Alexandria Gilbert

by JChavz95

Vampires, witches, werewolves and doppelgangers, oh my! All Alexa Gilbert wanted was a quiet life, a free drink and to party the night away with her friends without being nagged by her twin sister Elena, but the arrival of the mysterious Salvatore brothers may just ruin those plans... Starts Season 1, Episode 1, Slowburn Damon/OC, Now on Season 5!

103. No Exit

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs

A/N: I debated not updating until I finished the next chapter, which I am so close to doing! But I thought I would give you all a Christmas and New Year treat :) although it is a bit of a depressing chapter! I can promise that it will get happier again, but poor Alexa will suffer until then unfortunately. We also get some time with the Salvatore brothers, which I enjoyed writing (partly because it meant giving Alexa a break while I did so!)

XXX

I woke up to being kicked in the thigh, my entire body jolting at the movement. I let out a low groan as my wrists throbbed in pain and I could feel fresh blood oozing from the open wounds. Not that I had much blood to lose. No, I had barely any blood left in my body and I knew that the grey tinge to my skin should be worrying me. But that required energy that I just didn't have.

It took far too much effort for me to open my eyes and even then, it took a few goes to blink away the fuzziness. Once I could see properly again, I let my head slump back to stare at the woman standing over me. Katherine was watching me with a raised eyebrow, a smug look on her face. I attempted to roll my eyes at her but I knew that it didn't work. Hopefully the bitch knew what I was aiming to do.

"Oh Alexa," the older woman tutted, shaking her head before crouching down in front of me. "You never look happy to see me."

"Are you going to feed me?" I rasped, my voice weak and I tried to lick my lips, to encourage any moisture to form in my mouth, but it was a hopeless task. My entire mouth felt dry, my throat ached and I could feel my fangs poking at my lips. I had seen desiccated vampires before, their grey husks with red eyes and terrifying fangs. It may have been a long time since Damon brought me into the tomb to find his beloved Katherine, but I would never forget how those tomb vampires, how Pearl looked, before they got some blood into them. When my tormentor shook her head, then I just let my head slump to the side, resting against my shoulder. "Then I'm never going to be happy to see you."

"Have you ever considered that your rudeness might be the reason why I'm not feeding you?" Katherine sniffed, reaching out to examine the bear traps clamped around my wrists. I couldn't stop myself from wincing as she gave the metal a squeeze, making sure that there was no give that I could use to escape. Even if there was, I wouldn't be able to take advantage of it. My body was far too weak, fuck, I could barely lift my head up, let alone drag myself out of here.

"Nope," I attempted to snort as my eyes slipped shut again. "You delight in denying me the blood that I need." When the bitch let out an amused giggle, I couldn't stop myself from asking, "How long have I been down here?"

"Well," my tormentor mused dramatically, turning my head to face her, nails digging into my skin until I managed to force my eyes open again. "This is the end of day six and I have to say, I'm impressed that you've lasted this long. I assumed that you would have broken after day one."

"I'm used to pain, Katherine," I mumbled, forcing myself to meet her cold gaze. No matter how many times I did so, I just couldn't stop myself from seeing my sister. I prayed that Ellie wasn't witnessing this. That she was in a pleasant dream somewhere, that she wasn't being forced to watch as Katherine ruined her life.

"You annoyingly are," the doppelganger curled her lip before gripping one of the chains connect to the bear traps, giving it a harsh tug. I couldn't hold in my whimper as my wrist throbbed, the spikes scraping against my bone. But I didn't give the woman the satisfaction of passing out. Yeah, a couple of tears may have dripped down my cheeks, but I stayed awake and that was what mattered most. "So how about this: did you know what Damon left town five days ago? And no one has heard from him since."

I found the strength to narrow my eyes at the bitch before spitting out, "He hasn't abandoned me. I know that he doesn't believe that I dumped him. I bet he's looking for our witchy friend so that she can do a locator spell."

"I'll kill anyone who comes to rescue you," Katherine narrowed her own eyes at me, her nails leaving painful little groves into my skin. I could tell that I had gotten under her skin. The bitch was probably convinced that she had done enough to rip out Damon's heart and stomp on the remains. But I knew my beloved better than her. He would never believe that I used my twin to break up with him, he would know that something was wrong. And if he had left town, then it would be to find me. Or to get a witch to do so for him.

"You're possessing a human, dumbass," I couldn't stop myself, even if my words only resulted in more pain. But this was the longest that I had remained awake in days and I would embrace this, even if it resulted in more pain. "You can't hurt a fly right now."

"Right now," Bitcherine shrugged and I almost felt sick with unease at the look in her eyes. "But things can change. After all, how can I spend eternity with Stefan if I'm just a human?"

"Els would never willingly become a vampire," I breathed out, desperately hoping to talk the insane woman out of whatever plan she was concocting. I still clung to the hope that we could save my twin from this. And that meant keeping her body how she wanted it. I couldn't do anything about her hair but I could keep her body human. "If you try anything, people will realise that something is wrong."

"Accidents happen," Katherine winked at me before standing up. She nudged my leg, her nose wrinkling in disgust as she looked at the blood on my skin, leftover from her frequent bouts of boredom.

"Not to Elena," I shook my head, my chest growing tight as a thought hit me. Would Elena survive if Katherine turned her body into a vampire? Or would her soul move on while her body was forever possessed by her evil doppelganger?

XXX

After four days, Damon and Enzo had only made it a few hours away from Mystic Falls. Of course, it wasn't through a lack of trying. No, the older Salvatore brother was determined to leave his home, needing to head to New York to find Carmen, to force her into finding Alexa for him. But thanks to Wes' nonsense, things had gotten… difficult.

The pair had ended up in a secluded little farmstead and had quickly caused chaos. Enzo stared down at a photo of the formerly happy couple that lived on the farm while Damon wiped the blood from his chin.

"You think they fell in love milking cows?" the younger of the two asked, a curious edge to his voice even as he placed the photo the side with a thud.

"Probably," Damon shrugged, his hand coming to rest against the ring that hung around his neck. The older Salvatore brother had taken to keeping Alexa's ring there, hanging over his heart, where he could keep it safe. "Then she became one. So he drank himself into oblivion and she cheated on him with the… pastor."

Enzo rolled his eyes, "Well, aren't you in a delightful mood. We need to get your girl back so that you can stop dumping on others love."

"There's no love in there," the older vampire gestured towards the photo. "Look at that picture, it's old! The milk maid's nowhere to be found and now it's just pathetic old Farmer John."

"Manners!" Enzo's voice was sharp, as he was forcibly reminded of the Workhouse Guardians and their frustrating obsessions with manners. "It's impolite to speak ill of our hosts."

"I doubt he'll mind!" Damon gestured to the body on the floor between them. Farmer John had blood on his lips but it was the wound on his neck that proved fatal. He laid on the floor between the two vampires, a terrified look on his face.

"Please," the younger vampire tried again before giving up at Damon's unrepentant shrug. "Alright, cranky." He pulled out his phone to check the timer that he had running. "It's been almost eight hours since you last fed. So, I suppose that's about right."

Damon paused before frowning at his friend, "Are you timing me?"

Enzo gave him a look that just screamed 'how stupid do you think I am?' before shaking his head, "You feed on vampires now. I am a vampire. The only way to ensure my safety is to know how long you can last until your next fix. Right now, you can last around eight hours before giving me that hungry look."

The other vampire clenched his jaw, hating the reminder of how much danger his old friend was, before giving a weak smirk, "Or, you can just leave."

"I don't abandon my friends, Damon," the younger immediately shook his head, looking away from Damon's wince. "Besides, this virus is the reason why you can't go save your girl, and I owe our renewed friendship to her. So I'm going to get you through this, save Alexa and then we can all ride into the sunset at Cape Horn."

Just as Damon muttered, "What is it with you and Cape Horn?" the body on the floor gasped into life. He pushed himself up into a seating position, frantically gasping in air, before glancing between the two men standing above him. While the oldest in the room just raised his eyebrow, Enzo crouched down, a satisfied look on his face.

"Ah, just in time!"

"What did you do to me?" Farmer John stuttered, all thoughts of bravado leaving him as memories of glistening fangs lingered on the edge of his mind. "What's happening?"

"You died," the former Augustine vampire shrugged, reaching to the side to grab the prepared blood bag. "But luckily, you had my blood in your system, so when you drink this," he held up the blood bag, giving it a little wiggle, "you'll feel much better." The man didn't look convinced but Enzo just ripped open the blood bag, forcing the contents into his mouth. "There you are."

It took barely a second for Farmer John's new instincts to take over and he snatched the bag from Enzo's hands, gulping down the blood. The two vampires watched in satisfaction as the man completed his transition, with Damon purring out a "Good boy."

Once the bag was empty, the former human glanced up, "What was that?"

"That was blood," Enzo answered, ready for the question, as he helped Farmer John to his feet. It was the same routine each time, and the vampire had perfected his answers. After four and a half days of finding victims for Damon to eat instead of him, Enzo knew what to do. "You're a vampire, congratulations!"

"I'm a what?" Farmer John shook his head, unable to accept the truth, even as he felt his new fangs poking at his lips. He remembered inviting the two men into his home against his will, he remembered Enzo forcing his blood down his throat and he remembered Damon ripping into his neck, killing him. But even then, the man was in denial. Because, surely, vampires didn't exist? They were monsters that belonged in stories, not in his living room.

"I know, I know," Enzo nodded, a sympathetic look on his face that had a mocking edge to it. "It's overwhelming and Damon will explain more in a bit, but before he does, settle a bet. Your wife, where is she?"

"Wait," Farmer John shook his head, ignoring his words, focusing only on what had just happened. On what he had just gulped down. "I drink blood now?"

The other vampire's lips twitched into an annoyed frown before that charming smirk returned, "Again, we'll explain everything. Where's your wife?"

"She's gone," the man replied slowly, mind racing, unable to focus on anything. "She left me years ago."

"Pastor?" Damon spoke up, a hopeful edge to his voice at the thought of winning their little game. Farmer John turned around at the sound of his voice, having forgotten that the oldest vampire was in the room. He gave him a fearful look, remembering the rage in his eyes as he killed him. "Pastor?"

"Pharmacist," Farmer John shook his head.

Enzo let out a disappointed noise, a pout already forming on his face, as Damon pumped his arm in celebration, "Yes! I will take that as a win for me," he pointed at his friend, "not for you."

Then, before poor Farmer John could even begin asking the questions that flittered through his mind, Damon's face vamped out, fangs descending and the veins beneath his eyes pulsing darkly, larger than normal. The man stumbled back a step, but that was as far as he got before the older vampire sped forward. His fangs sank into Farmer John's neck, his hunger taking over.

Enzo watched as his friend fed, resetting the timer on his phone, just in time for Farmer John's body to fall the floor. Damon stared at him, the man's head in his hands, face still vamped out. Blood dripped down his chin, staining the dark fabric of his jumper, fangs glistening against the dark red blood.

But it didn't bother the other vampire as he just rolled his eyes, "Stop trying to scare me, Damon. I'm not leaving you. I made a promise to get you through this and I'm not going to break it."

XXX

I opened my eyes, staring at the burnt and blackened ceiling above me, before squeezing my eyes shut again. I had wondered how long it would take for my nightmares to take me back to Wes' lab. And I did have to admit that it was longer than I thought. But apparently, my brain had decided that it didn't like its previous mercy as it found a way to make everything a thousand times worse.

"I do wish that I had met this Dr Maxfield," Connor's voice had my entire body tensing and I could feel my chest growing tight already. I knew that this fucking place would take me to the edge of my control, but I didn't realise that I would be so close to a panic attack already. Although, I shouldn't be surprised. I never even got the opportunity to heal from Wes' fuckery, thanks to Katherine abducting me so soon after it happened. And when you factored in Connor, well, I had no chance. "He seems like a man that I would get along with."

"Shocker," I rasped out, squeezing my eyes shut, doing my best not to look at the man walking around me. It felt like he was a predator, circling his prey, and I probably wasn't wrong to think that. I flinched as he flicked one of the straps holding me down and I cursed myself as he let out a low chuckle. "I'm surprised that you don't already know the fucker. He was working with the Nolans to be giant pieces of shit."

I could just sense Connor's glare and before I could even think about taking back my words, not that I would, I felt his knife against my neck. Each time I breathed; I could feel the sharp edge digging into my skin. And it reminded me so much of when Wes threatened me with his scalpel. That motherfucker just loved threatening me with that fucking scalpel. And it was a routine that Connor was apparently keen to take part in, as the sharp blade of his knife scratched my skin.

"The Nolans were better people than you could ever hope to be," the Hunter hissed into my ear, his knife drawing blood. "You should have been the one to die, not them."

"I was still human at the time, dumbass," I muttered, before cursing myself. Apparently, over the past few days, the sensible part of my brain had gone on holiday. And now, I was suffering through horrific nightmares without my brain to mouth filter. Not that it had really returned since I turned my humanity back on, but I was doing better while stuck in the never-ending cycle of nightmares. I didn't really say shit that would lead to more pain. But apparently that was now over. Maybe it was Connor's fault. I never had control over my mouth when he was around before. And apparently that was something that continued to happen.

"You were a monster, even when you were human," Connor snapped, digging his knife into the soft skin of my neck until I opened my eyes. There was a familiar glare on his face as he loomed over me. But he did take the knife away, placing it down by my arm. "How many lives did you take? How many did you destroy?"

"Yay, back to this," I mumbled under my breath, only just resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Recently, the nightmares had just been focused on taking me through the greatest hits of my past tortures. Like fucking Jules and Vaughn and Wes. Stefan even had his moment of glory, making me relive the time he tried to force my humanity back on, through the use of burning sunlight. But during those nightmares, they didn't call me a monster, they didn't make me look back at the damage that I had left behind. "I'm not going to play your game, fuckface. If you're going to hurt me, then just get it over with."

And despite the venomous glare on his face, it wasn't Connor who answered me. Instead, it was a different voice, one that had remained suspiciously absent, other than a brief cameo several days back.

