A/N: Thank you to all who messaged me when I was plagiarized again by the same account. It looks like Wattpad has removed the account or the user has but I will be keep an eye out.

FELL'S CHURCH TOMB

Caroline gradually emerged from the haze of unconsciousness, her senses slowly returning as she became aware of her surroundings. The musty air of the old vampire tomb hung heavy around her, and she grimly took in her surroundings. Beside her, Tyler stirred, already awake and alert, his gaze fixed on the entrance to their dimly lit prison.

"Tyler?" Caroline's voice was hoarse as she addressed him, her tone tinged with uncertainty.

Startled, Tyler turned his attention away from the entrance, his expression softening with relief as he met Caroline's gaze.

"You all right?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

Caroline nodded in response, though she still felt the lingering effects of her unconsciousness, her movements sluggish and her thoughts clouded.

"Yeah. I think so," she replied, her words strained as she struggled to shake off the remnants of sleep.

Determined to free themselves from their chains, Caroline attempted to summon her vampire strength, but her efforts were in vain. Tyler's somber nod confirmed her fears as he revealed his own unsuccessful attempts to break free.

"I already tried," he informed her, his tone resigned.

Frustration mounted within Caroline as she attempted to rise to her feet, only to find herself weakened and unsteady. It was a sensation she wasn't accustomed to, and she recoiled in anger, baring her teeth in defiance.

"Those witches vervained me," she growled, her frustration palpable as she realized the extent of their predicament.

Tyler's gaze remained fixed on the entrance, his thoughts racing as he absorbed Caroline's accusations.

"I'm guessing those are the ones Aella warned us about," Tyler finally responded, his voice laced with resignation as he acknowledged the grim reality of their situation.

Caroline nodded sadly, a pang of regret gnawing at her. Why had she ignored Aella's warnings?

"They're with Klaus. Tyler...You shouldn't have come back here," Caroline admonished him, her tone filled with concern.

Silently, Tyler agreed, his jaw clenched with the weight of their predicament.

"If we're here, where's Jules?" Tyler's voice was tense with worry as he searched for any sign of their missing companion.

Caroline, never one to hold much fondness for the female werewolf, shrugged indifferently.

"She probably ran," she retorted dismissively, her tone tinged with bitterness.

Tyler's sharp gaze fixed on Caroline, his expression hardening with determination.

"No, she wouldn't have," he insisted firmly, his protectiveness over Jules evident.

Caroline scoffed at Tyler's defense of Jules, her skepticism clear.

"So what, are you two, like, friends now?" she quipped sarcastically, unable to conceal the sting of jealousy in her voice.

Tyler rolled his eyes at Caroline's tone, a hint of exasperation in his response.

"She's been helping me. It's different with her," he explained, his voice tinged with frustration.

Caroline's resolve wavered, a pang of hurt lancing through her as she realized her inability to provide the support Tyler needed. She retreated slightly, her frustration palpable.

"Because of the furry problem you share?" she countered bitterly, her words laden with resentment.

"Yeah. Jules is helping me, I'm better now," Tyler asserted, his tone tinged with defiance.

Caroline bristled at Tyler's implication, her hurt fueling her anger.

"Well, where is she now? I still think she ran. Must be something you two share, running away without saying anything," she accused, her finger jabbing at Tyler in frustration.

Tyler closed his eyes wearily, the weight of Caroline's accusations heavy on his shoulders.

"I left for a reason, Caroline," he admitted, his voice tinged with regret.

Caroline's anger flared, her hurt simmering beneath the surface.

"Your explanation must have got lost in the mail, along with your goodbye," she snapped, her words sharp with resentment.

Caroline's accusatory words hung heavy in the air, thick with frustration and hurt, as Tyler stared back at her in disbelief, a hint of incredulity coloring his expression.

"Are you kidding me? We're about to be sacrificed, and you're getting pissed about me leaving without saying goodbye? I think we have more important things going on right now, Caroline!" Tyler retorted, his voice tinged with exasperation.

Caroline's anger flared at Tyler's dismissive response, and she jabbed an angry finger at his chest, a surge of pain coursing through her as the vervain weakened her strength and healing abilities.

"Don't tell me how to feel. We can't go anywhere, so I have to vent my anger somehow," Caroline snapped, her frustration boiling over.

Tyler shook his head, frustration evident in his tone.

"Vent about Klaus and his stupid witches, not about me!" he countered, his voice laced with irritation.

Undeterred, Caroline rose to her knees, her voice rising with emotion as she continued to confront Tyler.

"Don't tell me how to vent, either, Tyler!" she insisted, her tone sharp with anger.

Suddenly, to the relief of both Caroline and Tyler, Aella appeared, her fingers plugged into her ears as she winced at the pitch of Caroline's voice.

"Seriously, Caroline! That screech is worse than nails on a chalkboard," Aella remarked, her sarcasm cutting through the tension in the tomb.

