"Elena!" I shouted into the practically empty house. I had already been invited in when I first turned so it wasn't an issue.

I got no response.

Okay, I thought, maybe she's out.

"Jeremy!" I shouted, "Jenna!"

Great, nobody's home.

I walked upstairs and made my way for Elena's room to find her sleeping.

I hopped on her bed obnoxiously and sprawled out across her, "Remember when I said I told Damon everything about me? After the dream I had?"

"Mmhmm," Elena groaned as she continued to try and ignore me and fall back asleep, "Why?"

"Well I told him a little more than that."

"Meaning?"

"I kind of, sort of, um…" I trailed off, by now she was facing me, "I told him I loved him."

If she had been drinking something, she would have spit it out. Her eyes were wide, "You did what?"

"Look, I know I have a history with guys but I know how I feel and laid it all out on the table."

"What did he say?"

"Well that's the issue. He said it back, it's just...now he's being weird. It's like one second he meant what he said and the next he's giving me the cold shoulder."

"What do you mean?"

"Two days ago, he was all, 'I'm Damon and I'm too cool to care about anything.' And then yesterday when I told him that I'm going home he was all ooey gooey Damon who has a heart and actually cares."

"Wait, you're coming home?" she asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, but that's besides the point. What am I supposed to do?"

"Let him come to you."

"Huh?"

"Don't call, text, or talk to him first. Let him come to you."

"And what if he doesn't?"

"Then he's a dick."

"And that works?"

"Guess you'll find out."

"Great…"

She was going to say something else when the shrill sound of a cell phone interrupted her, "Hey."

"Elena," Stefan's voice spoke.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked and she looked at me while pointing to her ear indicating for me to listen in.

"Just meet me at the boarding house. Bring Evelyn."

She hung up the phone and turned to me. I hopped off the bed and grabbed my keys, "Guess we're about to find out if you're right."

-

We approached the door and Elena knocked.

Damon opened the door and looked at us, "Hello, you two."

"Is Stefan here?" Elena asked impatiently, "He called. He said it was important."

"Right this way," Damon answered and gestured into the house.

We entered the home, me ignoring Damon to the best of my abilities.

Eventually, Stefan showed up, “Hey.”

“What is this about?” Elena asked.

Before he could answer, the girl who had kidnapped Elena entered.

“You…” I hissed, my vampire teeth out. I went to lunge at her but someone had quickly stopped me by holding my arms back.

I looked up to see Damon who nodded at Stefan and the other three went to a different room.

“Let me go,” I mumbled, still angry.

“Are you going to try and maul her to death?”

“Can’t make any promises.”

He let go of me for a brief moment before spinning me to face him, “We need to talk.”

“About?”

“What happened with Elijah.”

“And why would we need to talk about that?”

He furrowed his eyebrows, clearly hesitant on saying anything at all.

“Out with it already.”

“That thing you did, with the stake…”

“What thing?”

“It was all the way across the room and you made it come to you.”

“It was right next to me, I just grabbed it.”

“No yo-”

“I don’t have time for this,” I dismissed before joining everyone in the other room.

“Okay, so you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?” Elena asked as I took a seat next to her.

Damon joined Rose on the other side of the room when she answered, “Yes.”

“No,” Stefan shook his head.

“What they're saying is,” Damon began, “I mean if what she's saying is true…”

“Which it is,” Rose added.

“And you're not saying it so I don't kill you.”

“Which I'm not.”

“Then we're looking at a solid maybe.”

“Look, Elijah's dead, right?” Stefan pointed out, “So no one else even knows that you exist.”

“Not that you know of,” Rose spoke.

“That's not helping,” Damon looked down at her.

"Look, I've never even met anyone who's laid eyes on him,” Stefan said, “I mean, we're talking centuries of truth mixed with fiction. We don't know if he's real. For all we know he could just be some sort of stupid bed time story.”

“He's real and he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot,” Rose shook her head.

“Alright, we're shaking,” Damon said, “You made your point.”

Elena stood up, confusing Stefan.

“Where are you going?”

“School. I’m late.”

“Let me grab my stuff, I’ll go with you.”

“It’s okay, I know where it is,” she said before walking out.

“I’ve got it covered,” I said with a sigh, following after Elena.

“You’re forgetting something!” I shouted after her, successfully grabbing her attention.

“Yeah?” she said with way more attitude than needed, “And what’s that?”

“That I’m your ride,” I said holding up the keys and passing her. I entered my car before peaking out at her, “If you keep up the attitude you can enjoy a nice long walk to school.”

She rolled her eyes at me before she opened the passenger side door and got in.

“So what’s your plan,” I asked as I pulled away from the boarding house.

“Plan?”

“Yes, plan. I know you, Elena. You always have a plan a, b and c.”

“Nope, no plan.”

-

“Is this what ‘no plan’ looks like?” I accused, walking further into the tomb to see Elena sitting in front of Katherine, “What exactly do you call this then?”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I’m a vampire with super hearing, remember?”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I shouldn’t be here? I can protect myself, you can’t!”

“I am perfectly capable of protecting myself.”

“Really?” I scoffed, “Where’s your stake?”

She looked around for a brief moment before looking back at me, “It won’t be needed.”

“Right and if you move a little too close to the entrance and your hand is across the barrier and Katherine grabs your hand and pulls you over, then what?”

“It won’t happen.”

“Yeah well, I can’t risk that.”

“Why don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not you I don’t trust,” I said, glancing at Katherine.

“I need to do this.”

“Then I’m doing it with you,” I responded simply, sitting on the floor next to her. I faced Katherine, “Go on, tell your story.”

“It’s a long one,” Katherine started, shifting to a new position, “Klaus and I. It goes all the way back to England, 1492, after I left Bulgaria. Or was thrown out.”

