I did exactly what I said I would do: I bought a house. It was a two story house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a lovely kitchen, a living room, and a nice backyard for if I ever wanted to get a dog, or two. It was comfortable to the point where I jumped on my bed the moment the salesman left. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and enjoyed the soft sheets. It was easy buying the house when one was a vampire. How? Well, using the power of compulsion was at its finest. Looked through the internet for the few houses that were for sale in Mystic Falls, called the number for the one I liked the most, and compelled the man to give it to me for half its price.

My phone began to ring from the night stand. The ringing took me out of my comfort, and made me groan as I reached over and answered without looking at who it was. "Hello?"

"How was moving?" Damon's voice rang through the speaker. I sat up and furrowed my brows, looking down at my phone to look at the callers ID. Damon Salvatore it read.

"What do you want, Damon?" I asked, ignoring his question. It surprised me that he would call after the conversation we had the night before. I was sure he wouldn't call, I was sure he wouldn't even want to see my face. I sure didn't want to see his.

"We need your help," he sighed. "Now."

"I'm in the middle of sleeping, Damon," I sighed, running a hand down my face. "What can be so important that needs me to leave the comfort of my bed?"

"Elena's missing," he revealed. "She's been gone ever since the party last night. According to Jeremy, she didn't make it home."

"This has Katherine written all over it," Stefan's voice joined.

"Katherine's in the tomb," I said, realizing that I was on speaker. "Damon shut her in there."

"Did you?" His question wasn't directed at me, it was directed at Damon.

"Did I what, Stefan?" Damon sighed. I could imagine him rolling his eyes and looking at his brother with that annoyed look he seemed to always sport.

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

"She's in the tomb. Period. End of story," Damon assured. "But she did say something to me before I shut her in. I thought she was lying."

"What did she say?"

"Elena's in danger," he quoted.

"What?" I snapped, standing from the bed. "And you didn't think you should ask her to elaborate?"

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

"We have to talk to her," Stefan said.

"No, no!" I said, beginning to pace around my room. "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!" Stefan snapped.

"It's a bad idea, Stefan," Damon agreed with me.

"It's Elena," Stefan reasoned.

"And we're also talking about Katherine," I sighed. I pressed a hand to my forehead, and closed my eyes as I tried to think. "Ask Bonnie for help! Maybe she can help without letting Katherine out of the tomb."

"See?" Damon's voice rang. "This is why I said that we should call Clara in the first place. She's thinking straight!"

"Bonnie's bound to know some spell that can help us," I continued, ignoring Damon. "Instead of immediately going to Katherine, ask her."

"He's already gone," Damon sang into the phone. "Now we have some time for ourselves."

"Bye, Damon!" I sighed, pulling my phone away from my ear.

"Stop, stop!" he yelled. "Tell me where this new house of yours is, Clara. I should make a homely visit. Should I bring blood bags instead of flowers?"

"And why should I tell you where I live?" I walked out of my room and headed down the stairs, sighing. "Anyway, I feel like you already know." I looked at the living room to see him standing there with his phone to his ear and a smirk around his lips. He lifted up his fingers and wiggled as a form of greeting. "And there you are..." I ended the call and pushed my phone in my pocket. "I don't know why I expected something less.

"I brought a welcome home present," he said with a smile. "It's in the fridge. You're welcome, by the way."

"How did you even get in?" I asked, crossing my arms. "The door was locked."

"I have my ways," he shrugged. "Anyway, how did you move so fast? I thought you would at least spend a week looking for a place."

"Oh, please don't tell me it was through the window," I silently pleaded, shaking my head. He smiled and shrugged once again. "Damon! I'm sure it has always been the norm to knock before going into someone else's home." I ignored every other question he asked. To be honest, I didn't want to tell him how I compelled most of the things in the house as I waited for my things to arrive from Prague.

"Well, we don't have time," he sighed. "I need you to come with me to the high school. Bonnie's doing a locator spell on Elena, and we're going to go save her."

