell by his eyes that he was scared. Whoever Elijah was, he wasn't a friend of theirs.

The woman, Rose, shook her head. "I'm sick of running. We stay. He should be here soon."

Pulling Elena to her feet, Rose marched them back to the sofa and sat her down.

"The least you can do is tell me what you want," Elena asked. She might not be able to fight, or run, but she could gather information. The more she knew, the more power she had. Wasn't that why Damon kept telling her to study history, politics?

Rose turned away from her, adjusting the wood by the windows to allow for more coverage. "I don't want anything, I'm a delivery service."

"Delivery to who? Elijah? Who is he?" Elena watched Rose's shoulders tense at her questions, still adjusting the windows. The old house wasn't the best hideout for vampires who wished to avoid the sun, the windows were huge and tall. Rose must have valued isolation over comfort. She paused her questioning, not wishing to bait the vampire further, and watched as she worked.

Eventually, Rose said, "He's an original vampire."

Her mind went back to the Gilbert journals, to the pages and pages about original vampires. "He can't be killed."

Rose shook her head, "I see you know your vampire history; the Salvatore brothers must have taught you something."

"You know Damon?" She asked, optimistic that perhaps she could use whatever relationship they had to barter her survival.

"Stefan, or rather I know of him. A friend tried to set me up with him once, she said he was one of the good ones. Personally, I'm more partial to bad boys. I was rather surprised to find you so unguarded, I've heard the Salvatores were rather possessive of Katerina."

Elena refused to acknowledge the slight dig, Damon was usually too possessive and protective of her. Stefan had been, when he was in the picture, and probably would be again if Damon allowed it.

"Trevor and I, we've been running from the originals for 500 years. We're tired." She sighed, turning to face Elena, "I'm afraid that we're using you to navigate ourselves out of an old mess."

"Why me?" She asked, her fists tightening with defiance. Why was she always the one kidnapped, the one used by all these vampires.

"Because you're the Petrova doppelganger, the key to breaking the curse." Rose stated, pity in her voice.

"The curse?"

"The curse of the sun and moon, the curse that means I have to hide myself from the day," Rose sighed, staring at the wood on the window wistfully, as if she could see beyond it. "The sacrifice of the blood of a Petrova doppelganger will break the curse."

Elena felt faint, her head spinning. Her blood would allow vampires to walk in the sun. All vampires? How could she ever hope to survive if every vampire without a daylight ring would wish her dead?

She sunk into the sofa, defeated.

x-x-x-x

He'd tolerated their bickering for the first hour or so of the drive back to Mystic Falls.

Stopping at a gas station in the middle of the night though, he'd been forced to change his mind.

Calling Stefan, he'd been met with a panicked answer from his little brother and then Bree on the other end of the phone.

"Damon, don't freak out." She had said.

"Bree. When a person starts a conversation with, don't freak out, I usually end the conversation by killing them. Please tell me I don't have to make the rest of the drive feeling murderous, John Gilbert is in my car and it's going to be awfully difficult to keep him in one piece." He quipped, only half joking.

The way John had been staring at Isobel was quite frankly sickening, he hoped he never had to look at Elena with such unrequited desire and pain. Ric was clearly annoyed by it, the only reason a fight hadn't broken out was the car was rather cramped as it was. Isobel had just sat reading a manuscript, occasionally tapping her nails against the car window, tactfully ignoring them both.

"Elena is, for unknown reasons, in a house in the middle of nowhere about 100 miles north of Mystic Falls. We're on our way to her now." Bree's voice was surprisingly level for someone so clearly with a death wish.

"Bree." He growled.

"Don't kill anyone, she'll be fine. I can tell." He could practically picture her smug face; she loved telling him when she sensed things. For the decades he had known her he had argued with her every time, that she couldn't possibly know for certain. Admittedly, he had never bet against her instincts.

This time, the stakes were too high to even argue, she had to be right. There was no other option. He sighed with defeat, "Okay. I'll be back by morning; you better be there. No guarantees on the lack of death and destruction."

He heard her tut as he was snapping the phone closed.

With the end of the phone call came his immediate desire to not have to put up with anymore bickering. He snapped John's neck easily and placed him back in his seat. One look at Ric ensured his silence for the rest of the drive, and Isobel really wasn't being a bother anyway.

They made the journey in record time.

x-x-x-x

Elena didn't have to wait long before a knock came, echoing in the grandeur of the old house. Both Rose and Trevor instantly tensed, enveloping each other in a tight embrace. There was no romance to it, but an urgency. They loved each other deeply, Elena recognised.

It was the way she would have to say goodbye to Jeremy, to family.

Whoever had just knocked on the door, the Elijah they were waiting for presumably, was dangerous.

"I can't." He whispered to her; his voice panicked enough that it was loud enough for Elena to hear. "He'll forgive you, but not me. I need to go; I need to run."

Rose grabbed his jaw, pulling his eyes to her. "What are we?"