I looked over at Elena and saw that she was completely focused on Katherine. I shook my head and looked back at Katherine.

“Thrown out?” Elena asked.

“My family, your true ancestors, they disowned me. My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock. The shame.”

“It was kept secret?”

“My baby was given away. I was banished to England and I had to learn to adjust. So I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eye of a nobleman named Klaus. I was taken with him at first, till I found out what he was and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell.”

She began to explain that Elijah was after her with Trevor by his side. Trevor betrayed Elijah for Katherine. He was in love with her. He tricked Elijah into thinking she was where she wasn’t. My guess is Rose didn’t like Katherine for valid reasons and begged Trevor to give her up but he refused.

“What did Klaus want?” I interrupted.

“The same thing that he'll want from your sister. He wants to break the curse.”

“By sacrificing the Petrova doppelgänger,” Elena established.

“He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body.”

Elena handed another glass of blood to Katherine before asking yet another question, “What does the Petrova bloodline have to do with Klaus?”

“It's really tedious but…” Katherine began, drinking the blood and crushing the cup, “The curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The doppelgänger was created as a way to be able to undo the spell. Once the doppelgänger reapeared, the curse can be broken.”

“So you ran before he killed you?”

“Something like that.”

Katherine made it to the cottage and knocked frantically. A woman appeared and tried to refuse her entry but when she pointed out that Trevor had sent her someone new showed up. It was Rose. Katherine showed her the moonstone as proof that her story was true and Rose believed her. Rose was ready to give Katherine up, as I suspected. Katherine begged her not to but of course Rose didn’t care about her the way Trevor did, Rose didn’t care about her at all.

Rose walked in on Katherine’s attempt at killing herself. Katherine claimed she would rather die than go to Klaus but Rose gave her her blood and healed her. When Trevor arrived, Rose left leaving Katherine with the perfect opportunity.

“You killed yourself?!” Elena gasped in shock.

“Klaus needed a human doppelgänger. As a vampire, I was no longer any use to him,” she looked at me, “That’s why you’re no longer in danger.”

“But it didn't work. You didn't really escape, you've been running from Klaus ever since,” Elena responded.

“I underestimated his spirit for vengeance but living in a suitcase is better than dying so you can have your blood spilled over some silly little rock.”

“What's wrong? Afraid I'm right? You don't want to die? There's another way out,” she said before cutting her wrist with her nail and blood flowed out.

"Better hurry. Your opportunity is going, going, going..." she said as the cut healed, "And gone. I made the other choice."

"Rose and Trevor spent the last 500 years running because you used them," Elena accused, "Trevor just got killed."

"I never thought he would last that long."

"You don't even care that you ruined their lives."

"I was looking out for myself, Elena. I will always look out for myself," Katherine spoke and I side eyed Elena, "If you're smart, you'll do the same."

"So how much of your little story is true?" I asked.

"I have no reason to lie. I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot."

"The latter, hopefully soon."

"Okay," Elena interrupted, "Assuming it's even partially true, that's the reason why you came back isn't it? Because you wanted to be the one to hand me over to Klaus."

"500 years on the run, I figured maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal."

"So you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moonstone."

"Right again."

"What else do you need to break the curse?"

"Hmm, look who is getting smarter."

"It's not just me or the stone, is it? Otherwise there would be no reason to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse."

"Witches and their spells: so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice."

"So you need a werewolf?" I questioned, shifting slightly.

"Believe it or not, they're hard to come by."

"What else?"

"A witch to do the spell. Mine bailed but Bonnie will do just fine."

"And?"

"A vampire."

"Caroline…" I whispered softly.

"It could have been anyone I suppose but I like the poetry of Caroline."

"You're even more of an inconsiderate, selfish bitch than I already thought."

"Better you all die than I," Katherine shrugged simply before walking farther into the tomb, leaving Elena and I to ourselves.

Elena stood up, looking into the tomb as she grabbed the bottle of blood and her bag.

She turned to leave when someone was suddenly in front of her, "Elena."

"Stefan," Elena said quickly, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"Caroline told you."

"No, she kept your secret but it didn't take long for me to figure out what was so important that you'd have to keep it from me."

"I knew that you'd stop me."

"Listen to me, whatever she said to you is a lie. Do not listen to her. She's a liar, Elena."

"What if she isn't?" Elena asked and I stood up, "You didn't hear what she said."

"You don't have to worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

"That's the problem, you won't but you'll die trying," Elena said shaking her head, "How's that any better?"

"There's nothing you can do, Stefan," Katherine said, reappearing at the entrance of the tomb, "I haven't even told you the best part of the story."

Katherine then proceeded to tell us what happened after Klaus found out what she had done.

She arrived him to find her parents dead, at the hands of Klaus.

"He killed them, my entire family, just to get back at me for running. Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance on your friends, your family and anyone that you've ever loved."

Stefan looked at Elena and quickly started talking, "No, look at me. No, do not listen to her, okay?"

"Always the protector but even you must realize that she's doomed. There's nothing you can do to stop it unless of course you have this," Katherine said, holding the moonstone in her hand.

"Oh no, there it is," Stefan said as though she should have known all along, "It's the ultimate lie, isn't it? You spun this whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?"

"I didn't spin anything, Stefan. It's the truth."

"No, let me guess. You want to trade that stone for your freedom, you manipulative, psychotic bitch."

"My freedom? That's where you're wrong. I don't want my freedom because when Klaus shows up to kill us all and he will, I'll be in the tomb, where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town."

She looks at Elena for a brief moment before retreating into the tomb.

Stefan turns to Elena who simply walked out of the tomb.

“Let’s go Evelyn,” Stefan said as he started walking out after Elena.

“I’ll meet you guys at the house.”

“What?”

“I have questions and something tells me she’s the only one who can give me the answers I need.”