A sigh escaped my lips, as well as a soft, "Goody. I love saving Elena." I grabbed a jacket and headed out the door. Damon followed behind me. We began to walk slowly in the direction of the school, and then sped when there was no one around.

When I got to the school, I waited for Damon to go first so I could follow behind. I could hear the throng of students talk in the classrooms, teachers give their lectures, that certain student smoking in the bathroom and trying to get away from everything. As I moved through the halls, I could hear everything and everyone. It was a curse, just as much as it was a blessing.

"Well, you can't do this alone," Jeremy Gilbert's voice rang around my ears.

I stopped at the classroom and opened the door. "He's not," I grinned. "Let's go."

"You're coming with me?" Stefan asked. "You too, Damon?"

"It's Elena," I said, crossing my arms. "Now, let's go before I change my mind!"

Alaric put numerous things in a bag. Those things were numerous kinds of weapons. Before he became friends with Damon and Stefan, he was a hunter. It was obvious; I could tell by the weapons he had designed. They were to kill vampires, not to injure. I hesitated before touching any of them, especially when I accidentally ended up with vervain on my hand when I touched some spilled water on his desk. It was painful, it was horrible, it was a mistake that made me glare at Alaric and him laugh.

I sat in the back of Damon's car, and allowed Stefan to have some quality time with his brother in the front. As the music weaved through every corner of the car, I decided to pay attention to my phone. I kept receiving messages from Caroline, in which she told me about how Tyler Lockwood accidentally killed someone at the party, which meant he would turn when there was a full moon, and how Matt Donovan doesn't remember Katherine's compulsion. While I typed a new message, she typed three more.

"Alaric sure likes his weapons." Damon's voice broke the silence, mixing in with the music. "What the hell is that?" He was looking down at a little bottle in Stefan's hand.

"Vervain bomb," I answered for Stefan. "Alaric made it himself."

"Weird," Damon mumbled, shrugging.

"Hey, how much further is it?" Stefan changed the conversation.

"About eighty miles," Damon answered.

"Who do you think took her?" Stefan questioned. By the way he spoke, it was noticeable that he was worried.

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

After a few seconds of silence, Stefan sighed. "Thanks for helping me."

"Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing?" Damon asked, making a face. "The cliché of it all makes me itch."

"Oh, come on, Damon!" The change in Stefan's voice was evident. He was sarcastic, he was angry. "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," Damon muttered.

"Well, it doesn't have to be an elephant. Let's talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"That's not true. I'm sure there is. Just get it out," Stefan continued. "I mean, are you in this car because you want to help your little brother save the girl that he loves? Or is it because you love her too? And why did you invite the other girl you still have feelings for, hmm? I mean come on, express yourself. I happen to like road trip bonding."

"Yeah, hi, I'm in the car and can hear everything you say." I leaned forward and laid my arms on their seats, glancing at each of them for a few seconds. "Can you not talk about this while I'm here? That would be absolutely lovely." I didn't want to listen about how Damon loved Elena; it was a reminder about how Damon loved Katherine.

"Keep it up, Stefan," Damon said, the soft anger mixing in with a tone of boredom. "I can step out as easily as I stepped in."

"No, you see, that's the beauty of it," Stefan mused. "You can't."

The uncomfortable atmosphere in the car made me want to open the door and jump out. It was uncomfortable to the point where I wouldn't mind breaking my neck just so I wouldn't have to hear them fight. I leaned back and crossed my arms, glancing between the two brothers that seemed to have stiffened. Damon had his hands tightly holding on to the steering wheel while Stefan kept his knuckles to the side of his head and looked out the window. It felt as if I were on a trip with angry parents that just had a fight.

"We're getting close," Stefan said, breaking the silence that had accumulated for over the past miles. "Jeremy said there was an access road just past mile marker six."