"Family." He said, his shoulders calming. "Forever."

Elena hoped Rose was right. They might have captured her, but she understood why. Nobody should have to spend half a millennium running, unable to settle, unable to risk love.

Rose left to open the door, leaving her alone with a frantic Trevor. The centuries-old vampire was frozen in the spot Rose had left him, his face twisting as if the billions of memories of his life were flashing behind his eyes.

Elena lifted herself up, pacing the room as she tried to think of a plan. Any way to escape, any way to be free of this. If she ran, she would be found. If Elijah came to her, nobody could kill him without a white oak ash dagger. She remembered that much from the journals. Even if she did escape this, if her blood was as valuable as Rose said, how long would it be until the next attempt?

It was probably only 5 minutes, but it felt like an hour or more when she finally heard footsteps. Turning to the doorway to the room, elevated up a small set of steps, she waited to see them arrive.

He filled the doorway, not in size but in stature. He wore a full business suit, dark with a dark shirt and tie, his cheekbones as sharp as the lines on his suit as he stared at her. What a stare it was. She felt like she was being desiccated, every detail analysed and digested by his eyes. Patting her gown, she felt like she should do a spin, allowing him to thoroughly inspect her.

Instead, she met his gaze and challenged him on it. She was determined not to die today, she was going to see Damon again, her family. This man in a suit, Elijah or whoever he was, wasn't going to stop her doing that.

Suddenly, he was inches away from her face. She tried to keep the stare, the defiance flowing through her but even she could tell she was shaking visibly. This man commanded the room, demanding respect from everyone in it by virtue of existing; he radiated power. As he brought his face to her neck she tensed, refusing to whimper or cry.

She closed her eyes, picturing Damon's face instead of Elijah's. When Damon's mouth dipped to her neck it meant pleasure, it meant heaven. Behind her closed eyes she saw him there, smiling at her, his head tilted as he smiled at her.

Opening his eyes as Elijah pulled back, she felt a renewed sense of determination. She could survive this; she would survive this. For Damon.

"Human. It's impossible." Elijah said, absolute wonder in his eyes. He looked up to the ceiling, as if in prayer, muttering something almost silently. If it was words, they weren't in English.

Looking back down on her, his face softened. She no longer felt like prey when he looked at her, a strange warmth coming from his look. It was as if she had transformed into the most important person in his world.

"Hello, there." He smiled at her, stroking a piece of her hair away from her face, "We have a very long journey ahead, we should be going."

Elena panicked some more, if that was even possible. She was already away from home, but at least she had stayed settled for some hours. There was a chance someone could find her; then again did she want them to? Any rescuers now were utterly doomed if they tried to fight Elijah, she was certain of that fact. He was certainly more deadly than anyone she had encountered before.

If she left with this man, would she ever find a way home?

She wanted to protest, to fight, but he placed a finger on her lips. "I have one piece of business to take care of first, dear Elena."

He turned, facing Trevor and Rose. Trevor, in a panic, began talking. Rose's face dropped as he went on, begging for forgiveness and admitting he had failed Elijah.

"Well yes, you are the guilty one," Elijah responded. He had been circling Trevor, his hands in his pockets as if he were out for a casual walk, "Rose aided you because she was loyal to you, that I honour."

Elijah came to rest in front of Trevor, his body blocking Elena's view of Trevor completely. She could only hear their voices, watch Rose's reaction.

"Where was your honour?" Elijah asked.

Rose looked desolate, like her entire world was about to collapse. Elena's stomach was twisting in knots, the air in the house was thickening to soup, as if the very atmosphere could sense Elijah's anger.

"I beg your forgiveness," She heard Trevor's plea, the resignation clear in his voice. She was sure they would be his last words.

"So granted." Elijah stated, and the breath she was holding left her lungs. Perhaps this man who commended such awe was not as brutal as she suspected, if he was capable of forgiveness.

She heard the thud before her eyes could process the movement that had happened. Trevor's body was on the floor, she could see his feet behind Elijah. Before her eyes could travel across to see how her kidnapper had died, Elena was spun around and engulfed in his arms. Her head pressed to his chest; the fabric of his suit softer than she would have ever expected.

He held her firmly, blocking her sight, as they listened to Rose's scream.

x-x-x-x

Stefan pulled the car into the woods, a few hundred yards from their intended destination. He stepped out of the car followed by Anna and Bree. They'd made a plan on the drive over, Bree was going to stay in the woods on the edge, cloaking them as they entered the house, they'd keep a phone call connected in case she was needed.

They crept through the trees, soundlessly, finding a sheltered spot just in front of the tree line. He spotted the barricaded ground floor windows on the north side of the building at the same time Anna did, both of them grinning conspiratorially. Their plan had hinged on Elena's captors not having daylight jewellery, and it was going to succeed. If they could sneak in, cloaked, and remove the boards from the windows, then they could easily grab Elena in the confusion.