"Your insolence is tiring, Alexa," Eric Nolan sighed as he walked up to my side. I glanced up into those blue eyes, ones that looked so much like his son's, before shaking my head.

I let out a single, "nope", before squeezing my eyes shut again. I didn't particularly want to deal with the nightmare that was Eric Nolan. There was just too much there to deal with. Not only did I cause his death, fuck you tomb vampires, I had since learnt of his connection to Augustine. The man that I had grown up with, one that had wiped away my tears and snuck me sweets when my parents forbade it, had delivered vampires to a life of pain and torture. And it was safe to assume that many of them had died, since Enzo was the only one left. Unless there were other cells littered around the area, full of vampires who had been tortured. Fuck, don't think about that.

"You can't run away from this, Alexa," the Nolan patriarch sighed, shaking his head, and the disappointment in his voice made me want to cry. Yeah, we weren't exactly on the best of terms when he died, but I had known this man my entire life. I was closer with him than I was with Uncle John. And even after everything that I had learnt about Augustine, the thought of disappointing him hurt.

"Watch me," I forced out, doing my best to ignore the tightness of my chest. Yeah, this was not going to be good. It wasn't going to be good at all. Fuck. And I had no way of waking up, of escaping this nightmare. I was stuck here, until the nightmares were ready to move me on. All I could do was desperately hope that they didn't keep me here for long.

XXX

Even after spending a whole day with Stefan, Katherine was still irked when the doorbell rang. The doppelganger felt that it had been a relatively successful day for her, she had managed to get close to the younger Salvatore, who was still oblivious to the truth. Instead, he smiled at her flirty remarks, staying close when she sat down next to him and he looked truly happy. And Katherine didn't want anything to interrupt that.

"Oh, Caroline's here," Stefan looked up from the history book on his lap when at the sound of the doorbell. "I asked the sheriff to help me track down Damon."

While he quickly left the room, Katherine's lip curled up in disgust. She had truly thought that it was over between the brothers, since Stefan told him to leave and never come back. Damon had done exactly that and the doppelganger thought that it was over, that she had won. But no, Stefan was too noble for his own good. Even after he had banished his brother, he still worried about him. Enough that he had asked Mystic Falls' sheriff to track him down.

The woman slowly followed, lurking by the entranceway, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"You were right," Caroline said to the younger Salvatore, handing over the papers that she had brought with her. "He's off the rails. This is from my mom."

"Let me guess: missing persons and animal attacks?" Stefan sighed heavily, looking down at the folder in his hand with trepidation. He knew that he had told him to leave, to never come back, but he had soon regretted those words. Damon was hurting, having lost the girl that he loved, rejected in the way that he had always feared. And he rejected him again, instead of listening to him, instead of trying to help him cope with what happened.

"Check and check," the blonde nodded before hesitating. She stared at the other vampire for a moment before she spoke, voice quiet. "But there's something else. All of the victims were found inside their homes without their head… and their skin was desiccated."

It took barely a second for the younger Salvatore to realise what she was saying, "Damon's feeding on vampires…" He immediately flicked open the folder, looking at the crime scene images. Caroline was right. They were all vampires. And all of them were killed by their heads being removed during an uncontrolled feeding frenzy. "I shouldn't have let him go."

Caroline immediately shook her head, a stern look on her face, "No. Nuh uh, you are not turning Damon's roosting chickens into a Stefan Salvatore guilt trip. No one could have stopped him from going after Wes the other night. Especially since he had somehow convinced himself that the creepy doctor was holding Alexa hostage."

Stefan went to argue the point, but a severely raised eyebrow stopped him. So instead, he just continued flicking through the folder with a frown, "I guess Wes must have injected him with whatever he was going to give Alexa that makes vampires feed on vampires."

"Ah," Caroline winced at the reminder of the traumatic event that her friend had experienced before she left town. "Good news, bad news. Bad news is that when this happened to Jesse, we had to spell him into the spare room upstairs after he nearly ripped Damon's head off. And we haven't found a way to cure him yet. But the good news is…" the blonde paused a moment to think, desperately trying to create some good news before sighing, "I'm sorry, usually there's some good news."

"The good news could be that Alexa found a way to save Jesse from being killed, Carmen is looking for a magical cure. We can still save Damon from this," Stefan glanced down at the note in the folder, mentioning the fact that Alexa still wasn't picking up her phone or answering any messages. Even Sheriff Forbes was worried about her. And it was enough to make Stefan sigh, "I have to find him. I can't reach out to Alexa right now, but I can find Damon and bring him home."

It was then that the secret eavesdropper decided to intervene. Katherine wasn't pleased with what she was hearing. She wanted Stefan all to herself and that wouldn't happen if he went chasing after his damaged brother. A damaged brother who was apparently feeding on vampires.

"Well, I can come with you."

Caroline spun around, a shocked look on her face, "Elena, hey! I didn't know that you were here."

"Well, Stefan has been helping me study," the doppelganger sauntered over, only just keeping the leer off her face. She knew that the blonde was ridiculously overprotective when it came to the younger Salvatore. She had seen the look on her face at the pathetic Bitter Ball. It was another tedious obstacle that the woman had to overcome to get Stefan back.

"Oh," Caroline raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Stefan who doesn't go to college."

While the vampire knew that her friends were destined to be together, she didn't want that to happen now. With both of their siblings MIA, it wouldn't be a good time to open that can of worms. And Caroline was determined for them to get back together at the Right Time. Not that she knew when that would be. But it definitely wouldn't be now. No, once Alexa was back home from her weird little vacation and once they had fixed Damon, she could help them explore their feelings again.

"Stefan, who's an expert in history," Katherine shrugged, glancing down at the folder on the table. Pictures of headless, desiccated vampires stared back at her; signs of Damon's decent into madness.

The blonde went to say something else, but before she could, Tyler walked into the Boarding House. He stared down at his phone with a frown before looking up at his friends, "Hey, have you talked to Matt?"

Caroline exchanged a glance with Stefan before also frowning, "No, why?"

"Because it turns out that Nadia has been compelling him to forget things," the hybrid revealed, a frustrated look on his face. He hadn't seen his friend in person since Nadia snapped his neck. And if he was being compelled, then he could be in real danger. And the supernaturals in the group had sworn, long ago, to keep their human friend safe. "Matt said that he was going to avoid her, but I haven't heard from him."

At his words, Katherine had to fight to keep a panicked look off of her face. If the others knew that Matt was being compelled, then it put her in danger. And she couldn't have that. No, sweet Matty Blue-Eyes had to go, even if he was adorable. Katherine refused to put her new life at risk, she had worked too hard to lose it all now.

"Do you think that he's in trouble?" Caroline immediately asked, pulling out her own phone to text their precious human friend. The fact that she didn't know that he was being compelled concerned her. It was bad enough that she was worrying about Alexa, and even Damon, they couldn't let Matt get into trouble too.

"I think that he hasn't been at home or work in days," Tyler answered, shaking his head. "His phone goes straight to voicemail. I gave him a chance to get back to me, just in case he wanted some time to get around the fact that he was being compelled. But it's been long enough that I'm seriously worried."

"Okay," Stefan spoke up, flicking shut the folder in front of him before standing. "Can you two handle this? Elena and I will go track down Damon and bring him home."

"We've got this," the blonde immediately reassured the other vampire, giving him a small smile, before turning to look at her boyfriend. "We'll start at home and go from there. Hopefully he's popped back to leave a note or something."

"A note?" Tyler repeated, eyebrow raised and a teasing look on his face. But before his girlfriend could retaliate to his teasing, the doppelganger in the room shook her head.

"I'm going to get some clothes," Katherine looked over at Stefan. "Pick me up at my dorm?"

"Sure," the younger Salvatore brother nodded before watching as she left the room. The other two exchanged a glance before Caroline spoke up.

"So, what is going on between you and Elena?"

"There's nothing going on between us," Stefan immediately shook his head, looking away from the front door and at the blonde.

"Oh come on, Stefan!" Caroline rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "She is totally flirting with you! And while that isn't weird, it shouldn't be happening now. The Elena that I know would be worrying about Alexa, not sitting in the Boarding House library 'studying' with her ex."

"Has she mentioned Alexa to you?" Tyler piped up, looking down at his message history, and all the unread texts to his dear friend. "Because she is never out of contact for this long. Even when she had her humanity off, she at least read the messages that we sent."

"No, she hasn't," the blonde answered slowly, glancing down at her own phone. "She barely mentions her name and even then, I have to prompt her first."

"Look, I'm about to spend twelve hours in a car with her, alone," Stefan did his best to sound reassuring. "Whatever she's feeling, I'm sure that I'll be able to figure it out. And I can get some information about Alexa too."

XXX

"Oh Alexa, time to wake up."

At the sound of Katherine's voice, one that I knew so well but sounded so different, I let out a low groan. I had, somehow, actually been sleeping, well, dozing was probably more accurate. But then main thing was that there were no nightmares. I was able to finally switch my brain off and forget about everything that was happening to me. So of course the bitch responsible for my predicament would come along and ruin it all.

"What do you want?" I rasped, before wincing at the sound of my voice. I hadn't sounded this bad since I lost my voice in my early teens, thanks to a sucky cold and an inability to shut up.

"I just thought that I would pass on some news about Damon," the bitch looked far too smug for my liking and as much as I didn't want to play along, the sound of my beloved's name had me lifting my head. I would have sat up but I just didn't have the energy. Even lifting my head up took far too much effort, and I pushed away the little voice in the back of my head that was murmuring what it meant.

"What's wrong? What have you done to him?" I narrowed my eyes at the twin-possessing bitch. I knew that something bad had happened, the menace wouldn't be down here otherwise. No, something had happened to my Damon and I was powerless to help him.

"Oh not much," Katherine shrugged, going for casual but the gleeful look in her eyes ruined it. "It's just that a little birdie told me that a certain Augustine doctor injected Damon with a virus that made him feed on vampires."

It felt like all the air had left my lungs. I knew that I had frozen, that I was doing absolutely nothing to hide my reactions from the bitch. But there was nothing that I could do about it. Damon, my Damon, had been injected with Wes' bullshit virus. My boyfriend had been infected with that fucking ripper virus. And there was nothing that I could do to help him. To save him.

"You're lying," I wheezed, even though I knew that she wasn't. It wasn't often that Katherine told the truth. But this time, she was. Because the truth was just so awful and horrific. It was painful and one of the worst things that she could have told me.

"Oh Alexa," the bitch smirked, moving to crouch down next to me. "We both know that I'm telling the truth."

"How? How did it happen?" I asked, forcing out the words while the woman next to me cooed mockingly, wiping away the tears that I didn't realise had fallen. I knew that I was showing too much weakness but I couldn't bring myself to care. I had been through too much, I had been confronted with too much darkness from my past, the news that Damon was in pain had pushed me well past my limits. Limits that I was already passed.

"Well, it seems as though Damon and his annoying little friend had tracked down Wes, after using poor Aaron as a hostage to get the spell done. The doctor must have injected him with it then. But do you know what the best part is?" Katherine paused for a second, not even bothering to hide her glee. "He was tracking down Wes because he thought that you were being held hostage by him again. So really, if you think about it, it's all your fault that he got infected."

I shook my head, more tears falling. Because she was right. My boyfriend wouldn't have been in that position if he wasn't looking for me. Maybe it would have been for the best if he had believed Katherine's words, if he had believed that I had broken his heart. Because then he wouldn't have been infected with the fucking ripper virus. He would have been safe. And it's all my fault that he wasn't.

"Leave me alone," I whispered, looking away from the sick delight on her face. "The others will save him, like I managed to save Jesse, so just leave me alone."

"Oh, they'll try to save him," the woman's agreement had me tensing, especially when she gripped my chin, yanking my head around so that I was forced to meet her gaze. "But I'm going to make sure that they fail. Hm, I wonder, who would Stefan chose to save: his brother or Elena, the supposed love of his life?"

"He won't kill Damon," I argued, desperately trying to believe my own words. But it was difficult. I only just managed to stop Jesse and I had put myself in danger to do so. I didn't know if the others would do the same for Damon. Would they risk everything to save him? Or just think that he was a dangerous lost cause that needed to be put down? Fuck, don't think like that, Alexa. It's Damon. They'll try to save him; Stefan will try to save him. They just needed to spell him into a room, like we did with Jesse, until we found a cure. There was still hope. I just had to find a way to cling onto it.

"Well, we'll see," Katherine shrugged before letting me go. As she stood up, the bitch grabbed the chain connected the bear trap on the wrist closest to her, giving it a good yank. The resulting pain nearly had me blacking out, but I managed to hold on long enough to hear her next words. "Oh, by the way, I'm leaving town with Stefan to go track Damon down. So I wouldn't expect any blood until I'm back. Hope you don't desiccate in the meantime."

"Bitch," I gasped out, still fighting to stay awake. I needed to stay awake. If I was to find a way to save Damon and Elena, I had to stay awake.

Katherine gave me a wink before striding out of the room and the moment she left, I gave into the sobs that were fighting to break free.

XXX

I would never quite know how I managed to fight through the pain and stay awake. But I was glad that I did. Because I had to work out a way to escape from this tomb, I couldn't stay down here any longer. Damon needed me to save him from Katherine, Elena needed me to save her from Katherine. I had been wallowing down here for too long, so caught up in my self-pity, that I had failed my loved ones. They had gotten hurt because I had failed to escape, because I hadn't told them that Katherine was possessing Ellie, that she was putting everyone in danger. And now Damon had been infected with the ripper virus, because I had failed him. And God knows what the bitch in leather clothing had done to the people that I loved while I was stuck down here.

"Come on, Alexa," I slurred, shaking my head as I tried to force myself into a sitting position. Over the past few days, I had slowly slumped down until just my upper back was resting against the rock. I wasn't quite lying down, but I was close. If it wasn't for the fucking bear traps, I would be on the floor. But nope, they annoyingly held me up and because of that, the spikes dug into my skin, tearing through it, digging into the bone. It was probably why I had lost so much blood over the past couple of days, the wounds closing and opening constantly. "You need to stay awake. You've failed your loved ones enough. You need to get out of here now and help them."