"Good," Damon said. "Clara, would you mind getting something from my bag besides you?" I looked at the bag to my side and opened it, seeing two blood bags on top of a black jacket. With a small smile around my lips, I reached in and pulled them out, handing one to Damon. He opened it as soon as he touched the bag, and began to sip from the tube. I did the same, allowing the warm liquid to quench the thirst that had accumulated.

"If you want some, just ask," Damon told Stefan. The younger brother had been staring as Damon sipped his blood.

"I want some," Stefan admitted.

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

"I'm not joking," Stefan said. "I've been drinking a little every day. I'm slowly increasing my intake and building up my strength." Damon stared for a few seconds, and then handed him the blood bag.

"Does Elena know you're drinking blood?" I asked Stefan, leaning forward and holding the tube between my teeth.

"I've been drinking hers," he divulged, handing the bag back to Damon.

"Hmm, how romantic." Damon drank some of the blood, licking his lips when he pulled the tube away. "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."

"Ooh," I chuckled, sitting on the edge of my seat. "Never would I imagine Stefan like that. Please, do tell."

"You mean when I was more like Damon?" Stefan motionlessly asked.

"Yes, Stefan, exactly!" Damon mused. "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."

Stefan hesitated, but then sighed. "Guess he found something else to live for."

I sipped on the blood, watching the two brothers. From what I had caught on of their conversation, Stefan was the one that made Damon transition to a vampire. It was something that surprised me. Damon was always the man that wanted to have fun, that enjoyed life and desired to live longer than the normal human. I knew so, he had told me many times. Stefan, on the other hand, he was the one that enjoyed life just as it was. He wanted nothing of it except joy. Imagine the surprise when I heard that it was sweet Stefan that made Big Brother Damon turn.

Damon stopped the car in the middle of nowhere, where trees seemed to be the only neighbours. I got out of the car and extended my arms and legs, inhaling the fresh air. There was a big difference between city, neighbourhood, and wood air. One smelt fresher than the other, and it's obvious which one was it. Stefan pulled out a bag when he got out, one that Alaric gave us filled with weapons.

"The house should be just beyond those trees," Damon claimed, looking at a line of trees. Stefan took the bag and began to march to it. "Wait, now I got more experience than you do with those sorts of things."

"What's your point?" Stefan turned to look at his brother.

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

"And?"

I rolled my eyes and stepped besides Damon. "And it puts them at least over 500 years old and very strong." I furrowed my brows and looked into Stefan's eyes. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

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

"Because if we go in that house, we may not come back out," Damon explained, some form of teasing mixed into his tone.

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

"So noble, Stefan," Damon said, just as I said, "Saint Stefan has returned."

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

"He's such a drama queen," I muttered, following after him. Damon let out what sounded like a scoff and a laugh mixed into one, which made me smile and push him with my shoulder before I followed after his brother.

We followed Stefan until we reached a big house. From outside, it looked okay. There were a few broken pieces of woods and plants growing all around, but it didn't look depleted. I imagined the inside to look even worse. When we got closer, I closed my eyes. I could hear Elena's voice, but I could also hear others. There was one voice that sounded very familiar, but I let go of it when we stopped at the back of the house.

"How do we get their attention?" Stefan asked, furrowing his brows and looking at the many windows of the house. He reached into the bag and pulled out the weapons, handing them to Damon and I. Once again, I was stuck with the fairly original stake.

I looked around and caught sight of a rather large rock. Marching up to it, I grabbed it and felts its weight. It was bound to make a large enough sound to catch the attention of the vampires that were inside. I aimed at one of the windows and threw the rock at the centre. The glass breaking made Damon and Stefan stared at me in surprise. I smiled. "You're welcome," I breathed. "Now, shall we rescue the damsel in distress?"

