"This has Katherine written all over it," Stefan said outside Mystic Falls High School.

"Katherine's in the tomb," Damon said. "Trust me. I'm the one who shut her in."

"Did you?"

"Did I what, Stefan?"

"Well, I know the hold that Katherine has on you."

"She's in the tomb, period. End of story but she did say something to me right before I shut her in. I thought she was lying."

"What did she say?"

"Elena's in danger."

"What? And you didn't think you should ask her to elaborate?"

"Everything she says is a lie. How am I supposed to know if she's gonna start spouting out the truth?"

"We have to go talk to her."

"No, no. Let me tell you how that's gonna go: We're gonna go ask her for help, she's gonna negotiate her release which we're gonna be dumb enough to give her and she's gonna get out and kill us! This is exactly what she wants!"

"I don't really care."

"It's a bad idea, Stefan."

"It's Elena."

"Both of you, shut up. I don't know who took my sister, but I'm going to find her, with or without your help," I interrupted.

"Without," Damon said, walking away.

I let out a sigh and Stefan looked at me warily. We were thinking the same thing. There was no way we were going to make it through a car ride alone without talking about the one thing neither of us wanted to talk about.

"You talk to Bonnie, I'll talk to Damon."

"Bonnie?" he questioned.

"For a locator spell, what else?"

I made my way after Damon, shouting his name but he ignored me.

I looked around to make sure no one was watching before vamp speeding into his passenger seat as he got in the driver's seat.

"Someone could have seen you," he muttered, putting his seat belt on but I covered his hand with mine, stopping him.

"Please come Damon."

He was quiet for a moment before facing me.

"Why should I?" he asked, facing me, "Stefan is already blaming me for this and we don't even know what happened."

"Despite how much you two argue or claim you're pissed at each other, you're a good team. You and Stefan are like the rescue Elena supersquad. You can't do it without each other."

He looked down at me unconvinced.

"Please," I begged again, "For me?"

He let out a reluctant huff before nodding.

"Thank you," I smiled softly before hopping back out of the car, Damon following behind me.

-

"No, no, I'm coming with you!" Jeremy shouted in Alaric's classroom.

"God, I swear, he's going to get himself killed one day," I commented, looking up at Damon who simply rolled his eyes.

"No Jeremy, you're not," Stefan spoke.

"No, I'm not gonna just sit here. What if she's hurt?"Jeremy said worried, "Or worse? What if she's...?"

"She's not. You two go back to your house just in case. I'll call you the minute I find her."

"Well, you can't do this alone."

We entered the room and Damon spoke, grabbing everyone's attention, "He's not. Let's go."

"You're coming with me?" Stefan asked in shock.

Damon looked at me for a brief moment before looking up at everyone, "It's Elena."

"She gets to go!" Jeremy whined.

"You don't have these," I said, flashing my vampire teeth. "Now get home and wait there before I kick your ass from here to next Tuesday."

-

"Alaric sure likes his weapons," Damon said as he looked at the vampire killing arsenal in the back of his trunk.

Stefan was looking over a little bottle with vervain in it.

"What the hell is that?" Damon asked.

"I don't know, it's a vervain bomb or a grenade launcher or something like that," Stefan shrugged.

"Weird."

"Let's go," I commented, growing impatient, "Now."

-

"Hey, how much further is it?" Stefan asked, breaking the ongoing silence.

"About 80 miles," Damon answered.

"Who do you think took her?"

"Someone from Katherine's past. She said she was running from someone. They got the wrong girl."

"Thank you for helping me."

"Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing? The cliche of it all makes me itch."

"Oh, come on Damon. We both know that you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with me anyway."

"The elephant in the room lets out a mighty roar."

"Do elephants even roar?" I asked from the back seat, "I thought that was lions."

The two looked back at me as though they forgot I was there.

"Yep, still here."

-

"We're getting close," Stefan said, "Jeremy said there's an access road just past mile marker 6."

Damon pulled a blood bag from the back seat and started drinking it, glancing over at Stefan, "If you want some, just ask."

"I want some," Stefan answered and I almost spit out my own blood bag.

"Ah, that's so sweet. You're gonna be all big and strong and save your girl but don't worry, I've got your back. It'll be fine."