I glanced over at Mia's rotting corpse, my only company during my stay down here. I had taken to talking to her at times, when I needed to stay awake and escape the nightmares. It was probably a sign that I had lost the fucking plot, but I didn't care. If it kept me awake, then I would do anything. Including talking to a rotting corpse that I had become nose blind to. And thank god for that, because it was enough to make me want to puke at first. And I probably would have, if I had anything in my stomach. So maybe it was a good thing that Katherine had been a bit lax in feeding me, because the thought of puking up the precious blood was a heartbreaking one.

"Do you see anything that I could use to break out of here?" I rasped in her direction, already knowing that it was hopeless. I had looked around this tomb far too many times. I knew that there was nothing that I could use to escape. Deep down, I knew that there was only one way that I could break free. But I just didn't have the stomach for it. The thought of dragging on those bear traps, forcing them to slice further into my skin, was enough to make me feel sick.

But if it was the only way that I could escape, then I needed to do it. I couldn't wait around for my rescue any longer. At this point, it was clear that no one was coming for me. That they all believed Katherine's lies, that I had broken Damon's heart and ran away. It was a thought that I didn't want to confront, that they would believe me capable of that. But I guess, after my humanityless era, they believed that I was capable of anything. And a part of me couldn't blame them for that.

"Yeah, I don't see anything either," I sighed, doing my best to ignore the darkness on the edge of my vision. I knew that I had used too much energy to sit up, but I had to do something. I couldn't escape if I was slumped halfway down the floor. Although, thinking about it, it's not like I could escape if I was closing to passing out. "Damnit, why couldn't the bitch have dropped something during her bitchy sauntering. God, she's so fucking useless." I glanced to the side, to the bear trap holding my wrist, and winced, "There's no way of avoiding this, now, is there?"

I took a deep breath before clenching my fists. They only just responded to me, thanks to the coldness and the blood loss, they were numb. I would be worried, but that required too much brain power. And I was saving it all for the horrible thing that I was about to do.

"Well, here goes nothing," I muttered before leaning forward. It actually turned out to be a flop forwards, but it got me to where I needed to be. My new position put pressure on the bear traps, where my arms were stretched out behind me. This had worked before, with the chains on the bed, but that was different. I would be lucky to get through this without passing out.

I somehow managed to get onto my knees, panting from the effort it took, and then I just let my body go limp. The bear traps didn't like the increased weight and I didn't like it either. I could feel the spikes dragging through my skin, tearing it open and scraping against the bone. I tried to scream at the pain, but all that came out was a wheeze. So instead, I gritted my teeth, squeezed my eyes shut and continued pulling.

The pain was excruciating. I genuinely couldn't put into words just how bad it was. The fact that I didn't immediately pass out was a fucking miracle. Of course, that only lasted until the spikes got stuck. I think they got stuck between bones, but I'll never quite be sure. All that I knew was that it felt like I was going to rip my hands off. And that sharp, red-hot pain, had the darkness taking over.

I slumped back, my head hitting the wall, and I passed out. My last thought, before the nightmares took me, was of my loved ones suffering after I failed them.

XXX

After Farmer John was well and truly dead, Damon decided to imitate his brother. He picked up the body, dropping it onto a wooden chair, before dragging it into the living room. He deposited the chair by the window, before grabbing the head. As he debated the proper place to leave it, spinning it around, Enzo watch on with raised an eyebrow, wondering if his friend had well and truly lost the plot, "I didn't realise that you liked to play with dolls."

"Well, my brother likes to make a big show," Damon shrugged, continuing to spin the head around in his hands as he thought. He had seen Stefan's handy work enough times that he had plenty of ideas. But despite the little voice in his head egging him on, the vampire found that he didn't really care about creating the perfect piece of art. It was a momentary distraction, something to keep his mind occupied, instead of worrying about Alexa. His sweet girl, who had been out of contact for so long, who was in trouble, with no one to help her. No one except him. And he had failed her, by allowing Wes to inject his bullshit into him. "Set them up, put their heads back on and pretend like it didn't happen. I, on the other hand, couldn't give a crap."

With that said, he dropped the head on Farmer John's lap. He glanced at it for a second before walking away. Enzo stared after him, a worried look on his face, before shaking his head. He knew that once the hunger was satiated, his friend's worry over his girl returned with full force. And he couldn't blame him. Alexa had been out of contact for a week by this point. And while he didn't know the girl as well as his friend, he knew enough to realise that it was out of character for her. He had seen how loyal she was, when they were both Augustine prisoners and her only focus was on getting him to forgive Damon. And his friend hasn't stopped talking about her. It had gotten to the point where he felt he knew the girl well, even though their only meeting had been in the Augustine lab.

"Well, we've got eight hours until you need to feed again," the younger vampire shrugged, knowing that the only thing that could help his friend right now would be to find his girl. "I reckon we can put some miles behind us. If we're really lucky, we can make it to New York by tomorrow evening. Tell me, what is the city like these days?"

"Crowded," Damon glanced over his shoulder, hand once again resting over Alexa's ring. He always kept it close, needing that contact. And until his girl was back in his arms, her ring would have to do. "Luckily, I know somewhere we can hole up until we find Carmen and make her do a location spell."

"Perfect," Enzo nodded, starting to lead the way to the front door, a determined edge to his stride. Petty drama with headless bodies wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. No, finding his friend's girl and getting the cure to the damn virus was their priority. "Let's go." But before they could walk more than a few steps, a familiar chanting started outside. Damon rolled his eyes while Enzo frowned, glancing around the empty house, "What is that?"

"It's the obnoxious theme song of the Travelers," the older vampire shook his head before walking over to the front door, Enzo quickly following. He flung open the door, glaring at the group standing outside. Their annoying chanting was echoing around the entire house and Damon just knew that they were surrounding the building. And he made a mental note to rip them all apart after he had found Alexa and found a cure. With that thought keeping him going, the older vampire tried to leave the house, only to knock into an invisible barrier. He tried a couple more times, cursing as each attempt failed. He needed to go save his girl, his Alexa, and he couldn't do that if he was trapped in a random fucking house in the middle of nowhere.

Damon went to try again, briefly considering just grabbing the poker from beside the fire place and spearing one of the annoying Travellers, hoping that killing one of them would break the spell, when a familiar face strode up to the door, the chanting menaces parting for him. Enzo immediately reacted as he saw his old tormenter, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him backwards. While he knew that the man wouldn't enter the building, since not even the Augustine doctor was that stupid, his first instinct was the get his friend away from the man who hurt him. It was the doctor's fault that Damon was now a ripper who fed on vampires. He didn't trust him not to try something else.

Wes' quick eyes glanced between the two vampires before he sighed, "As a man of science, I always considered magic a cheat." He paused before shrugging, an uncaring edge to his voice, "Turns out, I cheat. How's the appetite?"

"Funny you should ask," Damon sneered, his fury reignited as he stared at the man who had hurt his girl. The man who had made her bleed and cry. One who he had sworn to rip apart. "I was just craving a blond."

The former Augustine doctor gave the vampire a look before shaking his head, "You're my Patient Zero, Damon. I couldn't let you ride off into the sunset without running a few tests."

Enzo froze at those words, past voices echoing around his brain, before he shook his head, focusing only on his friend and not his past trauma, "A few tests…"

Wes only just hid his smirk as he saw his former experiment's fear, visible in his eyes, "Well, one test. Now that you're trapped with only one source of food, how long can you go before you feed on your best friend?"

XXX

A gentle hand stroking my cheek woke me up, breaking through the pain. I scrunched my eyes closed for a second, as the pain consumed all rational thought, burning through my body, before letting out a low groan. A familiar voice, one that had my heart clenching in my chest, murmured my name, encouraging me to open my eyes.

It took a couple of goes to blink away the blurriness. But once my vision was clear, I just stared at the man crouched down opposite me. I knew, deep down, that I was dreaming again, that the nightmares had taken over. But I couldn't listen to that voice, not when my dad was watching me with such regretful eyes. I struggled to sit up, pushing through the pain, as I desperately whispered, "Daddy?"

"Oh Alexa," my father, Grayson, sighed, shaking his head, as he looked at the bear traps around my wrists, at the deep gouges that were still healing. "What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

"Nothing good," I winced as he leant forward to examine my wounds, fingers soft and gentle, just like when I was a kid. It was a thought that brought tears to my eyes. it had been almost three years since I lost my parents and the wounds had barely healed. Oh, I was able to live my life like normal, if I just didn't think about it. Denial and distraction, that was my very unhealthy coping method. "Da…" my voice cracked, catching in my throat, and I had to try again. "Daddy, can you help me?"

"No one can help you, Alexa," my dad looked away from the wounds on my wrists and the look in his eyes had me freezing. Despite the gentle touch, his gaze was hard. And despite my best attempts, that little voice whispered cruel reminders of what he had done. Of what he was capable of. "You deserve this."

"Please don't," I whispered, tears welling up in my eyes as I shook my head. "Daddy, please don't do this."

But the man in front of me just stared at me with cold eyes as his grip grew tight, hand moving to grip my wrist, squeezing it. I whimpered as the pain grew, my wrist throbbing, but it was the pain in my heart that took over. I had managed to fool myself and let myself believe, for a moment, that my dad still loved me. I knew that my nightmares were cruel, but I didn't realise that they were this bad. That they would make me confront this horrible truth, that had haunted me for so long.

"I am not your father, Alexa," Grayson shook his head, releasing his grip on my wrist and standing up. I watched through wet eyes as he paced back and forth, refusing to look at me. "My daughter, my Alexa, would never have turned into a vampire. She would never have chosen to become a monster. No, she would have chosen death over that."

"That's not fair," I frowned as tears steadily dripped down my cheeks. "Why should I have chosen death? Why should my life have ended at 18?"

"Because I didn't raise you to be a selfish person, Alexa," Grayson paused in his pacing to loom over me. My legs twitched as I tried to curl them into my body, but I just didn't have the energy to move them. The look on the doctor's face grew cruel. "The girl I raised wouldn't have become a monster who hurt people."

"You died," I whispered, shaking my head as my body slumped back against the wall behind me. "You died and left me all alone. I had to change, I had to become stronger to protect my family. You don't get to judge me for that."

"It's a good thing that I died," the man who was once my father reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a stake. And I froze, staring at the smooth wood with wide eyes. "If I was still alive when you turned, then I would have locked you up straight away." I shook my head, whispering for him to stop, but he didn't. And each word that he spoke had me flinching. "I would have tied you down on my table and used you to improve life for humanity."

I couldn't stop the sobs that followed his words. My whole body shook from the force of them as my father spoke the words that had been haunting me for months. I knew that he would have wanted me dead and once I had found out about Augustine, I knew that my fate would have been worse. And now he had confirmed that. I would have just been a body for him to experiment on. I would have stopped being his daughter the moment I completed my transition.

"But I'm your daughter," I tried once last time, staring up at him through my tears. "Daddy, please, I'm still your Alexa."

"My Alexa died on the edge of the lake," Grayson knelt down beside me, the stake in his hand hovering over my heart. "And a monster took over her body." He shifted his grip on the stake before there was a sudden pain in my leg. I couldn't hold in my scream as he pushed the stake deeper into my thigh, blood pouring from the wound. Blood that I couldn't afford to lose. "No, you aren't my daughter. Not anymore."

From his pocket, he pulled out that black notebook, the one that Wes had used to try and turn me into a vampire eating ripper, and flicked it open to a specific page. And as he started murmuring, talking about what he was going to do to me, I let my head slump forward, not even bothering to hold in my sobs. Because what was the point? My dad was right, I was a monster and I deserved everything that he was going to do to me.

XXX

In a moment of rageful frustration, Damon grabbed a chair from the dining table, throwing it through the window next to him. The sound of smashing glass soothed the anger bubbling beneath his skin, just for a moment. It was the only thing that could make him feel even the slightest bit better. Because that boundary spell, trapping him inside the house, was keeping him away from his girl. It was stopping him from saving Alexa. He didn't know where his girl was or what she was going through, but in his heart, Damon knew that it was bad. Even if it wasn't the Augustine Society that was keeping her hostage, there were plenty of other enemies in their lives that would be willing to hurt her.

As he pressed his hand against the space where the glass had been, desperately hoping that the Travelers were incompetent and had forgotten to seal the entire house, Enzo sighed loudly, "Give it up, mate. Those pesky Travelers have sealed this whole place up nice and tight."

"The spell can't last forever," Damon argued, punching the invisible barrier in frustration before stalking over to the other side of the room, grabbing another chair on his way. But before he could break another window, his friend appeared by his side, grabbing the arm of the chair.

"It doesn't need to," he shook his head, carefully easing the chair from the other vampire's grip, placing it to the side. "Wes only needs it to last eight hours, remember? Then he can come back inside and autopsy my mangled corpse."

"You're pretty zen about all of this," the older vampire frowned, actually looking at his friend. When Wes had first revealed his plan, Damon had immediately flown into a rage, the helpless feeling growing in his chest turning ugly. His only thought had been that he was once again thwarted in his attempts to save Alexa. But Enzo's mind had turned to a different line of thought. He had only just escaped from Augustine's clutches. And now, he was doomed to be an experiment again. Only this time, he wouldn't survive it.

"Did you forget everything that I taught you in that cell?" Enzo raised an eyebrow, walking back over to the couch and settling on the beige fabric. "Calmer heads will always prevail."

"Always the soldier," Damon rolled his eyes, but he didn't try to break anymore windows. Instead, he just started pacing back and forth across the room, clenching and unclenching his fists. Damon knew that his friend was right. If they were going to get out of this alive, then they needed to think clearly. Even if all he wanted to do was scream out his frustration and break everything in his path. Including the Travelers that were still surrounding the building.

"But we do have people that we can call," his friend pointed out, lifting up his feet to rest them on the chair that he had confiscated. "Like your brother and your oddly powerful friend. They can find Wes and threaten him, or maim him. Anything that doesn't involve your fangs in my neck."