Turning to someone behind her, Aella added with a hint of sarcasm, "Are you sure you want to save her?"

Caroline's relief washed over her as she saw her best friend, stepping in to diffuse the tension. Ignoring the jab, she rose to her knees, a smile breaking through the frustration on her face.

"Aella!" Caroline exclaimed, her voice filled with gratitude and joy.

Her eyes then fell on Matt, trailing behind Aella, and she looked at him bewilderedly.

"Matt? What are you doing here?" Caroline asked, surprised to see him.

Aella laughed easily, the tension in the air dissipating as she patted Matt on the arm in celebration.

"Matt just threatened Damon; I might marry him if I didn't love Stefan so much," Aella quipped, her humor lightening the mood in the tomb.

Aella's flippant remark about marrying Matt drew only a brief chuckle from Caroline before her attention shifted to the gun in Matt's possession, her expression turning serious.

"You have a gun. Why do you have a gun?" Caroline questioned, her voice edged with concern.

Matt's grin was rueful as he looked down at the weapon in his hand, a glint of determination in his eyes.

"I know guns can't kill vampires, but I know wooden bullets hurt a hell of a lot more than regular ones," Matt explained, his tone tinged with determination.

As Aella and Matt approached them, Aella employed her magic to unlock Caroline's chains. As Caroline's restraints fell away, she shook her wrists, feeling the ache of their captivity. With Matt's support, she rose unsteadily to her feet. Meanwhile, Aella repeated the incantation, freeing Tyler from his bonds. With a smirk, Aella offered him a hand, helping him up.

Tyler's curiosity got the better of him, and he directed a question to Aella.

"How did you find us?" he asked, his brow furrowed with intrigue.

Caroline, now standing alongside them, listened intently as Aella responded with a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Katherine. The bitch being so nosey can be quite useful," Aella revealed, her tone tinged with amusement.

Caroline's gaze flickered toward the staircase where Aella and Matt had descended from, contemplating their unexpected saviors.

"But the witches...?" Caroline's voice trailed off, a note of uncertainty in her tone.

Aella's mock hurt was evident as she responded to Caroline's skepticism.

"You doubt me? Me?!" Aella exclaimed in feigned offense, her expression exaggerated for effect.

Rolling her eyes at Aella's dramatics, Caroline turned her attention to Tyler, who was now discussing the potential threat posed by Klaus's witches.

"There were two of them. If they're Klaus's witches, they're going to be powerful," Tyler warned, his voice laced with concern.

Aella's grin widened at Tyler's words, her confidence unwavering.

"Luckily for us, there was only one, and it was the one who knocked me out on my own car," Aella revealed, her smirk growing mischievous.

Tyler regarded Aella with a puzzled expression, prompting him to question her logic.

"How is that lucky?" he asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice.

Aella's response was a manic grin, causing Caroline to groan inwardly, knowing all too well the trouble that accompanied Aella's devious smile. As Aella reflected on the events leading up to their rescue, she thought back to the pivotal moment outside the tomb.

FLASHBACK 10 MINUTES EARLIER

In the dim light of the forest clearing, Damon found himself facing Maddox, a formidable foe who seemed to relish the opportunity to challenge him. Maddox's presence was unsettling, his eyes gleaming with malicious intent as he taunted Damon about Klaus's well-laid plans.

"Which one are you trying to save? The blonde or the wolf? Did you really think Klaus would leave them unprotected?" Maddox jeered, his voice dripping with contempt.

Despite Maddox's menacing demeanor, Damon remained surprisingly nonchalant, his shoulders lifting in a casual shrug.

"Wishful thinking," Damon retorted, his tone laced with defiance.

With a sudden surge of determination, Damon lunged at Maddox, pinning him to the ground in a swift and calculated move. But Maddox was no easy adversary, employing his own powers to throw Damon back against the rocks with a forceful blow.

As Damon struggled to regain his footing, Maddox inflicted a relentless assault on his senses, causing agonizing aneurysms to rip through Damon's mind. The pain was excruciating, threatening to overwhelm him, when suddenly, Maddox was sent hurtling backward, crashing into a nearby tree.

Emerging from the shadows with an air of undeniable authority, Aella stepped forward, her hand outstretched and her eyes blazing with an intense green glow.

"So you're the asshole who knocked me out on my own car. I threw up, twice. I hate throwing up!" Aella declared, her voice tinged with irritation.

Damon, still reeling from the onslaught of pain, staggered toward Aella, rubbing his head as he struggled to regain his composure.

"She even got a little bit on my car," Damon quipped, his gaze shifting to Aella, who remained focused on the incapacitated Maddox.

Feeling a surge of frustration, Damon directed a question at Aella, puzzled by her delayed intervention.

"Why did you wait for so long? He could have killed me," Damon demanded, his voice tinged with a hint of annoyance.

Aella's response was characteristically apathetic, her attention still fixed on Maddox's struggling form.

