We're onto the final section of the story now, the pieces knitting together. I can't believe how much I've written or how many people have shared their appreciation. Thank you so much for all the reviews.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. If you're a Caroline fan I'm afraid I've neglected her recently but I promise she will return soon; with a bit of a bang!

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As Elijah's saloon pulled up, she was unbuckling and opening the door. Damon was out from the porch of the boarding house before the car stopped.

It was as if time stood still, the pain on his face slowly being replaced with awe at the sight of her. She was still in the ball gown, now scuffed and torn from her adventurers. She watched as his raised upper lip lowered, forming a smile, the deep frown lines softening as his eyes widened at the sight of her. He was studying her, the way she was memorising him.

What a fool she was for ever wanting to be parted from him, even for a moment.

She didn't know how long she could survive, her blood so valuable to so many, but she vowed to herself to spend the rest of her moments by his side. Her heart was swelling at the sight of him, her arms widening to embrace him as he lifted her, swinging her into a tight hug as her laps wrapped around his hips, her arms around his neck and her face nuzzling into his.

He smelled of leather, bourbon; spiced with a nuttiness to it. He smelled of home, and she had missed it so immensely. If she had realised, standing out on that deck that loving him would be so consuming, so overwhelming that her heart would feel like it was exploding at the sight of him, she might have been too scared to take the step.

How could she have ever made any other decision, though? He was hers.

Rubbing her nose against his, she smiled sadly, a tear running down her face.

"I'm sorry I got kidnapped, again." She whispered to him.

The sound of his chuckle was like a symphony to her ears. He tilted his head forwards, so his forehead met hers. "Don't tell anyone, but I got kidnapped first." He whispered to her.

She frowned at him, questioning him without words.

"Let's just say, when I eventually ask you to marry me, I'd rather you picked anyone other than John to walk you down the aisle." The smirk on his face was perfect, the combination of hope and typical Damon humour that she had fallen for in the first place.

She didn't care that she could hear Stefan muttering in the background, whatever he had to say about it didn't matter. Elijah could clear his throat all he liked.

Elena was going to kiss her man.

x-x-x-x

Anna and Bree had called him on their drive back from the abandoned house they'd described finding Elena in. His fear had been confirmed, she'd been located by an original.

Anna had told him everything she knew about Elijah, how he was known for his honour, for making deals and following through. She warned him to pay very, very close attention to Elijah's choice of words, she knew people who had been stung by that before.

Before hanging up, she issued him with a further warning. One that made his blood run cold. Elijah was known for his affection for ripping vampire's hearts out. He was undefeatable.

He's been pacing in the porch since the phone call, he needed to get away from the gathering forming in his parlour.

Jenna, Jeremy, and Bonnie had been there waiting for them when they'd returned. Adding Alaric, John and Isobel to the mix had been like throwing gasoline on a fire. Jenna could bicker like a hellcat and John was on the receiving end tonight, Ric having filled her in over the phone the previous day.

John was still feeling stiff after coming back from the dead, courtesy of the Gilbert ring, and was annoyed at everyone and everything. If Damon didn't know the man better, he might actually have suspected he was worried about upsetting everyone.

Isobel was drinking his best Bourbon and reading her research. She'd tried to stop Bonnie from reaching for one of the grimoires, insisting they were too valuable for teenagers to paw through. Unluckily for Isobel, she hadn't taken Bree's potion that allowed an immunity to Bennett magic. As such, she was hit by the full force of Bonnie's aneurysms and very quickly decided that the more minds to help the better.

For a vampire with no humanity, even she was on edge tonight.

None as much as him, which was why he was the one outside listening for every movement and praying to every God he'd ever heard of. His brain had been processing everything John had said to him in that cell. The best-case scenario he could see was killing the originals, no deaths on their side. Given how scared Anna had sounded, that now seemed like a much less likely outcome than he had hoped.

Perhaps the real best-case scenario was just ensuring Elena came back from whatever they put her through, that she was still his Elena at the end of it. He very much doubted she could be human Elena, but she could still be his Elena. Vampirism didn't have to change her if she didn't let it. He'd be damned if anyone took that choice away from her, though, she had to make it freely.

As he heard the crunch of the gravel, he stepped out from the shadow of the porch. The car door was opening before the vehicle stopped; she was as desperate for him as he was for her.

She looked resplendent in her gown, he wondered how he had ever disliked it, how he had ever seen any resemblance to Katherine. Everything about her was so utterly and completely Elena, the way the dress was scuffed, her hair half fallen out from its pins. Even the dried blood on her hairline. His Elena wasn't a vision of perfection, she was simply herself and so, so beautiful for it.

Her eyes were filled with sorrow, with anxiety, water on their surface as if she was about to burst at the seams and cry an ocean. There was a spark though as her eyes met his, the smile that broke across her face being wider than any he had seen before. He couldn't wait anymore.