The older vampire hesitated, his pride warring with his desire to keep the others out of danger. He couldn't protect Enzo, not with him being stuck in the house. But he could keep the others safe. No, there had to be a way for them to escape without getting the Mystic Falls Gang involved.

"With the mess that we left behind, they won't come," Damon eventually shook his head, his voice quiet, as his hand came up to rest over Alexa's ring again. Not even he believed his words. He knew that his brother was ridiculously loyal, even to those who didn't deserve it, and he would come if he found out about Damon's predicament.

"Or they will and you might hurt them," Enzo shook his head and Damon carefully avoided his gaze, instead walking over to the fireplace. "You don't want to risk them, do you?"

"I don't want to risk any of you," the other vampire shook his head, still not turning around. "And we both know what you need to do to stop me from hurting anyone."

"I'm not going to kill you, Damon," the younger immediately snapped, a deep frown on his face as he glared at his friend. It was something that Damon had hinted at since he was first infected. He didn't want to hurt any of his loved ones, let alone Alexa, when he found her. It wasn't that he wanted to die, but there was no known cure for the virus. And he refused to be a threat to the few that he cared about.

"Snapping my neck is also an option," the older vampire turned around, crossing his arms as he leant back against the mantelpiece. Enzo shot him a venomous look and he rolled his eyes. "I'm not taking it off the table but we have a few hours until we need to revisit that discussion." When his friend continued to stare at him in a moody silence, Damon sighed and shook his head, wisely changing the subject. "Enzo. I need you to make me a promise. If you get out of here and I don't, then you need to go save Alexa. You're the only one that I trust to look after my girl."

Enzo stared at his friend, a reluctant look on his face, as he debated whether he should make that promise. Oh, he would definitely go and save his friend's girl, there was no doubt about that. But he is he promised Damon, then he was scared that the other vampire would give up. That he wouldn't fight this, that he would let himself die to protect his friend.

But as Damon stared at him with an expectant look on his face, Enzo knew that he had no choice. So he eventually sighed and nodded, "I'll go save your girl, Damon. You don't need to worry about that. All you need to do is make sure that she has someone to come home to."

XXX

Matt's POV

I frowned at Nadia as she led me down into the tomb, wondering if she was going to kill me down there. It hadn't been that long since Katherine had called her, demanding my death. I was surprised that Nadia hadn't immediately obeyed her mother. But I guess, after spending every moment together over the past few days, she had grown close to me. Close enough that she didn't want my death on her hands. Not that I was complaining as it gave me a chance to try and warn my friends. To let them know that Katherine was possessing Elena's body, and that she had done something to Alexa.

"Why are we down here?" I eventually asked, as I followed the vampire down the short corridor, glancing into the different rooms that branched off. I never realised just how huge the tomb was, having successfully avoided it. But now that I was down here, I could believe that thirty odd tomb vampires were able to exist down here, until they desiccated.

"I was asked to check in on Katherine's pet project," Nadia shrugged, walking into the room at the end of the corridor. I frowned at her back as I followed, about to ask what she was talking about. But the moment I entered the room, it became clear.

Alexa was chained to the wall at the end of the room, her body stretched out uncomfortably, eyes closed and a grey tinge to her skin. There were pools of blood on either side of her, with the red liquid slowly rolling down her arms, dripping to the floor. I could see more blood stains on her skin as I rushed over, dropping to my knees at her side. All I could smell was blood and it didn't take me long to find the source. And when I did so, I nearly threw up.

Alexa's wrists weren't being held up by chains. No, her wrists were trapped with bear traps, the spikes digging deep into her skin. I could still see the deep gouges in her skin, from where she had struggled at some point. And I cursed myself for believing that she had just left town, for believing Katherine's lies. Everyone had thought that Alexa had ran away to New York, after ending her relationship with Damon, when in reality, she was being tortured down here.

I reached out to touch my friend's shoulder, hoping to shake her awake, to see some kind of life, when Nadia's sharp voice sounded from behind me, "Don't touch her. Katherine wants her to suffer."

"Screw Katherine," I immediately shot back, giving the vampire a disgusted look over my shoulder. "This is my friend. I'm going to help her."

"You can't free her," Nadia shook her head, walking closer and away from the burnt body on the alter. "I will have to hurt you if you try."

I glared at the woman as I tried to work out a way to get my friend out of here. But it was hopeless. All I could hope to do was play along, just for a moment, and find a way to warn the others. Nadia had started letting her guard down around me, hopefully soon, I would be able to warn my friends about Katherine's plot and get them to save Alexa. So with a plan in place, I just narrowed my eyes at the vampire, "Fine. But at least let me make her more comfortable."

Nadia went to disagree before glancing at the tear tracks that were still visible on my friend's cheeks. A hesitant look flashed across her face for a moment before she sighed and nodded. Relieved that I didn't need to fight her on that, I carefully shuffled closer to Alexa, making sure to avoid the blood soaking into the floor. I eased my hands under her shoulders before gently lifting her up, so that she was properly sat up, taking the strain off of her wrists. She let out a low groan at the movement, her eyelashes fluttering, but she stayed unconscious. I frowned, wondering just how much blood she had lost before glancing up.

There was a symbol drawn onto the wall in blood, one that I didn't recognise. I had spent enough time with Bonnie that I had a good enough knowledge of magic. But I didn't recognise that symbol. I kept a hand on Alexa's shoulder, still worried about how cold her skin was, before asking, "What is that symbol?"

"It is Traveler magic," Nadia replied, carefully watching me to make sure that I didn't do something stupid and try to free my friend or feed her my blood. "Katherine arranged for it to be done before Mia was killed. It creates nightmares, seeking out those hidden thoughts of guilt and pain, and forcing the person to drown in them. It is old magic. It took Mia some practice to draw it correctly."

I wanted to ask more questions, to know exactly what they were doing to my friend, but a weak voice whispering my name distracted me. I quickly looked down at Alexa, who was staring up at me through lidded eyes, a small frown on her face, "Are you really here?"

"Alexa," I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I'm here, this is real."

"It doesn't feel real," my friend mumbled, blinking slowly before glancing over at Nadia. "But you're the first friendly face that I've seen in ages. So I'mma gonna believe that this is real until you start stabbing me."

"No one is going to stab you," I urged Alexa to look back at me, giving her the most comforting smile that I could. Not that it could do much, but hopefully it would make her feel better that she wasn't alone. That someone was there for her, even if only for a few minutes.

"Nadia might," Alexa snorted with a slur before pausing and frowning again. "Mattie, why are you here? With the spawn? Are you okay? She hasn't hurt you, has she?"

"I'm fine," I quickly reassured my friend, giving her shoulder another squeeze. "She hasn't hurt me, I promise."

"But why are you with her?" Alexa's frown deepened and she looked slightly more awake than she did a moment ago. She even tried to sit up slightly but quickly gave up as her body refused to cooperate. I frowned and went to help her but she shook her head, repeating her question.

"I found out the truth about Katherine," I sighed as I answered, glancing down at the bear trap next to me as the open wounds continued to slowly ooze blood at every movement my friend made. "So she is keeping me with her until the vervain is out of my system."

I tried to keep my words gentle but they still made Alexa panic. Her eyes widened dramatically and her gaze shot towards Nadia, "Don't you dare hurt him. Don't you fucking dare hurt him."

"Hey, she won't hurt me," I did my best to reassure my injured friend, giving her the most comforting smile that I could. But it was obvious that it didn't work. I didn't know what nightmares Alexa had been forced to confront, but I knew my friend's capacity for guilt. And I knew what she had been through recently. It didn't take a fool to realise that she had been suffering, both mentally and physically.

"He's right," Nadia spoke up, staring at the symbol drawn onto the wall. "I'm not going to hurt him. Once the vervain is out of his system, I will compel him to forget all about this."

"Despite your unfortunate heritage, I'm going to chose to trust you with his safety," Alexa frowned, eyebrows creasing together as her body trembled from the effort of keeping herself held up. And I only just hid my own frown. I knew that my friend was too weak, that she had lost too much blood. But I didn't know how to help her, how to save her from this. All I could do was hope that I managed to warn the others about Katherine's trickery.

XXX

As Stefan pulled up to the gas station, Katherine wrinkled her nose in disgust. It was a hick town in the middle of nowhere and far below the woman's standards. But she knew that she couldn't say anything, as her attention should be on the 'Damon' situation, and not the layer of grease that she could see on the handles of the nozzles. So when Stefan glanced over at her, gesturing towards the door, she gave the most genuine smile that she could before slowly exiting the car.

Due to the height of her heels, it was a struggle for the woman to exit the tiny car. Oh, she knew that Stefan loved the damn thing, but she hated it, for it was impossible to look elegant and graceful while clambering out. It was a moment of weakness that led to her grumbling, "You ever think about getting a new car?"

Fortunately, the vampire took her words in jest, answering with an amused look, "What are you talking about? This car is a classic."

"Yeah, and so is the Wright brothers' plane," Katherine rolled her eyes as she leant against the car, watching as Stefan grabbed the correct nozzle, lifting the hood to fill up the car. "But you don't see people still flying around in that thing."

Stefan smiled at her words before he concentrated on filling the gas tank. Silence descended between them for a moment as Katherine just watched the vampire. Despite being in a car with him for hours, it hadn't been like she had imagined. No, all Stefan had done was talk about Damon and Alexa and Matt, loved ones that he was worried about. It was so tedious. Honestly, the sooner Damon was dead, the easier it would be for her. Stefan would be so heartbroken that he would easily fall in her arms. And she would find a phone and pretend that it was Alexa, getting in touch to reassure everyone. Of course, it would have been a lot easier if she had the little brat's phone, but it wasn't on her when she was taken. And Alexa had refused to give up its whereabouts.

"You know, uh, I do appreciate you being here," Stefan broke the silence with a soft voice, staring at the woman with earnest eyes. "But you didn't have to come."

Katherine hesitated for a moment, thinking of what Elena would say. While she had gotten better at imitating her doppelganger, and she would never admit that she had gotten ridiculously lucky over the past week, there were some situations that unnerved the woman. Situations like this.

She was silent for a moment, before sighing, "I told you; I'm doing this for you. Because you're still holding on to hope that, maybe, this is the time that Damon can be saved."

"And you don't think that he can?" Stefan frowned, removing the nozzle from the car, placing it back in its bracket, before turning to stare at the woman with him.

"He tried to kill my friend," Katherine shook her head, crossing her arms and looking away, silently patting herself on the back for her perfect impression of Elena.

"He wasn't in his right mind," the younger Salvatore immediately defended his brother before sighing and changing the subject. "Does Alexa know what's happening?"

He suspected that she didn't. Because that girl was loyal to a fault and if she knew what was happening to Damon, even if she had ended their relationship, she would be with them, eager to help find a cure. Truth be told, he still thought that it was odd that she dumped his brother, but after what she had endured in Wes' lab, he couldn't blame her for reacting emotionally. Of course, most of the time, those emotions involved clinging to Damon and refusing to let go, but things do, sometimes, change.

"No," Katherine immediately replied, cursing the brat's existence. Maybe she should have found a better cover story. But the only other thing that would have worked is if she 'died' and Katherine honestly didn't think that she could pretend to mourn the annoying girl. No, she needed to find a way for Alexa to 'reach out' sooner rather than later, to stop people from asking after her. "I haven't told her. She's slowly starting to heal from everything that happened to her and I know that she will stop putting herself first if she finds out about Damon's current predicament."

Stefan nodded, "Maybe once we get Damon home, you can tell her. It's unfair for her to be kept in the dark."

"I'll be sure to tell her then," the doppelganger forced a smile onto her face. "And who knows, maybe Caroline's witchy friend will have found a cure by then." Stefan's eyebrows crinkled for a moment. Everyone knew that Carmen was Alexa's witchy friend and the witch sure had kicked up a fuss over dealing with an unknown vampire. And Elena would know that. But before he could question it, a bright smile appeared on the woman's face. "Are you hungry? Because I'm just starving and I definitely didn't pack enough snacks."

Stefan paused for a moment, thrown by the sudden change of subject, before slowly replying, "Uh, sure. What do you want?"

"Whatever you're having, with a lot more salt and maybe covered in chocolate," Katherine's smile was still too bright for the situation but she wasn't able to dim it down. No, she had managed to turn the conversation away from her least favourite person and now Stefan was buying her food. She knew that he couldn't deny her anything and here was the proof. And the woman knew that it would be so easy to rekindle their relationship, when Damon was dead and everyone stopped caring about Alexa.

"Coming right up," the vampire nodded before walking over to the gas station. Katherine waited until he was inside the building, away from the large windows, before turning around. She lifted the hood of the car, a distasteful look on her face, before examining the engine. She knew that she had to cause enough damage that they were forced to wait here for a while yet, but with Elena's pitiful human strength, she didn't know what she could do.

Eventually, the woman just grabbed a tube that looked important enough before giving it a hard yank. It took a couple of goes but eventually, she managed to pull it loose. Satisfied that her plan had worked, Katherine closed the hood before tussling her hair and leaning against the car, arms crossed, emphasising her cleavage, a pleased look on her face.

XXX

Alexa's POV

"I've officially lost my fucking mind."

I glanced around the small room, deliberately ignoring what this mausoleum symbolised. I had lost Ric here, for a considerable amount of time. I had first encountered the threat that was Harry Nolan here. If there were any good memories from the Salvatore Mausoleum, I couldn't remember them. And naturally, I wouldn't get the chance to form any. Not right now. Not when I was staring at the faces surrounding me. Because only my fucked-up mind could dream this up.

"You didn't already know that?" my mirror image sneered, leaning against the wall behind her, arms crossed. It was my hunter self, or the bitchy little alter ego that Esther created. You know what, just to spite her, I'll call her an alter ego. She doesn't get hunter status, the little bitch.

"Oh fuck off," I rolled my eyes, sitting down on the stone bench beside me. I did have to admit, it was nice being out of the tomb, even if I was trapped in a room with demons from my past. Lol, to be fair, how was that a change from previous nightmares? At least these demons just looked like me. "You're even more unpleasant than you were last time."