No need for altercation, no need for risk. Stefan didn't want Anna even in the building, in case, but she had refused to let him in alone. She was hundreds of years stronger, and she'd argued it felt like letting a baby fight for her. When he'd tried to defend himself, she'd accused him of being misogynistic and protecting her because she looked like a teenage girl. There wasn't really a way to argue with that.

As such, they enacted their plan. They sped across the overgrown grounds and burst through the door, racing through the halls to the sound of heartbeats. Each taking a window, they pulled the wood aside and then Stefan spun around to find Elena.

She was standing in the arms of a man, a thick overcoat covering what appeared to be a very expensive suit. Stefan appreciated the tailoring, even if it wasn't his style. The vampire was not burning. There were screams coming from the empty bookcase behind him, a day walker clearly trying to hide from the sun behind the wood. The man in a suit though, was entirely unaffected.

"Stop." He commanded, "Stop, and I shall let you all live."

He couldn't see them, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to. There was no concern on his face, only interest. The sparkle in his eye suggested he liked the challenge.

Stefan was willing to fight, about to spring at him when Anna spoke, taking advantage of the cell phone she had in her pocket, open on a call, "Bree, lift the cloak and get in here."

At that, she spun around and carefully replaced the window covering closest to where the stranger stood. In the mere moments it took her to do so, his eyes connected with Stefan's, tilting his head as if in analysis of Stefan's expression.

His eyes flicked to Anna, a look of recognition crossing his face.

"Ah, Annabel Zhu, it must have been a century or so?" He greeted her, letting go of Elena to pull a handkerchief from his pocket and wipe his hand before taking Anna's. He kissed the back of her hand, a formal greeting.

"It is an honour to see you once again, Elijah." Anna responded, "Perhaps I should introduce you to Stefan Salvatore before the young boy has a heart attack?"

Stefan had jumped to Elena's aid as they conversed, one arm wrapped around her middle. He gawked at being called a young boy. Admittedly, Anna was older than him, but she still acted like a teenager. She was dating Jeremy, attending high school. Hell, she was dressed in a Metallica hoodie, jeans, and converse.

Yet here she was, formally introducing him to what he was beginning to suspect was a very, very important vampire.

Elijah turned to him, extending his hand. His handshake was far too firm, "Salvatore, where have I heard that name before, Annabel?"

"He was one of the vampires Katherine sired before her imprisonment." Anna responded, Stefan tried to keep his face straight, enabling her to lie about where Katherine had spent the last century and a half. If she had reasons for lying, he wasn't about to question them in front of Elijah.

Elijah nodded slowly, taking far too long to release Stefan's hand from the tight handshake.

"Rose, dearest, you may leave." He said, his eyes still on Stefan's. Stefan met the look, refusing to look away. He could sense movement, hear a little whimper, but he didn't look away until Elijah himself did.

Turning around, Elijah led the way out of the room. "Let's take this conversation somewhere more comfortable, shall we?"

Stefan held onto Elena more tightly, looking her over. She had a cut behind her hairline, though the blood had dried. He focused on her eyes, letting her nod at him, and her lips as she whispered that she was okay. He focused on the smell of the damp wood, anything but that cut.

As he began to lead her to follow Elijah, he decided to lift and carry her swiftly instead. She didn't need to see the head of a desiccated vampire that was casually lying at the bottom of the steps.

Settling around a worn dining table in a well-lit room, Bree joined them and was in turn introduced to Elijah. He had chosen to sit at the head of the table, looking every bit the mafia boss in his tailored suit. He was well groomed, his clothing, shoes, and watch all screaming refined taste.

"So, it seems we have a minor predicament here." Elijah started, "You have obviously come to rescue the dear Elena, and unfortunately I cannot allow that."

Stefan's fists tightened, he wanted to fight but sensed it would be futile. How dare this man call Elena 'dear'?

"Annabel here knows you cannot fight me; you will not win." His eyes met them all in turn, but as he met Bree's he winced slightly before shaking it off. He gave her an accomplished smile, "Your tricks merely inconvenience me, witch. I'd suggest you save your power, for I can easily tolerate this headache far longer than you will have life in you to sustain it."

He adjusted his cufflinks, letting his hands come to rest on the table in front of him.

"I propose that I return Elena Gilbert to her home, you may accompany me if you doubt my intentions. I have no use for her just yet. She will stay there, protected, until the time comes."

He was about to argue, about to fight when both Anna and Elena responded.

"Of course, Elijah." Anna said.

"Take me to the boarding house," Elena requested.

Dammit, it looked like he'd be travelling with Elijah. He looked to Bree, hoping she at least had some fight left in her. She was gripping the table hard, her knuckles shaking slightly with effort. Her eyes were focused on Elijah.

Whatever force she was putting in, he showed no signs of discomfort as he rose from the table and offered Elena his hand. If anything, he looked relaxed, calm; affectionate, even.

x-x-x-x