Taking her into his arms he spun her around, pulling her high so she wrapped herself around him, nuzzled into him where she belonged. He felt calm, the battle that had been waging in his gut calming as the turmoil of the day passed. She was in his arms, she was safe.

She smelt of sweat, damp, blood, and a little of lavender. He didn't give a damn; she'd smell of him soon instead. He noticed too late that some of the tears had escaped her eyes before he could stop them. How much he wanted to ensure she never cried again, that she was forever safe.

Would she make it hard for him, he wondered?

At that moment she was apologising for being kidnapped, as if she had any choice in the matter. Such typical Elena, to blame herself for every event that happened to her. He couldn't help but laugh at her, but he wanted so much for her to realise she wasn't to blame. Admitting he had also been kidnapped might allow her to see that it really wasn't something she had any choice about. If it didn't, he would make her see later.

He should have anticipated she would want the full story, but they weren't ready for that. He wasn't ready to tell her everything that he had learnt, he wasn't prepared to watch her offer herself up on a plate to die as he knew she inevitably would. Anything to save others.

He deflected with humour, realising the implications of his own words only after he had said them, "Let's just say, when I eventually ask you to marry me, I'd rather you picked anyone other than John to walk you down the aisle."

Would she run away, as she had before, when he'd made such proclamations about the future?

When she kissed him instead, he felt like he was home for the first time that day. He might be standing on the site of the house he'd called home for almost a century, but it was her lips that he would always belong to. Wherever she was, he would be.

Stefan whispered to him, for once his brother's words not filling him with bitterness.

At that moment, he was happy.

x-x-x-x

Stefan had seen Elena and Damon together before, he'd watched the way he protected her in the cell, he'd seen them when Damon picked her up after school. The little signs of affection were there, the sweet little gestures two people in love made.

Damon had always been a good actor though, and he's always been good with women. However much he wanted to believe his brother was genuine, the doubt had always been there. Damon didn't love, he didn't care, he didn't protect. He drank bourbon and watched the world burn; half the time he'd lit the match.

Watching them now, the way they melted into each other, he realised he'd been sorely mistaken. Stefan had spent most of the drive trying every tactic under the sun to ignore the fact she had pulled at her hair, disturbing the scab forming on the cut in her hairline. Fresh blood had risen to the surface, the smell of it filling Elijah's car as they drove.

Stefan had had to fight his nature, his desire. Damon had simply kissed the spot, not an inch of restraint showing on his face. He had enough control to not harm her, the look of concern being reserved for her tears alone and not his hunger.

When he perfectly detected that she blamed herself and deflected it so swiftly, Stefan had realised that he truly saw her. Damon could make her laugh, make her giggle and make her happy even when they faced the biggest of obstacles.

He was what she needed, he loved her.

Whilst his voice was filled with wit when he'd joked about John not giving her away, Stefan knew his brother. Whispering at a volume he knew Elena would not make out, "As long as I get to be best man, brother."

As Elijah cleared his throat, Stefan shook his head at him and tried to direct him inside. Elijah would not move, his eyes firmly planted on Elena. Stefan shrugged, if he wanted to watch them make out, he was more than welcome, he doubted either of them cared too much about the intrusive eyes. They were far too lost in each other.

He remembered that feeling, he knew it instinctively. Had he felt it with Katherine? Or was it part of the hole in his memory?

x-x-x-x

She'd had to let go of Damon when Bree and Anna arrived, not that far behind them, in Stefan's car. It was a wonder he'd let Bree drive it, but he had refused to leave her with Elijah. He said he'd promised his brother, and it seemed like he was at least on good enough terms with Damon to see that through.

They followed them through to the boarding house parlour, hand in hand, finding Stefan had already collected an assortment of chairs, enough for the full family.

Elena cast her mind back to when she had first called a family gathering, to retrieve the device from Pearl. Pearl herself was missing, obviously, but they had been joined by others in her place.

Alaric and Jenna sat by the fire, Jenna on the sofa and Alaric resting on the arm. Jenna was holding one of his hands tightly, each of them clutching a very full tumbler in the other. Elena could practically hear Damon rolling his eyes, they'd raided his stash.

Jeremy was sitting next to them, and Anna walked to him, tucking herself onto the sofa in a small ball and kissed him, resting her head on his chest. The scene was cute, like any other teenage couple. The difference was Anna had pulled away from that kiss with blood pooling on a cut on her lip. She glanced up at Damon, who had spotted the same detail.

Leaning down to whisper in his ear, "Not a bad idea, for everyone."

She wanted to frown at him, to argue that she didn't want her whole family to be vampires. That would only happen if they were killed though, and she'd choose vampirism over death for every single one of them without question. She squeezed his hand and nodded; they'd discuss it later.