"You would know all about unpleasantness," a new voice joined the conversation. Well, I say new. It was my voice, lol mind fuck, but this one belonged to my human self. Sweet human Alexa, before she turned into a monster. This version of me had short hair, reminiscent of that time just after my parents died, when the monsters of the night infiltrated my life. It was odd, seeing it that short again, but not as odd as seeing her.

"Don't try and out bitch her," I snorted, wondering if the pain and nightmares had actually driven me insane. Because there was no way that I was actually having this conversation. "There is only one person capable of that and she is doing her best Saint impression by standing in front of the stained glass."

We all turned to look at the fourth member of our weird little group. And that person just so happened to be my humanityless self, because why wouldn't she join the party. Her hair was short, like it was in New York, at the height of my bitchy period. And oh joy, more reminders of that time of my life. God, was there even a point to this? Or were my nightmares genuinely determined to drive me over the edge into insanity.

"Don't be jealous," humanityless me smirked, giving me a wink as she started pacing, dress swirling around her thighs and I couldn't help but remember just how skimpy some of the dresses from that period of my life were. Damn, I was a horny fucker back then. "It's not my fault that my bitchiness made me stronger than all of you put together."

"I think you'll find that I'm the strongest," the alter ego scoffed, a severe look on her face, nicely complimenting the sharp ponytail. She did look exactly like she did when I was hallucinating from the werewolf venom. It felt kinda nice that she did, a little bit of continuity.

"Yeah, no one's gonna believe that," I muttered, wondering if I was just encouraging the insanity. Maybe if I stayed silent, it would end. Of course, I probably should be enjoying the fact that no one was trying to hurt me. All I had to deal with were the phantom pains from the real world. "I mean, even my human self was able to wreck your dumb ass and stop you from taking over for a long while."

"That was just luck," my bitchy alter ego narrowed her eyes at me and I just rolled my eyes while exchanging a glance with my human self. We were momentarily united in our dislike for the alter ego before she remembered that I had become a vampire and instead looked away from me. I wasn't quite sure if she hated me, nor I was sure were in my life she had spawned from. But either way, she didn't look impressed with the fact that she had been turned into a vampire in her future. At least she got to have Damon, that would be her one bright spot.

"Luck or not, you still haven't made a reappearance," my humanityless self decided to speak up, a vicious smirk on her face as she taunted our mirror image. I just sighed, shaking my head as I crossed my legs beneath me. Maybe I should just set the other two lose on each other. That should provide some entertainment and derail the nightmares plans for this weird little scenario.

Of course, before that could happen, my human self just had to be an idiot and ask, "Did you turn willingly?"

I winced and wondered if lying to her counted as lying to myself. Of course, then I remembered that I constantly lied to myself and shrugged, "I had the usual choice, turn or die."

"But would you have turned later, if you weren't forced into it?" she pushed and I suddenly hated her innocent aura. She hadn't been through what I had, not yet. She didn't understand that need to be strong, to stop people from hurting me. As a vampire, I could heal, I couldn't be killed. No, this human me, still so young and innocent, didn't understand that.

"I think you already know the answers to that question," I longed to get up and pace, but any movement that I made would have taken me closer to my darker selves. And I really didn't want that.

"Why?" her human voice cracked as she asked the question, expression full of annoyingly adorable confusion.

"Because she's always been a monster," my alter ego said before I had the chance to think of a response to that question. "Making such a monstrous decision was not out of character."

"Oh shut up, you," I snapped, glaring at the alter ego. "Perhaps if you went through half of what I did, you would know why I made that choice. Why I wanted to be become a vampire who could heal and wasn't easily killed."

"And yet, you don't have the strength to be a proper vampire," the humanityless one decided that she had been silent for too long. "Perhaps if you did, those bad things wouldn't have happened. Just think of who would still be alive, who wouldn't have suffered the trauma of the Other Side, if you acted like a vampire should."

"Fuck my life," I muttered into my hands as I covered my face. "I'm not going anywhere near that. So just shut the fuck up."

"She's right," the voice belonging to my human self was soft and I couldn't hide my wince. "If you were stronger, my loved ones would still be alive."

"You should have let me take over," the alter ego shook her head, ponytail swishing. "Then vampires would have been eradicated and our family would be safe."

"I have a lot of loved ones who are vampires, dumbass," I lifted my head to give her a glare, deliberately ignoring the wide-eyed look that my human self was giving me. "And I'm not really one for committing mass murder, thank you very much."

"No, just a lot of tiny murders," the bitchy alter ego sneered and I only just hid my wince at the reminder of the blood that covered my hands.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready to leave," I nodded, staring longingly at the doors behind the alter ego. "I would much rather be stabbed than sit here and listen to this."

Truth be told, it was taking all of my effort to not scream. It was bad enough that I blamed myself for everything bad that had happened. But to actually hear it coming from my mouth? Yeah, no, I couldn't deal with that.

XXX

After Katherine did a wonderful job of innocently covering herself in grease and persuading Stefan to find a motel room, the search for Damon was swiftly derailed. Oh, Stefan constantly thought about his brother's predicament, but he also couldn't abandon 'Elena' in a town in the middle of nowhere. There weren't many people back home who would be able to come and get her, and he couldn't leave her here. So, with a muffled sigh, he followed the girl into the motel room, bags in hand. And there were a lot of bags. While the doppelganger looked around the room with a less than impressed expression, the vampire raised an eyebrow, "What did you do, bring your entire closet?"

Katherine laughed, walking over to the minibar and pouring a couple of healthy glasses of whiskey, "Well, I didn't know how long we'd be gone, and let's be honest, Damon's spirals require a little more than an overnight bag."

It wasn't the first dig that the girl had made towards his brother and Stefan suddenly found himself longing for a different twin to be accompanying him on this road trip. Even if she had ended her relationship with Damon, the vampire knew that she wouldn't be making snarky little comments like this. Ordinarily, he would be thinking the same thing about Elena, but she was surprising him a lot recently. And he wasn't sure that he was liking all of those surprises.

With a shake of his head, Stefan sighed, sitting down on the small couch in the weirdly spacious room, "We'll get him back. He's hurt, but he's not a lost cause."

"What makes you think that?" Katherine frowned, moving to sit next to him, passing him a glass. Anxious nails tapped against her own glass as she realised that her plan wasn't going to go as smoothly as she would have wanted. Despite her words, Stefan still believed that his brother could be saved, he still wanted to save his brother. And that was something that the doppelganger did not want.

"Because I know what he's going through," the vampire replied simply, glancing away from the girl next to him, looking into his drink. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that he had once loved Elena Gilbert, he was able to bury the pain. But then he looked at her and he realised that she still held his heart in an iron grasp. Not that she seemed to realise. Well, he used to think that. But maybe he was wrong.

"What do you mean?" the doppelganger, her voice soft, leaning in closer. She watched as Stefan sipped at his drink, slowly finishing it as he searched for the right words. And for once, Katherine Pierce was patient. She waited for him to be ready to speak, finding herself eager to hear his words.

"Everyone talks about how special it is, being loved by the Gilbert Twins," Stefan spoke quietly, looking down into the empty glass in his hand. "But no one really understands." The vampire sighed and shook his head, before looking at the girl next to him. "You don't know what it's like being in love with one of you. You know, when you and I were together, every single atom in my body told me that it was the right thing, that we were a perfect fit. And that kind of love, it can change your whole life. And then, when somebody who made you feel that way suddenly stops, the vacuum is just…" Stefan paused for a moment, a small frown appearing on his face. "It was never easy, getting Damon to talk about his feelings. But when it came to Alexa? I had never seen him so expressive, not even when we were human. Whatever it was that we shared, Elena, I don't think it was as strong as what they had. I used to think that they could survive anything but then…"

Stefan's voice trailed off as Katherine fought hard to hide the displeased frown that wanted to form. She wanted to talk about how much he loved her, even how much he loved Elena. But instead, he was waxing lyrical about Damon and Alexa. It was bullshit, their love couldn't be stronger. It just wasn't fair. It was that unfairness that led to her next, probably unwise, words, "But then she broke his heart."

Stefan glanced over at the doppelganger, that Not Right feeling once again niggling in the back of his mind. But he pushed it aside for a moment, labelling it as something to think about once Damon was back home. Instead, he sighed, "I know that you're protecting Alexa from this, but she should be here. It isn't fair on her to not know."

"I understand why you think that," Katherine replied, after hesitating for a moment, wondering what the correct way forward was. She knew that there was no way that Alexa could come here. She had to keep the annoying brat far away from everyone in Mystic Falls. But what excuse could she give that would be believed? Sometimes she still wondered how she got everyone to believe that Alexa used 'Elena' to dump Damon. Anything beyond that was just pushing her luck. "But I need to look after her, Stefan. Even if it means keeping her in the dark for a little while longer."

The vampire nodded, wanting to push but choosing against it, before asking, "How is she? She, uh, she won't pick up my calls or answer my messages. It's the same with everyone else and we're all getting worried."

The doppelganger was silent for a moment, a small frown forming on her face as she searched for the right words, "It was difficult at first, being away from home. But the longer she's been gone, the easier it's gotten. And she's been able to focus on dealing with what happened in Wes' lab."

"Do you talk to her often?" Stefan asked, needing to make sure that younger Gilbert twin was okay, that she had someone looking out for her. Because he knew Alexa well enough to know that she wouldn't willingly deal with her trauma, the girl had a habit of running away from the bad things that happened to her. And if she was by herself in such a huge city, she had no one to make sure that she didn't run away from her trauma.

"Often enough," Katherine answered evasively before reaching out for Stefan's empty glass. "You need a refill." Her fingers touched the back of his hand, pausing and lingering, as she stared at him with wide eyes. But Stefan didn't take the bait. Instead, he just pulled his hand away from her, leaving behind the empty glass, and standing up.

"I should go wash up."

"Okay," the doppelganger watched him go with a disappointed expression on her face.

XXX

I woke up in my bed, in my room. It was such a shock that I had to blink for a moment, glancing around to make sure that I was actually seeing it right. It wasn't often that my nightmares took me somewhere kind, to somewhere that I could relax. And it was so unusual that I couldn't stop myself from tensing up. Because I knew, deep down, that this wouldn't be good.

And I was soon proved right by the person who walked through the door. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at my mom. Miranda Sommers-Gilbert looked back at me, a sympathetic smile on her face, before walking over. My mom sat down next to me, reaching out to take my hands in hers and it was then that I realised that I was crying, when she gently hushed me, sighing out my name.

"Mom?" my voice cracked as I wondered what the nightmares would do this time. I couldn't let myself hope that this would go well, not after what happened with Grayson. I couldn't get crushed like that again. I only just stopped it from breaking me, thanks to the timely arrival of Matt and Nadia, distracting me from the pain, from the cutting words. But this time, there would be no distraction. And even though every instinct in my body was screaming at me not to, I couldn't stop myself from curling close to my mom's warmth. She gave me a look that I remembered so well from my childhood, full of exasperated fondness, before she slipped one hand free, resting it on my cheek. I pressed my face into her hand, my voice cracking again as I repeated, "Mom."

"Oh Alexa," Miranda sighed and shook her head, shifting so that she could pull me down into her body, hand still resting on my cheek. I curled into her side, my hands gripping her free one, being careful not to squeeze too hard. "You need to stop crying."

"I don't know if I can," I sniffled, making no effort to wipe away the tears that continued to fall. "You died, mom. You died and everything changed."

My mom was silent for a moment before she tilted my hand to the side, exposing my daylight ring. Her voice was full of disappointment as she said, "I am aware of how much has changed."

I stated down at the ring on my hand, the one that only a vampire would wear, before I whispered, "Momma, please don't do this. Not like dad did. I don't think I could cope with it this time."

"I never thought that any of my children would choose to become vampires," Miranda shook her head and I closed my eyes, doing my best to avoid her disappointment. Because I was right when I said that I couldn't cope with it this time. I had been through too much; I was too tired. No, if my mom went down the same route that my dad did, then I truly did fear that it would break me. And there would be no putting me back together. Not this time.

"I never thought that you would die," I muttered in return, still staring down at my daylight ring, doing my best to ignore the phantom pain that had returned. I was surprised that it had left me for as long as it had. But now that my nightmare was turning ugly, it had decided to return. Just to remind me of my punishment. To remind me that I deserved this, for everything that I had done, for everything that I had hurt, that I had killed.

"It is a good thing that I did," my mom let go of my hand and instead moved so that she was sitting in front of me again. And now, I couldn't hide from the disappointment on her face. It cut through my heart, leaving behind a worse pain than my father's stake did. I would much rather be stabbed than deal with my mom's disappointment. "I don't know if I would have survived watching my daughter become a monster."

"I don't know if it would have happened if you didn't die that night," I mumbled, trying to look away, but it was like her gaze was keeping me captured. I couldn't hide like I wanted to. Instead, I was confronted with the worse consequences of my decisions. "Stefan and Damon only entered our lives because he saved Ellie. If you didn't go over the bridge… I dunno, I don't think they would ever have met us."

"And you wouldn't have failed your siblings," Miranda's words had me wincing, even though they were spoken with such a soft voice. It was a thought that often echoed around my mind and I didn't have it in me to deny her words. Because they were the truth. Ever since our parents died, my siblings had suffered because of me. No matter what I did, no matter how much I wanted to protect them, they got hurt. "Jeremy never would have died; Elena never would have ended up on the Other Side for so long."

"I know, momma, I know," I sobbed, curling forward and burying my face in my hands. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I never meant for them to get hurt, I just wanted to look after them."

"You never mean to do bad things, Alexa," my mom sighed and I could sense her shaking her head. "But that doesn't mean that they don't happen."

"I know," I mumbled miserably, hunching over to press my face against my legs, arms covering my head.

"And that is why you know that you deserve this," Miranda's voice had me wincing again, pressing my face harder against my legs. "You know that you don't deserve to be saved."

"I deserve the pain," my voice was dull as I gave up any thoughts of fighting. Because what was the point? There was no lie in my mom's words. She just told me the truth, like she often did. And that truth was that I was a monster.