They looked at each other, then at me, and then followed as I jumped to the roof and broke the rest of the glass with my hand. Pieces of glass got stuck on my hand, and that didn't allow the wounds to heal completely. I got inside and stood at the top to listen to whoever was in the house. Elena's voice was the first one I heard, followed by another woman and a man. The man was the one that sounded familiar, and he also sounded very angry. I jumped when someone touched my arm, and glared at the figure that stood next to me. Damon signalled for us to use our speed to distract the man and the woman. I nodded, and followed the same thing they did.

"Rose..." the man warned.

"I don't know who it is," the woman said. She had a clear English accent in her voice. England had many distinct accents, so maybe she was from the South.

"Up here," I heard Stefan say from up the stairs. The man sped, but was stopped by Damon saying, "Down here."

"Ooh, so close," I teased, speeding to Damon just as he shot a stake to the man's hand. He then sped away and came back with the woman, Rose. She stared at us in surprise and worry. I laid my finger to my lips, telling her to be quiet.

"Excuse me," the man sang. "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?" I looked from the corner to see the man break a wooden coat rack and transform it into a stake. "I repeat, you cannot beat me. So, I want the girl; I'm gonna count to 3 or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"

"I know him..." I softly uttered to myself. Damon put his hand around my mouth, then. He pressed his finger to his lips just like I did with Rose. I stared at him with wide eyes, scared. He furrowed his brows, and slowly pulled his hand away.

"What?" he mouthed.

"I know him," I mouthed.

"I'll come with you," Elena's voice rang. "Just, please don't hurt my friends. They just wanted to help me out." I looked back through the corner to see her on the centre of the stairs.

"What game are you playing with me?" the man threateningly asked.

Elena threw a vervain bomb to his face. It exploded, and the man's skin burned. He yelled and gripped his face, but then looked up to see that he healed immediately. The man went towards Elena, but Stefan arrived and shot him with the compressed air weapon. The stakes didn't hurt the man; he stood straight and allowed the arrows to penetrate him without a sound escaping his lips. Stefan threw the weapon to the side and rushed at the man to the point where they fell down the stairs. The man got up immediately, but Stefan stayed on the floor.

Damon arrived out of nowhere with the large stake the man created, and pushed it into the man's stomach. He pushed back until the man was pressed against the door. I stepped out with the woman, who was named Rose. The man began to pale till he turned grey, with veins building up from his neck and covering him completely. He was dead.

I paid no attention to the others and slowly made my way to the man. It was a face I had not seen in over fifteen years; a familiar face that made me feel calm. I touched the man's face, furrowing my brows in curiosity. "What are you doing here?" I quietly asked, mostly speaking to myself. It was a handsome man, with a muscular body that drove women insane. His dark brown hair framed his face, longer than I last saw. His eyes, which were supposed to be some beautiful hazel brown, were closed. This man was dead, and I didn't know how to take that in.

"Clara..." I turned to see Damon looking at me, a frown on his face. "Can we leave or are you just going to just stand there and stare?"

"What?" I blinked several times and walked up to him. "S-sorry... Let's, uh... Let's go." I walked out of the house, hugging myself. I saw a person that I thought I would have never see again, but there he was. Stabbed. Dead.

Before I knew it, the car had stopped and we were in front of my house. I got out of the car and hurried inside. Someone followed behind me, and I didn't bother to look at who it was. I knew it was a vampire, so it was either Damon or Stefan. When I closed the door, I noticed the person had sped and now stood in front of me. Stefan stared at me, eyes filled with curiosity.

"Damon told me that you knew the man he killed," he said. "Who is he, Clara?"

I took a deep breath and took a seat on the stairs. "His name is Elijah," I began. "He helped me after I transitioned."

"He helped you?" Stefan questioned, taking a seat next to me. "How?"

"He was... He was my mentor, you can say," I chuckled, looking down. "I didn't know what to do, so I did what vampires do best."

"Kill..." he finished for me. "How many people did you kill?"