Isobel was sitting in a high-backed armchair facing the fire, a stack of books next to her, and post-its and a pen in her hand. It seemed she wasn't paying any attention to the rest of the gathering at all.

This was clearly irking John, who was near the fire on a dining chair next to Bonnie. His eyes had barely left Isobel, his tumbler also full. He glanced up to see her, a smile breaking out over his face.

The rest of the eyes followed, and there was a rush of voices speaking at once.

"Elena."

"Thank God you're okay."

"Are you hurt?"

Anyone thinking of moving though was quickly silenced as Elijah entered behind them, the eyes of the entire party looking past her to him as he commanded the respect of the room merely by entering it. She held Damon's hand tighter, hoping he could bite his tongue around Elijah.

She couldn't lose him.

"Well, this looks like a pleasant gathering. Shall we, as they say, get this party started?" He said the words with such seriousness that nobody dared chuckle at the reference. They all just simply continue to stare.

The silence was painful, Damon hated silence, he was about to make some sarcastic remark and she had to stop that.

"Everyone, this is Elijah. He's an old acquaintance of Anna's." She said tactfully, before walking to the fireplace, dragging Damon behind her. From there she could see everyone, everything.

She introduced everyone in turn, watching Elijah graciously greet every single one of them, his eyebrows slightly raising at Isobel's introduction as her birth mother and again as she introduced Bonnie as a Bennett witch.

Once introductions were over, she did her best to appear calm as she pulled Damon down to sit on the cushions by the fireplace. There were spare chairs, sure, but she felt safer on the ground with him, positioning herself sat between his legs, her hand in hers. It's how they'd sat the night she'd learnt about him killing Isobel.

Glancing at her, her vampire mother was definitely not concerned by the situation at hand. Everyone else was tense though, as Elijah took a seat on the sofa next to Stefan.

"So," Damon began, and she had to screw her eyes shut and hope for the best. "Now that we're all formally introduced, can we please get down to business and figure out what the fuck this curse is and how exactly my girlfriend fits into it?"

Elijah cleared his throat, "I think I can clear that up quite easily. You see, many, many years ago my brother invented the story of the Sun and Moon curse, the objec…"

Isobel interrupted him, "The curse is real, I've got the original manuscript right here." She was reaching through the piles for a velum document, retrieving it carefully and unfolding it for them.

Elijah merely chuckled, "I haven't seen that for centuries."

When all eyes in the room turned to him, looks of confusion on their faces he raised a hand.

"Perhaps it is best if I explain without interruption?" He was met by a series of nods, a few shrugs and Isobel's scowl.

"As I was saying, the object of the curse was to get the whole known supernatural realm searching for two key ingredients, the moonstone, and the blood of a Petrova doppelganger. A curse on werewolves and vampires was an ideal suggestion, the two species have been at war since I was turned. Neither side would want the other to break the curse first, so they would always be searching. Witches wouldn't want either to have more power, so they would be searching just as hard. Thus, we practically guaranteed that all the objects would be found.

"It worked surprisingly quickly. We spread that story with the sailors coming back from the new world and like all mythical stories coming across the ocean at that time it spread quickly. We had the Petrova doppelganger and the moonstone quickly. Unfortunately, through a series of circumstances outside of my control we lost both. Trevor paid for that today."

"Katherine," she whispered, feeling Damon's hold on her tighten slightly.

"She's been running for 500 years," Stefan added, "From Klaus, Niklaus Mikaelson."

Elijah nodded, "My brother."

Damon took the interruption to mean they could now ask questions, "So, you're telling me werewolves are real, but this curse isn't? If the curse isn't real, why do you need my girlfriend?"

Elijah sighed, "Werewolves are very much real, and you should be glad you've never encountered one. When turned, their bites are fatal to a normal vampire. They've been hunted almost to extinction. Unfortunately, there is a very real curse requiring those ingredients, amongst others.

"My brother, Niklaus, was born part-werewolf. When we were changed, as a family, this part of him was bound by my mother for the two sides of his nature were in conflict. Since then, he has not been able to access his wolf side and it has left him feeling trapped, bound for a thousand years. The curse was set using the moonstone and the blood of a Petrova doppelganger. Thus, they are needed to unseal it.

"Along with the sacrifice of one of each conflicting species, a vampire and a werewolf."

The room stayed silent for a while, Elena refused to look up, to see the worried eyes of her family. Fighting this curse would involve fighting not one, but two, of the most powerful creatures she could imagine.

"Why bother to tell us, why not just steal Elena and be off?" Alaric asked, breaking the silence.

"It may surprise you all, but I value life. My brother, he does not. He has grown out of control over the past centuries, taking control of my sibling's lives. He keeps them. I wish to release them, and the only way to do so is to kill him." A gasp went across the room.

Stefan spoke up, "He can't be killed."

Elena didn't miss the glance Isobel and John gave each other, the little shake of their heads. What was that about?