XXX

It was dark out now, the stars visible in the night sky. But the two vampires trapped inside the farm house didn't care about the beauty of the night sky. No, the only thing that they were focused on was the ticking timer on Enzo's phone. The closer that it got to zero, the tenser the atmosphere became.

While Damon had paced around the building, looking for any weaknesses in the barrier spell, Enzo used his time more wisely. He had disappeared down into the basement, looking for anything that could be used to subdue to the older vampire. Because he had seen the depths of Damon's new hunger and he knew that nothing would break him out of it. The eight hours hadn't been chosen at random, no, Enzo had picked eight hours because that was the last safe hour. Anything beyond that was dangerous.

Fortunately, the younger vampire had found some beautifully heavy chains and had quickly lugged them up to the first floor. Damon had given them a distasteful look but quickly agreed to be chained down. It wasn't his first choice for dealing with their impending deadline, but if it made Enzo feel better, then he wouldn't argue.

Once Damon was chained down, his entire torso tied to the wooden chair, Enzo stepped back with a satisfied nod, "Towing chains, farmers best friend and in about an hour, mine too. So I would get comfortable, if I were you."

The older Salvatore brother gave him an unimpressed look before rolling his eyes, "They're not gonna let us out of here until I kill you," he paused for dramatic effort before continuing, "or you kill me."

"Don't be dramatic," Enzo shook his head, moving to lean against the wall on the other side of the room, trying to ignore his friend's words. Damon was, if he was being honest, the only person that he had. Everyone that he knew before Augustine was dead. Hell, anyone that he knew during his Augustine years was dead. No, Damon was the only friend in his life. And he was determined to keep him alive. "We'll work something out."

Damon's voice was serious, "There's no cure, Enzo, not for this. Believe me, if there was, Alexa would have found one for her friend by now."

"You haven't spoken to anyone from Mystic Falls in days," the other vampire shook his head, unwilling to even think about the possibility that he could lose his only friend. "For all you know, one of them has found a cure for the kid in your spare room."

"I'm really not that lucky," Damon rolled his eyes, hand twitching as it longed to rest of Alexa's ring again. That was the worst thing about being chained down. He couldn't seek the reassurance that he normally did. Touching Alexa's ring, it helped to ground him, to remind him that he had a purpose. It was a physical reminder of his girl, one that was able to pierce through the panic and worry that he pretended not to feel.

"I'm going to tell your girl about this, once you're cured and she's rescued," Enzo snorted, unable to listen to the defeat in his voice. "And I'm going to enjoy watching as she tells you off."

"I'm going to regret letting you two become friends," the older vampire shook his head, watching as his friend walked over to his phone. It had been discarded on the sideboard earlier, while he was busy trying to find a way to break through the pesky little barrier spell. He frowned as Enzo picked it up, typing in the passcode that he had sneakily memorised earlier. "What are you doing?"

"What you refuse to do: calling for backup," the other man shrugged, struggling to decide who he should call. A part of him was tempted to call the weirdly powerful friend, Alaric, as he really didn't want to speak to the younger Salvatore brother. Not after he had abandoned his brother twice. But he knew, deep down, that he had to call Stefan. While he might be furious with his brother for setting Enzo lose on the last Whitmore, the former Augustine vampire knew that he would still come running if he heard about his brother's predicament.

"I thought I told you not to call them!" Damon hissed furiously, but Enzo just shook his head.

"And I told you that your issues are not allowed to get us both killed."

"That's why I told you to snap my neck," the oldest narrowed his eyes as he watched his friend dial a number, holding the phone to his ear. He desperately wanted to struggle against the chains, to stop him from making the call. But he couldn't risk weakening them now, putting Enzo at risk later.

As the call was finally picked up, Enzo went to make a snarky comment but a decidedly feminine voice gasped, "Oh my god, Damon?"

The other vampire frowned at the dramatic gasp. While he didn't know this Elena Gilbert very well, at all, really, he thought that she would be more genuine in her worry. But that didn't stop him from smirking, "Hello 'Stefan'. How wonderful to hear your beautiful, feminine voice."

Damon frowned as he heard the interaction. He wasn't expecting Elena to be with his brother, answering his phone. Even after her return to life at the beginning of last summer, she had taken to avoiding Stefan. Especially after breaking his heart for a second time during his amnesiac period.

On the other end of the call, Katherine sneered, "Enzo. What the hell do you want?"

She pushed aside the clothes that she had pulled out of her numerous bags, instead focusing on the conversation. The doppelganger hadn't expected either of the vampires to reach out to Stefan, and it was frustrating that they had. Because it meant that her alone time with Stefan was running out, and that was an annoying thought, considering she had successfully managed to get him alone, in a motel room.

"I'm in a spot of trouble, actually," Enzo's response was flippant, and it had Katherine gritting her teeth in annoyance. She had barely interacted with the newcomer to the gang and yet, she hated him already.

"Where's Damon?" the woman frowned, deciding that trying to get more information was more important than telling Enzo how she really felt about him. Especially since it could possibly ruin her cover.

"Oh, he's here, salivating, about to chomp into my neck and feed until my head pops off in a grotesque but slightly comical fashion."

"Wes infected him?" Katherine gasped, acting ignorant. She didn't know how much Enzo and Damon knew about what had been happening in Mystic Falls. And she wasn't going to give away anything.

"You know about the virus, good," Enzo nodded, carefully avoiding Damon's furious gaze. "We could use a hand. Wes enlisted some of those singing witches and trapped us in the house."

The older vampire raised his voice, doing his best to be heard on the other side of the phone, "Do. Not. Come. Here."

The former Augustine rolled his eyes, "He doesn't want to risk feeding on you or Stefan." Enzo paused for a moment before frowning, "Not that he would want to feed on you to right now, because you're human. But either way, it's sweet. But don't worry, you'll be fine. Besides, if he does feed on you, I have orders to kill the stubborn fool."

Katherine blinked, trying to decipher the babble that came from Enzo before shaking her head, "Okay, um, text me the address to my phone, and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Fine. And, uh, tick-tock. I managed to restrain him, but you know how persistent Damon can be when he wants something."

"We'll be there soon," the doppelganger promised before hanging up the call. She twirled the phone in her hands as she thought deeply, only to be interrupted by Stefan poking his head around the bathroom door.

"You say something?"

"Nope," Katherine smiled brightly, waiting for him to disappear back into the bathroom, before throwing the phone on the bed. There was a thoughtful frown on her face as she began to plot her next move and how she could benefit from the situation.

XXX

Eight hours had been and gone, leaving behind a ravenous hunger in Damon. The virus had eaten away all of his control, an insane look in his eyes, as the infected vampire thrashed against the heavy chains tying him to the chair. Enzo watched on, a worried look on his face, as he wondered if the chains would be strong enough to keep the other vampire tied down. He had never seen a hunger like this, an insanity like this. And while he would never admit it out loud, it scared him.

"It'll be alright, mate," he tried to reassure his friend, standing beside the couch, keeping a healthy distance. "They'll come and we'll sort something out."

"Or they'll come and I'll feed on them too," Damon spat out, struggling to push through the intense hunger. He could feel his face changing, fangs poking against his lips, as control eluded him.

"Those are also options," the younger vampire winced, glancing down at his watch. He didn't know how far away Stefan and Elena were, when he called them earlier. But he felt as though they should have been here by now. And he was cursing their names in his head. "As long as I live, I'm good." He paused, having noticed the look on Damon's face, before rolling his eyes. "Joking! Kind of."

"You have a shit sense of humour," the infected vampire growled, tensing and untensing his muscles as his body fought against his orders, desperately seeking a way to break out of the chains. He remembered Alexa talking about Kol's compulsion, after turning her humanity off. She described her frustration as her body failed to listen to her. While her mind was clear, she couldn't do anything to stop her body from trying to kill her brother. It wasn't quite the same, but he tried to remember how she fought against the compulsion. Anything to stop him from killing his friend.

Enzo opened his mouth, a witty retort ready to go, when his shoulder erupted in pain. He let out a pained hiss, hand immediately shooting to cover the bleeding hole. The vampire froze for a moment, a panicked look in his eyes as he glanced at Damon. The smell of blood, of vampire blood, had his face changing again, all reason leaving his mind. And it was in that moment that Enzo realised just how fucked he was.

It was pure luck that he missed the second bullet, legs unconsciously moving him away from the biggest threat that he had ever faced. The sound of it hitting the wall had him spinning around. Dr Maxfield had returned, standing in the doorway, still holding up the gun. His little Traveler friends stood beside him still, although this time, they were silent.

The sight of the doctor had the younger vampire snapping, "If you were aiming for my heart, you missed!"

"Don't worry, I wasn't," Wes smirked, looking away from his former test subject, a fascinated gleam in his eyes as the links in the chains tying Damon to the chair started to buckle. "The chains were a good idea. Now, I can see exactly how strong he becomes when enraged." The moment he finished speaking, the chains gave way, unleashing a very hungry and slightly insane vampire. "Conclusion: very strong."

Enzo ignored his words. He had more important things to deal with, like not getting his head ripped off. Damon shot towards him, a maniacal look in his eyes, veins pulsing angrily, and it was only through sheer instinct that Enzo managed to throw him across the room. Not that it mattered, as the infected vampire was back on his feet within seconds. He shot across the room and, this time, Enzo wasn't able to push him away. Damon's fangs snapped far too close to his neck and he muttered, fingers digging into the other's shoulders, "Boy, do I miss the indestructible Augustine cage right now." Enzo tried to dodge back, but Damon's fingers hooked into his belt, dragging him forward. After that, it took mere moments for his fangs to sink into his friend's neck. Enzo let out a shout of pain, desperately trying to push the ravenous vampire away, "Damon, stop! Please, stop, Damon! Stop! Damon!"

But the infected vampire paid no heed to his words or the fierce shoves. The virus had made him too strong and it had taken hold of his mind. No, all Damon could think about was the blood gushing into his mouth, soothing the painful hunger. Enzo continued begging for his life, desperately praying for someone to rush in and rescue him, before his head was ripped off. And he knew that the likelihood of that happening was getting far too close for his liking.

Enzo was saved by an unlikely hero.

Seconds after his voice reached a pained pitch, one that spoke of the unspeakable agony that he was enduring, Damon let him go. The other vampire started choking on the blood in his mouth, dropping to his knees. He desperately spat out the blood, gasping for air as his entire mouth burned. It was enough to break through the insanity in his mind, hunger satiated, for now.

"What did you do to him?!" Enzo snapped, glaring at the intruders at the door, while he crouched down next to his friend, ignoring every instinct in his body that screamed at him to stay away.

He placed a hand on Damon's back while Wes shrugged, "My friends here raised the acidity in your blood. There must be some witchy explanation for it, but Damon's basically drinking hydrochloric acid. I suggest you leave before the spell wears off."

"And go where?" the former Augustine vampire scoffed, pressing his knee against Damon's side as the other vampire gave a shuddering gasp. "With you?"

"There's one more thing that I need from you," the doctor crossed his arms, a familiar, intense look on his face, and Enzo wondered if remaining with Damon was, indeed, the safer option. "Then I'll let you go for good. The other option is to stay in here with your cannibal friend and see how long you last."

Enzo was about to spit out something unflattering and dramatic, when Damon reached up to grab his arm, giving it a squeeze. He glanced down at his friend, only for him to hear, "Go, Enzo. I tried kill you, I'll do it again." He shook his head, only for Damon's grip to turn tight, "Enzo, remember your promise. You're her only hope. Please."

And despite every instinct screaming at him to remain with his friend, Enzo nodded. He knew of Damon's desperate need to save his girl and right now, he was the only one who could do so. So with a regretful sigh, he gave Damon's arm a squeeze before standing up. He grabbed his coat, making sure to leave Damon's phone within reach, before slowly walking over to the open door.

Enzo gave his friend, his only friend, one final, regretful look before walking out of the building.

XXX

I opened my eyes and immediately squeezed them shut again. I paid no attention to the ropes around my wrists, burning my skin, as they hung me from the ceiling, forcing me up on tip toes, to take the weight off my shoulders. No, it took all of my energy to not spiral into the panic attack that had been building for hours. And where was I, I hear you ask? Well, I was back in that house, that fucking house, where Luke died. I was in the basement, doing a wonderful impression of Stefan, and forced to stare at the corner where I had found his body, discarded without care.

It was a moment of my life that I would never forget, one that would forever be seared into my brain. I had thought myself lucky, that my nightmares had stayed away from this room and this moment. But apparently, they were just waiting for me to be at my weakest. And after encountering both of my parents, after listening to their disappointment, I had never felt so broken. I had stopped fighting the nightmares, just letting them torment as they desired.

I flinched as a gentle hand brushed my cheek before reluctantly opening my eyes and staring at the man in front of me. Luke stared back with soft eyes, but I knew that it wouldn't last. It never did. Of course, I never expected to see his face changing, fangs descending and the veins beneath his eyes pulsing. I knew that he had died a vampire, it was something that we had talked about, when he returned as a ghost. But it was hard for me to believe, it was thing abstract thing, until now. Until I was forced to confront the true horror of what the tomb vampires had done to him.

If I glanced down, I would be able to see the gaping hole in his chest, where his heart had been. I never did find out exactly how he died. It was just something that I didn't want to know. But now I did and I couldn't stop myself from whispering, "I'm so sorry."

"Oh Alexa," my first love sighed, shaking his head as his hand gently stroked my cheek. "Still apologising."

"I have a lot to apologise for," I winced, glancing away from those blue eyes, instead staring at the corner where they had discarded his body. "You wouldn't be dead, if it wasn't for me. I forced Bonnie and Grams to lower the seal to the tomb. If they had just left it alone… they wouldn't have escaped."

"Alexa, it's okay," Luke gave me a small smile and for one single moment, I hoped that the nightmares would be nice to me. Oh, it was a foolish hope. I know that. But I had to hope. Because I knew that I couldn't cope with the alternative. "I accepted your part in my death a long time ago. But you know what really hurts?"