"I'm not joking. I've been drinking a little every day. I'm slowly increasing my intake and building up my strength."

Damon raised an eyebrow but handed him the blood bag anyway, "Does Elena know you're drinking blood?'

"I've been drinking hers."

"Hmm, how romantic," Damon commented, "Since we're road trip bonding, remember the days when all you lived for was blood? You were the guy who ripped someone apart just for the fun of it."

"You mean when I was more like you?"

"Yes, Stefan, exactly. Back when you put blood into me so I could be a big bad vampire. I wonder if Elena would be so quick to open her veins to that guy. By the way, what happened to that guy? He was a hoot."

"I guess he found something else to live for."

-

Some time later, Damon stopped the car off the road, not far from the house.

"The house should be just beyond those trees," Damon pointed at the trees, "Wait here, I got a lot more experience than you do with these sorts of things."

"What is your point?"

"My point is, whoever has Elena is probably who was after Katherine in 1864 and before that."

"And?"

"And it puts them at 500 years old and strong. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, I'm certain I want to do it."

"Because if we go in that house, we may not come back out."

"Alright, then I won't come out."

"So noble, Stefan."

"I can't think of a better reason to die, but if you want to stay here, I'll totally understand."

"Oh would you two shut up already," I rolled my eyes and walked past them.

-

"What is that?" some tall, very handsome man asked.

"I don't know," the girl answered honestly.

"Who else is in this house?"

"I don't know."

The man grabbed Elena and moved to a different part of the house, Stefan and Damon circling them with super speed.

He threw Elena into the girls arms, "Rose."

"I don't know who it is," Rose answered.

"Up here," Stefan said at the top of the stairs.

The man vamp sped to the top of the stairs when Damon appeared at the bottom, "Down here."

Damon threw a stake at him and it got lodged in his hand. Elijah easily removed the stake.

Damon took Rose and Stefan took Elena, the brothers shushing them immediately.

"Excuse me," the angered man spoke, "To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't. Do you hear that?"

He broke the wooden coat rack and created a makeshift stake, "I repeat, you cannot beat me. So I want the girl, I'm gonna count to three or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"

Elena appeared at the top of the stairs, "I'll come with you, just please don't hurt my friends, they just wanted to help me out."

He vamp sped to the top of the stairs, stake in hand, "What game are you playing with me?"

"There is no game," Elena said before pulling the stick out of the grenade and tossing it at the man.

The man caught it in confusion, dropping the stake before it exploded causing him to stumble down the stairs.

Damon was quick to act, stake in hand but the man healed in no time. The man was trying to get the stake when I tackled him.

"Katherine?" he asked, looking at me.

"No," I answered, still holding him down, "And I'm tired of people mistaking me for that bitch."

My fangs grew from the anger building up, I put my hand up to the makeshift dagger that Damon held and it flew to me, confusing everyone, before ramming it into his heart, "Take that, asshole."

Rose saw that he was finished off and left, Damon tried to go after her but Elena stopped him.

"Just let her go."

He nodded and she walked down the stairs, right into Stefan's arms, "Hey come here. Are you hurt? Are you okay?"

I hopped up off the floor and turned to Damon who looked like a cross between confused and concerned, "What?"

Damon looked over at Stefan and Elena who shared the same look.

-

"Hey," Stefan said to Damon.

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"For being the guy who made you turn 145 years ago."

"Enough Stef, it's late. Don't need to rehash that."

"You know what? I've never said it out loud. I guess I just need to say it and you need to hear it. I'm sorry. What I did was selfish. I didn't want to be alone. I guess I just needed my brother."

I cleared my throat, announcing my presence. The brothers turned to find me standing with my bag packed.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asked with furrowed brows.

"Home," I answered simply, slinging the bag over my shoulder.

"What?" Damon said, stepping in front of me, "You can't do that."

"I can and I am," I argued, "I'm ready. I have my ring. I'm in control. I am going home."

Damon looked back at Stefan but he simply shrugged and walked out of the room, leaving us alone.

Damon sighed and faced me, "How confident are you that this is a good idea?"

"Very."

"Fine. But the second something even seems off, you're coming back here. Deal?"

"Deal."