"Normally, no. However, at that moment he breaks the curse he will be weakened, vulnerable. At that moment only he could be killed."

For him to break the curse, she had to die. If she died, Elijah's brother could die. If she lived, he would continue doing whatever he was doing. Was it worth it?

"What if I refuse?" She asked.

Elijah met her eyes directly, "I'm afraid, that is not an option."

She didn't like that, why should she be forced to die just so that his brother could be killed? If he was out of control, what did it matter to her? He was here, her family were terrified, and he could kill any one of them at any moment.

She could end it all now, take the option out of his hands. If she was already dead, she couldn't be sacrificed.

Jumping up and out of Damon's legs and before he had time to react, she grabbed the poker and aimed the pointy end at her stomach. "I could die right now; I have vampire blood in my system."

"Impossible, I would have smelt it."

"I do, I bit Damon's lip whilst he was kissing me," She let her eyes slip to Jeremy, giving him a look of thanks for the idea. It was a lie, but a convincing one. "I don't care if I'm a vampire, so nothing is stopping me. Leave, now."

It wasn't Elijah that stopped her, but Damon. Taking the poker in one hand, the other cupping her neck.

"Elena, baby, you can't." The pain in his eyes was clear. "Listen to me, Katherine went through this. When she turned, he killed her entire family. He had chased her for 500 years, Elena."

"Rose and Trevor" She mumbled, her mind trying to find any alternative options, any way they could all survive this.

"Indeed." Elijah said, "I believed her whole lineage to be wiped out, he was brutal with her village." His eyes went to Isobel, who shrugged.

"Katherine had a child when she was young, before she was sent to England. Klaus never found her. Neither did Katherine. I have; she's a vampire and a bitch." Isobel explained, before adding, "Good in bed though."

Stefan sprayed his drink halfway across the room as he choked on it, before laughing at the comment.

Elena felt she was stepping out of her body, watching the scene from above. It was surreal, she was in her vampire boyfriend's house with her surviving family. Her best friend, and her boyfriend's best friend were both witches, they were listening to the story of an original that centred around werewolves. Her vampire mother had just admitted sleeping with her vampire great-great-something grandmother.

What's more, it seemed she was destined to die, and soon.

"So, when do we do this?" She asked, calmly.

Elijah nodded at her, "I need time to plan, to sow seeds of information to lure Klaus here."

"Klaus is already here," Stefan said, "He stood with Elena on the float."

"No," Jeremy added, "That was our new art teacher, Mr Michaelson." It was as if he realised what he said after he said it, adding "Fuck." To his statement.

x-x-x-x

Damon had spent the majority of the reveal watching everyone. Jenna and Alaric were both in a state of shock. Bree and Bonnie were plotting something, their eyes connecting regularly.

Nobody had mentioned the Gilbert device, and Isobel and John were sure it could be used to kill Klaus. That was a plan, and potentially a good one, especially if the bastard was already here.

The fact that he had taken Damon's place on the float was sickening, his blood boiling as he fought the temptation to punch Elijah, beat the living shit out of him for bringing this to his town. It was Klaus he was mad at though, not his brother. He wouldn't want everybody Stefan had pissed off picking a fight with him.

"This has to happen on a full moon, right?" He asked.

Elijah and Isobel nodded.

"Then we've got at least 3 weeks, give or take." He surmised. Bree corrected him, adding a few days to his estimate.

It was time for them to rest, recuperate and prepare. He sent Ric and his family home, instructions to sleep as much as possible. He knew it was unlikely, he certainly had no plans to sleep for the next 24 nights.

Bree had agreed to take Bonnie home, and Stefan had taken the hint and graciously gone hunting in the woods.

That left Isobel, John and Elijah. Damon sighed, wondering how much he was about to regret his decision. He remembered Anna's warning about Elijah being careful with words.

"Elijah, I want to do a deal." He sighed, feeling the weight of Elena's eyes on him far more than the glares of her parents.

"We will not try to prevent you from harming your brother, nor will we interfere with the sacrifice at the full moon. In exchange, we ask for something from you."

Elijah nodded, "Seems fair, I can offer protection to everyone Elena cares about."

Damon grinned, he noticed he wasn't offering protection to Elena herself, no, her death was inevitable in Elijah's eyes. He tried to shake the feeling of ice building in his veins as he pictured it.

"I was actually going to ask something else. I've read you can compel vampires?"

Elijah gave a nod of affirmation.

"I want you to compel Isobel to switch her humanity back on."

The movement was quick, she was trying to flee, but Elijah was faster. His eyes locking with hers, he spoke the words and instantly Isobel sagged. Her eyes meeting Elijah's, the vampire before him seemed to impossibly age 10 years in seconds as the weight of her decisions came back to her.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, before leaving at a speed he knew Elena would not be able to see.

x-x-x-x