I shook my head, desperately whispering his name, hoping that he wouldn't say what I thought he would. Because we both knew why I demanded for that seal to be lowered. We had managed to avoid talking it about it last time, in the real world. But I knew that I wouldn't be that lucky this time. So I closed my eyes, a tear trickling down my cheek, as I whispered, "Please don't do this."

"You need to hear it," the boy I grew up with, the one that I loved but was too scared to tell, shook his head. "Because you did get me killed, Alexa. You begged those witches to lower the seal to save Damon Salvatore."

"He was my friend," I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling more tears drip down my face, unable to raise my voice beyond a rasp. "And I refused to betray him."

"And because of that, I died," Luke gripped my chin, squeezing until I opened my eyes, forcing me to look at him. "Jazz died. My parents died. They went through unspeakable agony because of you, Alexa. And you deserve to suffer for that."

"I know I do," I didn't have the energy to fight his words. Because they were true. His death, his family's deaths, they were on my head. Their blood was on my hands. And there was no point in trying to deny that, to deny the truth. "And I will never forgive myself for what happened to them."

"Neither will I," he released his grip on my chin and took a couple of steps back. I watched through teary eyes as he shook his head, crossing his arms and looking down. "I never thought that the girl I loved so much would hurt me like that. I died because she was too loyal to a vampire and then she went and fell in love with him. I had to watch as you betrayed everything I stood for, Alexa. I got a front row view of my girl falling for a vampire, letting him claim her as his. It was disgusting." I stayed silent, because what could I say? There were no words that would make this better. Nothing could soothe his hurt. And I didn't deserve to make things better. It was true, I had hurt him. And even though I had fought my feelings for Damon for so long, it didn't really matter. Because in the end, I fell in love with a vampire. "Aren't you going to say something?"

"What can I say?" I murmured, slumping forward, my toes losing their grip on the ground, all of my weight now supported by my shoulders. "There are no words that I can say to make things better, to bring you back to life. All I can do, is let you rant and rave, scream out your pain and frustration. And I'll take it all, because it is what I deserve."

Luke stared at me and those blue eyes, once so soft and kind, held only hatred, "You should have died in this house."

And you know what? He was right.

XXX

Damon didn't know how long he sat in the home belonging to the deceased Farmer John before he heard footsteps outside. It was definitely in the hours, but considering he wasn't insane with hunger again, it couldn't have been more than eight. After Enzo had left with Wes, the infected vampire had moved over to the wall, resting against it while he stared at the floor. He knew that he had to accept the truth now, that he couldn't save his Alexa. It wasn't that he didn't trust Enzo to save her, in fact, he was probably the only one that he trusted, he just needed to save her himself. He had always promised his girl that he would get her out of trouble. But because of Wes and Augustine, he was going to break that promise.

He glanced up as the floorboards by the door creaked, only to see Elena Gilbert standing in the open doorway. It took a moment for the vampire to realise that he had company, and when he did, he shook his head, "Elena, don't." At the raised eyebrow that he got, he frowned, "Do not." But the foolish girl didn't listen and instead moved to step inside the house, almost trapping herself with an infected vampire. But she was stopped when Stefan appeared at her side, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I said don't!"

The younger Salvatore glanced around the room, spying the blood on the floor, the broken chairs, the smashed window, and frowned, "What exactly happened in here?"

"I wanted revenge," Damon's voice was quiet again, but he watched the other two with sharp eyes. The older Salvatore was more than prepared to wait inside the farmhouse until Wes returned, looking to lock him back up in whatever lair he had claimed this time. Enzo would save Alexa, that was the main thing. "I got stuck with a vampire virus, almost killed my only remaining friend. Typical Damon."

The last words were muttered bitterly and it had his brother's frown deepening. But before he could say anything, before he could truly evaluate his brother's mental state, the girl next to him spoke up, "Enzo texted me the address, he told us where you were. Damon, we're to help you."

"You can't help me!" the infected vampire snapped, shaking his head as his hand returned to its place covering Alexa's ring. "I feed on vampires now. Stefan's a vampire. So do yourselves a favour and just leave."

A stubborn look appeared on Stefan's face as he squared his shoulders, "Well, that's not going to happen."

He knew, now, that he should have done something to stop his brother's self-destructive streak before he left Mystic Falls, before he left everyone who could have helped him. He should have found the right words to pierce through his brother's heartbreak. Maybe… maybe he should have listened when Damon insisted that Alexa wouldn't end their relationship via her sister and then ditch town. But that didn't matter now. No, the only thing that mattered was getting his big brother home and finding a cure for Wes' ripper virus.

Damon shoved himself to his feet, speeding towards the door, the veins beneath his eyes pulsing, fangs out. He was stopped by the barrier spell, still there, even though the Travelers had left. But that didn't stop him from spitting out, "Stay back!"

"I'm not afraid of you, Damon," his brother said softly, while both of them ignored the doppelganger staggering back a step, biting her lip to hide a gasp. While she knew of the ripper virus, Katherine hadn't seen it in action. But the insane look that lingered in Damon's eyes unnerved her. And even though she wanted the older Salvatore dead, Katherine wasn't sure if she was willing to risk injury to get that done. Was it worth it to traumatise Stefan and get him to lower his barriers? That was what she had to ask herself.

Damon paused at Stefan's words, looking frustrated that his idiot brother wasn't heeding his warnings. Despite their animosity over the past one hundred odd years, Damon didn't want to hurt his brother, not anymore. Their time in Mystic Falls had helped to heal a lot of old wounds. And the last thing that he wanted was to cause his younger brother's death. Which was why he let out an annoyed groan, turning his back to the newcomers and walking over to the couch, ignoring the pool of blood on the floor next to him.

Katherine, having decided that getting hurt would only get her some sympathy, saw her opportunity to take out the more annoying Salvatore brother, stepped into the building while declaring, "Neither am I."

Damon spun around at her words, eyes wide as he realised that the older Gilbert twin had once again done something stupid, muttering, "No. No. No." Speeding over, he grabbed her shoulders, squeezing a tad too hard, as he tried to shove her out of the house. "You've gotta get out. I don't know if human blood is a trigger too." After a few more shoves, and winces from the doppelganger, Damon let out a frustrated shout, "What the hell is wrong with you!"

As the vampire let go of her, Katherine walked further into the room, having spotted the pool of blood on the floor. Judging from the blood that stained Damon's jumper, she thought it save to assume that it was vampire blood. Especially since Enzo was absent. While she knew nothing of the newest member of the Mystic Falls gang, she felt it safe to believe that he wouldn't abandon his friend. Once she reached the blood, Katherine turned around, a determined look on her face, "I'm proving to you that you're not a lost cause, Damon."

"I don't care what you want to prove, Elena," Damon shook his head, clenching his fists as he fought the urge to shake some sense into the foolish girl. "In fact, I don't even want to look at you."

The doppelganger ignored his words and instead crouched down to wipe her hand through the blood, holding it up, before climbing to her feet. She stepped closer to the infected vampire, "Damon, the blood doesn't control you, you can resist this." And even though the girl in front of him was human, Damon found his face changing. The warmth of her human hand had started to warm up the discarded blood, reminding him that he hadn't drank enough earlier. He could feel the hunger lurking at the edge of his mind, ready to take over, eating away all rational thought. "And you know why you can resist this? Because you love my sister and you won't hurt her twin. Your love for Alexa is stronger than any craving."

"Get away from me, Elena," the older vampire growled low in his throat, turning away from the doppelganger. He glanced at his brother and couldn't quite hide the desperation in his eyes. And it prompted Stefan to speak up, needing to put an end to the girl's foolish plan.

"Elena, back away from him."

"Let me do this, Stefan," she shook her head, continuing to slowly walk forward. "Let me do this for Alexa. If he can resist this blood, then he will be safe to be around her."

The sound of his girl's name broke Damon's control. He had continued to blame the older Gilbert twin for Alexa's predicament and in his current state, he wasn't able to fight those dark, ugly feelings. Which was why he sped forward, wrapping his hands around the doppelganger's neck. He squeezed hard as he spat, "If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't be in danger! You should have known that something was wrong when she gave you her ring!"

Stefan froze for a second before the girl's choked gasp had him speeding forward. He tried to pull Damon away, but he was too strong, thanks to Wes' virus. His anger and fear and panic had formed a toxic mess, one that was exasperated by the hunger that was never quite satisfied. The younger Salvatore continued to try and pull his brother's hand away from Katherine's neck, shouting out his name, as she wheezed, "He's going to kill me."

Stefan felt something knock against his foot and saw the girl kicking a broken chair leg in his direction. And he couldn't quite believe that Elena Gilbert was asking him to kill his brother. It was a thought that didn't process. And one that could be ignored. But it did give him an idea.

The younger brother crouched down, picking up a shard of glass, remembering what Alexa did to distract Jesse from feeding on Damon. The smell of vampire blood was able to pierce through everything, and it was a theory that he was praying was right. So Stefan sliced through the soft skin of his forearm.

At the smell, Damon immediately let go of Alexa's twin. Katherine dropped to the ground, coughing wildly, desperately trying to breathe again. She watched through wet eyes as Damon turned to face his brother, listening to the soft words, "Here, Damon, look over here. Do you smell that? Leave Elena alone, focus only on this."

The older brother slowly approached the younger, a hesitant edge to his steps, before he whispered, "Stefan, please."

And Stefan immediately knew what he wanted. It was with a regretful look that he did what Damon had been asking for ever since he was trapped in this house with Enzo. Stefan held his brother's body close after snapping his neck, wondering how everything had gone wrong so quickly, before looking over at his ex. Katherine looked away, glancing down at the makeshift stake before sighing, wondering what she had to do in order to get Damon Salvatore out of the picture permanently.

XXX

As was customary, I was woken up by a kick to the leg. I let out a low groan as everything ached, before slowly opening my eyes. It took far too much effort and a part of me wondered how long it would be before I didn't have the energy to even open my eyes. I couldn't even remember the last time that I was fed and I refused to look at the grey tinge to my skin. How long would it be before I actually desiccated? Probably wouldn't be long.

I was distracted from my morbid thoughts by a throat being cleared. I glanced up, resting my head against the rocky wall behind me, and sighed as Katherine stared down at me. She looked far too happy and I had to take a moment to check that she was still human. Happy Katherine only meant bad things for my loved ones. But at least she hadn't turned my sister's body into a vampire yet. Although, Ellie wasn't the only loved one that she was willing to fuck over right now.

"What did you do?" I rasped, before wincing as it irritated my sore throat. It was so dry that even breathing was painful at times. But I couldn't focus on that. No, I needed to make sure that Damon was okay, that she hadn't hurt him, like she wanted to.

"Well, I nearly managed to get Stefan to kill his brother," the bitch shrugged, still looking like the cat that caught the canary, before crouching down in front of me. "It was so satisfying."

"But he's okay? Damon's okay?" I quickly asked, trying to sit up, but my body refused to listen to me. All it did was weaken me further, a few more drops of blood oozing from my wrists. It was worth it, if it meant that I got answers about my boyfriend. The thought that he was out there, alone, infected with Wes' fucking virus, was one that killed me. I was just lucky that my nightmares hadn't confronted me with that scenario. But they had carefully avoided my beloved and I wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing.

"He's, unfortunately, still alive," Katherine rolled her eyes, flicking my knee before wrinkling her nose as the blood still staining my skin flaked away. I knew that I was a filthy mess, but cleanliness was not something that I particularly cared about in that moment in time. "Stefan gave him some vervain before locking him up in the Boarding House cell."

"Thank god," I breathed out, body relaxing against the wall. Well, it felt like it was relaxing, but to be honest, it probably didn't even move. Not that I cared. Damon was okay, he was back home. And with the others around, there was no possible way for Katherine to hurt him. No, my beloved was okay. And that was what mattered.

"I wouldn't relax too much if I were you," Bitcherine smirked, and it looked so alien on my twin's face that I had to blink. I knew that it wasn't Elena, I knew that my twin sister was being possessed by her evil doppelganger, but sometimes, it was easy to forget. And then Katherine made an expression like that and it all came screaming back. "I will kill Damon, it's only a matter of time. I have easy access to him now, and Stefan won't be home all the time."

"If you hurt him then I will kill you," I narrowed my eyes as my heart pounded. I had to believe that Damon would be okay, that she wouldn't be able to take my boyfriend from me. He was supposed to be safe here. And the others were already looking for a cure to the virus, it shouldn't be too long until they found one. Then once he was cured, Katherine would have no excuses, she wouldn't be able to hurt my beloved, not without revealing her evil little scheme.

"Oh Alexa," the bitch shook her head, looking far too smug. "You're going to be stuck down here for the rest of your life. I'm going to kill Damon and then leave you down here to suffer for the next few decades, before finally putting you out of your misery."

"You're still human, dumbass, you won't have the strength to kill me in a few decades," I snapped, hating powerless I was. I had become a vampire to run away from this feeling. I had turned into a monster so that I would be able to protect my loved ones. But I was still failing them.

"I won't be human for much longer," my tormenter glared at me, finally losing the smug look that made me want to punch her.

"You said that before, so why haven't you done it yet? You too scared?" when the bitch stayed silent at my words, I paused, staring at her. Katherine Pierce didn't admit when she was scared, not to me. But her silence was the biggest answer that she could give. "You are scared, aren't you? What's wrong? Do you think that you'll finally be fucking dead if you die in this body? That your passenger bullshit won't follow you into transition?"

"Of course not," Katherine sneered, but she did stand up, moving away from me. I saw her glance at her body for a second before turning back around to face me. "I was just waiting for the right moment. After all, I will want all of Stefan's attention on me, poor little Elena, and not Damon."

"You won't get that moment," I frowned, wondering if it was worth the energy to try and kick her. "There aren't any threats in town, so there's no excuse for you to ingest any vampire blood. And you can't turn without that."

"Damon is a threat."

"Damon won't kill you, no matter what you do."

The bitch narrowed her eyes at me before snapping, "He tried to strangle me yesterday."

"It's a feeling that I share," I muttered, getting another kick for my words. "You won't get your way, Katherine, and it's only a matter of time before the others find out what you did."