"Towns," I answered after some hesitation. "I destroyed towns worth of people. The majority of them were in the south, with about two of them being in what was Montana territory. If you search for Chester, Louisiana, you won't find it. The truth was that I killed each and everyone of the people that lived there: woman, men, and children. I killed each and every one of them until I was drenched in their blood.

"Elijah found me, then. Apparently, he had been tracking me down since the first town I destroyed. He appeared through the flames like a ghost, and I thought it was Lucifer himself coming to take me for my wrongdoings." As I told my story, I was staring at the ground and lost in remembrance. "But, this man, this being that reminded me of the devil, stood in front of me and smiled. And I did think it was Lucifer, because Lucifer was an angel, and angels are beautiful, and this man was beautiful. At first, he reminded me of a statue carved by Michelangelo. He introduced himself as Elijah Mikaelson, a man that would help with what I was going through; he said that he would keep his word, and he did. So, as time went by, he helped me stop the unbelievable quench for blood, the pain that came from the vervain, and the compulsion of his siblings."

"Siblings?" Stefan stopped me, laying a hand on my arm. "He had siblings?"

I furrowed my brows. "I don't... I don't remember. Sorry, I think I mistook myself." I smiled and leaned back, holding myself up with my elbows. "Anyway, to shorten this tale up, Elijah was my Vampire 101 teacher."

"Damon said you froze when you saw him," Stefan said, leaning back with me. "I think I understand why. To be honest, I was completely curious of why. I thought you changed your mind about saving Elena."

I half-way rolled my eyes, but stopped myself. "Stefan, I said that I would help you protect this Gilbert girl, and I keep my word."

"You turned out like him..." he muttered.

"Like Elijah?" I raised a brow, and smiled softly. "You can say. He was my teacher after all, so I guess some of the things he did stayed with me. He keeps his words, I keep mine. He's noble, and I try to be as noble as possible without breaking necks." I looked at him and tilted my head to side. "And what are you still doing here? Thought you'd be taking Elena back to her house."

"Damon took her," he sighed. "I thought it'd be best that I keep you company for a while. New house, there might be some monsters crawling around."

I threw my head back and laughed. "The only monsters in this house are you and me, Stefan. Thought you knew that by now."

"Oh, I know," he chuckled. "I know, Clara."

"Well..." I stood up and patted my hands on my butt to push away and dirt. "Are you going to stay or are you going back to the boarding house?"

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Nah," I shrugged. "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. I'm just asking you because I don't know if you want to talk to Damon after the car ride there."

"Ah," Stefan nodded and stood. He leaned against the banister and looked up at me. "I think I figured that out. We're brothers, and we can't have another woman come between us... Shit, sorry, Clara."

I shook my head and smiled softly. "I've come to terms that Damon loved Katherine," I softly said. "Now, all I need to come to terms with is my hatred for him."

"You don't hate him?" he asked, brows furrowed. He took a step up the stairs and tilted his head to the side a bit while crossing his arms. "I thought you would rip his head out of his body by now."

I began to mince up the stairs. "There are three things that are infinite, Stefan: the universe, human stupidity, and that hate every time I see Damon; and I'm not even sure about the universe." I turned at the last step and smiled down at him. "So, yes, I do hate Damon, but I wish I could hate him enough to the point where I would stop speaking to him and feeling those horrible feelings that I felt back when I was human."

"You still love him," Stefan stated, smiling softly.

I made a face. "Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah, blah. Are we done talking?" I crossed my arms and arched a brow.

Stefan laughed and raised his hands in defence. "I won't speak about it again, Clara." He began to walk down the stairs, slowly. One step each second. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I still have to move," I called out. "And you still have to go to school."

"Goodnight, Clara!" he called, closing the front door.

I smiled to myself. "Goodnight, Stefan," I said to the air, knowing that he'd be able to hear me from outside the house. With a deep breath, I turned and made my way to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me at the same moment a hand wrapped around my mouth. I tried to scream, but the owner of the hand thought best to break my neck.