"It doesn't matter," the older woman sniffed, walking over to the exit before giving me one final glare. "Because you'll be down here, a desiccated husk, and no one is going to save you."

"I don't care about being saved," I whispered, watching my tormenter leave, knowing that it would be the last time that she was down here. "All I care about is someone saving my twin."

XXX

Damon opened his eyes and immediately groaned at the sight of the Boarding House cell. It was the same one that he had shared with Alexa all those months ago, her fairy lights still decorating the walls, providing a little bit of comfort. It gave him something of hers to focus on, since he wasn't sure if the chains around his wrists would allow him to touch her ring.

The older Salvatore glanced up when he felt eyes on him, making eye contact with his brother, who was standing in the open door, half-full glass of bourbon in his hand. And Damon couldn't help but dramatically sigh, "Ahh, I know you can't help yourself, but if you bring home a rabid animal, then you're gonna get bit."

He stretched out his legs, appreciating the fact that his brother had placed him on the camp bed. With the way that he had left town, Damon had wondered if his brother still actually cared about him. Or if he had just tracked him down to protect the collateral damage.

Stefan continued to stare at his big brother before sighing, "I never should've told you to leave."

"Nope, don't you dare feel guilty about this," the older vampire shook his head, a stern look on his face. "This is not on you. This is on me. And Wes. Who I still need to kill. That man is a slimy little fucker."

"That sounds like something Alexa would say," Stefan shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips, before he frowned. Mentioning his friend just reminded him of that fact that she wasn't here, she wasn't answering his calls or his messages. And Stefan was definitely worried now. He knew that she would be here, she would have rushed back to town to help Damon. Even if she had, apparently, broken up with him, she would still help him. And the fact that she was still absent worried him.

"I believe she did actually use those words to describe him once," Damon reached up to place his hand over her ring, relieved that the chains were just about long enough for him to do so. He allowed himself a moment to think about his missing girl before shaking his head. "Stefan, I'm going to tell you the same thing that I told Enzo. Hopefully you're smarter than him and will actually listen. I'm going to kill you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point, I'm going to break out and rip open your throat. And you're going to die. So you need to do the sensible thing and put me out of my misery"

"Ah, come on, Damon," Stefan rolled his eyes at his brother. "You think that I'm afraid of a ripper? Who do you think invented the word? You know that feeling that you get when you're around vampire blood? That burning in your veins, I feel that on a daily basis and there's a way to control it."

"And let me guess, it would bring you no greater pleasure than to teach me," the older Salvatore scoffed bitterly, slumping back against the wall, adjusting the chains as he did so.

"Not right now," the other vampire shook his head. "Maybe later, once I've had another drink and you've had a chance to think about what a royal pain in the ass you've been lately. You're my brother, Damon, I'm not going to give up on you. I never will."

Damon stared at his brother, needing a moment, before sighing, "At least you haven't, because she sure as hell has."

"You're talking about Elena?" Stefan frowned, wondering if the other vampire had noticed the same thing that he had. Because sometimes he did still think that he imagined it. There was no way that Elena had practically told him to kill his brother. But Damon's next words had him doubting that belief.

"Elena knew how pissed I was at her, there was no way that Jeremy had kept that little gem to himself. I blame her for Alexa being taken because you should all know by now that she didn't willingly leave town. And she poked and prodded at that anger until I snapped," the older Salvatore paused, pressing his hand against Alexa's ring hanging around his neck. Stefan's eyes followed the movement. He had seen the ring earlier and he had made sure to keep it safe while his brother was on his timeout, ensuring that it was returned to its place around his neck. "She caused me to snap and then she just kicked you a stake and essentially told you to kill me."

"So, what are you saying?" he needed to ask, needing his brother to say the words that had haunted his drive home. "Are you saying that Elena wanted me to kill you?"

"You got another explanation for her actions?" Damon shrugged and Stefan shook his head. "That's what I thought."

"Something's wrong with Elena," the younger vampire muttered, wondering how he hadn't put it together sooner. He went to say more, but his brother's voice interrupted him.

"Elena isn't the priority right now, Alexa is," Damon's voice was hard and it had his brother wincing. "Enzo has promised me that he will find her, but I need you to promise me the same. Get her witch friend down here and do a location spell. Hell, get Bonnie's new little bestie to do one. I'll play the good little prisoner if you promise me that you and the rest of the annoying little bunch upstairs rescue my girl."

Stefan paused, staring at his brother, at the determined look on his face, before nodding, "I'll speak to Bonnie and get a location spell done. I… I, uh, I think you might be right. No one has been able to get in contact with Alexa since she broke up with you and left town."

"Shocker," the elder frowned, shaking his head, before closing his eyes. "If you don't find her within a week, then I'm breaking out of here, cure or no cure. I refuse to be separated from my girl for much longer."

XXX

It was the panic that kept me awake after Katherine left. The tightness in my chest and the wheezy rasps were the only signs of my latest panic attack, one of many and probably not the last. Well, if I managed to stay awake, to fight the blood loss and desiccation.

It was like the rest of my body had frozen, either through fear or just because it didn't have the energy to move. I kinda hoped that it was because of the fear that I could feel clawing away at my mind. The fear that Katherine would kill Damon, taking him away from me. The fear that she would get away with stealing my sister's body, turning it into a vampire and living her very underserved happily ever after. But I knew that it wasn't the true reason for my body's inability to do more than heave in shuddering, painful breaths.

Before, each time I managed to move my hands, even if it was just a twitch, I could feel my blood oozing from the wounds, dripping down my arm to fall into the red puddles on either side of me. But now? Now there was no blood. I knew that it was a sign that my body was giving up, that it had lost too much blood and was getting ready to shut down. My skin was grey and I could feel my fangs poking at my lips. I remembered what the tomb vampires had looked like when they were desiccated husks, back when we thought that Katherine had done the decent thing and gotten herself locked up in the tomb, waiting for Damon to save her. But no, the bitch hadn't done that and had instead broken a lot of hearts and destroyed a lot of lives. Nope, don't think about that woman, she didn't deserve to take up space in my brain. Although, thinking about what a desiccated vampire looked like wasn't that much more pleasant.

I knew that I was fighting the inevitable, by refusing to let myself fall into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness. It was only a matter of time before I passed out for the last time. But each moment that I stayed awake for a moment of hope. Maybe someone could find me, someone could stumble upon the tomb, as I highly doubted that human Katherine was able to move the huge stone to block the entrance. It was a foolish hope, as no one had managed to find me since I was locked up down here, which was god knows how long ago. But I needed to cling onto something. Because the thought of passing out and being stuck with the nightmares was not a pleasant one.

I tore my gaze away from the entrance to my tomb and instead looked at Mia's body. It looked like the bloating was going down, from what I could tell in the dim lighting. Even though the sun was up outside, it was still gloomy down here. Although, now that I think about it, that could be because my eyesight was failing me. It was yet another sign of my body shutting down, which was such a fucking joy. I guess not being able to see the tomb and Mia's decomposing body wasn't the worst thing. The image was already seared into my memory and it had been the background to quite a few nightmares. And, if I was being honest, it would probably be the background to quite a few more. I knew that once I passed out, I would be forced back into that endless loop. And this time, I didn't have the hope of waking up.

No, I could feel the exhaustion creeping across my brain, a darkness at the edge of my vision, waiting to take me forever. The lack of blood was something that I couldn't fight. I had experienced it before, this starvation, but at least then I had people willing to give me a bit of blood, just to keep me alive. But Katherine wanted me to suffer down here, desiccating and starving. Not only had she told me that many times, I had seen the glee in her eyes whenever I struggled to move, when I had failed to stay awake.

While I didn't want her to get her way, I never wanted her to get her way, that fucking bitch, I knew that she would win this. I wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer, I could already feel my body getting heavier. The sharp rocks in the wall behind me dug into my back, catching on my hair, and I couldn't move away from them. My arms hung limply at my side, the spikes from the bear traps digging further into my skin. But since no blood oozed from the wounds, I found that I didn't care. The pain was minimal and I was used to it. No, it was nothing more than an itch in the back of my mind. One that I could ignore. Hell, I would probably embrace it, once the nightmares got vicious. I would rather deal with the physical pain, over the unhealed wounds that they would tear open.

As my eyes slipped closed, all I could do was mouth an apology to my twin, to my beloved. I had failed them. I wasn't strong enough to stay awake, to find a way to escape. And now, because of my weakness, because of my failure, Katherine was free to do whatever she wanted. She would try to kill Damon; she would try to turn my sister's body into a vampire. And there was absolutely nothing that I could do to stop her. I would be stuck down here, a desiccated husk, drowning in nightmares. And as I felt my body give in to the blood loss, I knew that I deserved it. I had hurt so many people, killed so many people, continuously failed my loved ones. And this was my punishment.

XXX

Caroline and Tyler were sat on the chairs by the fireplace in the Salvatore Boarding House parlour, murmuring to each other as they sipped at their bourbon when Stefan entered. He paused, glancing at the teenagers, before sighing and shaking his head. He truly hoped that they had been more successful in their mission than he had been in his. Yes, he had brought his brother back home, but Damon was still infected with Wes' ripper serum and he was no closer to working out what was wrong with Elena.

"Hey, when did you two get here?" the younger Salvatore kept his voice soft as he approached his friends, topping up his drink on the way. Caroline glanced over with a smile while Tyler got up to carry over a third chair. Stefan gave him a nod of thanks before settling down, relaxing in front of the warm fire.

"Not that long ago," the blonde answered, holding out her glass for Stefan to refill it with the decanter that he had brought over. "You were talking to Damon otherwise we would have come down."

"How is he?" Tyler asked, adjusting in his seat, putting his back to the fire.

"Damon is, uh, willing to play nice for now," Stefan shook his head, glancing away from the hybrid's curious eyes as he remembered his brother's words. "Did you find Matt?"

"Yeah, he was, apparently, with Nadia," Caroline's eye twitched at the mention of the older vampire. "She's still compelling him to forget things."

"What kind of things?" the younger Salvatore frowned, leaning forward slightly. He had hoped that Nadia had left the human alone, after Tyler confronted her. But no, she was still with him and that was worrying.

"Who knows?" the blonde sighed, pulling out her phone. "He tried to message me, but Nadia must have stopped him." Caroline exchanged a glance with her boyfriend while she opened the message that Matt sent her. "'Help. K' was all I got." While Stefan stared at the message, the younger vampire hesitated before asking, "So… you and Elena. What's the verdict?"

"Um, well, the verdict is…" the eldest in the room paused for a moment, searching for the right words, before shaking his head. "She's acting strange. She kissed me."

"Excuse me?" Caroline's voice hit a pitch that had Tyler wincing. His girlfriend had been obsessing over Stefan and Elena ever since she found them together in the Boarding House. She had always been a bit weird about their relationship but even she had agreed that they needed space after everything that had happened during their Senior year.

"Yeah," Stefan frowned, thinking back on what had happened the previous day. "My car broke down, so we got a hotel room so she could shower and…"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah," the younger vampire held up her hand as she interrupted him, eyes narrowing slightly. "You guys got a hotel room? With a shower?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't like that," the elder shook his head, letting Tyler fill up his glass. "I would have said no, but I was hoping to speak to her about Alexa. She had been avoiding the question the entire journey before then."

"And did you get any answers about Alexa?" the hybrid eagerly asked, his worry for his best friend, his adopted sister, clear in his voice. "She still isn't answering my messages and I know that she would be here to help Damon."

"Nothing that we don't already know," Stefan replied with a sympathetic wince. "But you are right, she would be here if she knew that something was wrong. Especially if something was wrong with Damon."

"Does he still believe that something bad has happened to her?" Caroline's voice was soft as she voiced the question that she had been trying to avoid. It was an unspoken thing amongst the gang at this point. Alexa was never out of contact for this long, she didn't ignore messages, leaving them on unread. Even when she had her humanity off, she at least acknowledged them, normally with a bitchy remark.

The younger Salvatore brother nodded with a sigh, "He tried to strangle Elena, blaming her for Alexa being in danger and for no one believing it." At the shocked gasps that he got, he quickly held up his hand. "She's fine, no damage was done other than a bit of a scare. But… Damon thinks that she was trying to get me to kill him tonight. That she provoked him by talking about Alexa and then she kicked a stake towards me."

"But that's insane, they're friends, why would Elena want Damon dead?" Tyler frowned, exchanging a glance with his girlfriend. "She might be mad about the Aaron thing, but she wouldn't try and kill him. Even if it was just for Alexa's sake."

But Stefan was barely listening to his words, his mind whirring. Elena had been acting weird ever since Katherine died. That was when Alexa went missing. Both twins were out of contact for that day, before the younger one suddenly broke up with her boyfriend and ran away. It was so out of character for the girl but everyone had chalked it up to the trauma from the Augustine lab. But then Elena acted like she didn't care. All she wanted to do was be around him. It wasn't like her; it was more like…

"Matt texted you 'Help. K' before Nadia stopped him," Stefan's voice was urgent as he forced the other two to look at him. "'K' as in Katherine. And when Katherine was dying, Nadia figured out a way to put Katherine's spirit inside Nadia's body."

"Yeah, but that didn't happen because Katherine had a change of heart," Caroline shook her head before pausing, eyes wide, a horrified look on her face. "No… No… you don't think that… it's impossible that she'd be…. We'd have noticed! It's Elena! We know her… oh my god…"

"Alexa never left town," Tyler whispered, closing his eyes as he realised just how much they had all failed the twins. "Katherine did something to her, after she started possessing Elena. Damon was right."

XXX

A/N: And they finally know! This mini-arc was quite frustrating while watching it, but damn, it did give me a lot of plot ideas haha I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And thank you so much for all the reviews, especially to VampireDiariesFan24/ginamills06, I truly enjoyed each one and your reaction to what happened! We've now got over 600 reviews and let's keep them coming! I am tempted to update again early in the new year, I'm just deciding what to do about my backlog as I don't know how much writing time I will be getting once Feb hits! Until then, I hope you enjoyed xoxo