"Oops," she replied casually, her indifference palpable as she watched their adversary with a cool detachment.

Damon's disbelief morphed into frustration as he confronted Aella, his words laced with a sense of urgency born from their precarious situation.

"I'm trying to make up for what I did. If we're working together, you can't hold a grudge," Damon asserted, his voice tinged with desperation.

Aella scoffed in response, her hand still trained on Maddox as she turned to face Damon with a mixture of incredulity and disappointment.

"You didn't trust me, Damon. Once again, you didn't trust me. Okay, Elijah is an issue, but the elixir was the right decision. It's not like milk, Damon. It doesn't just go off after not being used for 500 years," Aella retorted, her words carrying the weight of past grievances.

Despite the pressing urgency of their situation, Damon and Aella found themselves at a crossroads, finally confronting the underlying tension between them and baring their true feelings.

"I messed up, what do you want me to do? Offer myself as a sacrifice?" Damon offered bitterly, his frustration bubbling to the surface.

Aella's response was chilling in its simplicity as she nodded coldly in agreement.

"Seems fine to me," she replied, her tone devoid of sympathy.

Maddox's groans echoed from the tree where he was pinned, a testament to his desire to see an end to their confrontation and his pain.

"And me," Maddox interjected, his voice strained with discomfort, but his plea fell on deaf ears as both Damon and Aella remained focused on each other, their shared demand for Maddox's exclusion from their dispute reverberating through the air.

"Stay out of this," they demanded in perfect synchronization, their unity underscoring the severity of their resolve.

However, Damon, momentarily forgetting Aella's hold on Maddox, pulled her toward him, seeking to reconcile their strained relationship.

"I'm sorry. What else can I say?" Damon's apology hung in the air, a tentative attempt to mend their fractured bond.

Their attention was diverted as Maddox tumbled to the ground, prompting them to glance down at the arm Damon had grasped. In that split second of distraction, Maddox seized the opportunity to retaliate, using his own magic to send Damon and Aella flying in opposite directions.

"Oops?" Damon's wince betrayed his realization of his mistake, his casual response failing to alleviate the tension between them.

Aella, seething with fury, rose to her knees, her voice rising in indignation as she echoed Damon's earlier nonchalant remark.

"Oops?! OOPS?!" she exclaimed, her frustration palpable as she grappled with the aftermath of their confrontation.

Maddox cracked his aching neck and looked at Damon and Aella with a manic grin, "I'm going to enjoy this."

In the midst of the chaos, Maddox raised his hand to eliminate the two, but a sharp report of a gunshot pierced the air, cutting through the tension like a knife. Maddox's form crumpled to the ground, his threat silenced by the unexpected intervention.

Aella and Damon exchanged incredulous glances as they turned towards the source of the gunshot, their disbelief mirrored in the sight of Matt wielding a rifle. Damon swiftly moved to ensure Maddox's demise, as Aella, despite her slight pain, cheered the unexpected heroics of the teenage boy.

"That was awesome!" Aella's jubilant exclamation broke through the lingering tension, a testament to the relief coursing through her veins as the immediate threat was neutralized.

END OF FLASHBACK

After hearing the much-debated story of how Matt rescued Aella and Damon, the tension in the air was palpable as Caroline fixed Aella with a scrutinizing gaze, her arms crossed tightly as if daring her to justify their delay.

"So, Matt had to save you both because you were arguing instead of saving us?" Caroline's words cut through the silence, her tone laced with a hint of accusation.

Aella offered no denial, her acknowledgment a tacit admission that the truth, albeit unconventional, held a certain degree of awe-inspiring irony.

"Pretty much. Let's go."

With a nonchalant nod, Aella led the way out of the tomb, her confident stride a stark contrast to the urgency of their situation.

As they emerged into the dim light outside, Damon's voice cut through the air, his words tinged with a hint of impatience.

"About tim—"

Before Damon could finish his sentence, Tyler's agonized groan pierced the air, his form collapsing to the ground as the first tendrils of the full moon's glow began to suffuse the surroundings, signaling the onset of his transformation.

"Ohhh. It's getting dark soon," Damon observed with a wry twist of humor, the gravity of the situation underscored by the impending danger.

With swift reflexes, Aella positioned herself protectively in front of Caroline and Matt, her stance resolute as she assessed the unfolding scenario.

"How fast can you get the hell away from here?" Damon's urgency was palpable, his gaze fixed on Tyler's increasingly volatile state as they braced themselves for the inevitable chaos that accompanied the full moon's ascent.

Tyler's response was strained, his voice laced with agony as he struggled to articulate his plan amidst the throes of his transformation.

"I need to get to my family's cellar. I can lock myself up."

Aella's eyes widened with realization, the prospect of Tyler seeking refuge in the hidden caverns beneath Mystic Falls that still remained mostly unmapped was a logistical nightmare and not a good idea. Yet, the distance proved to be a critical obstacle, rendering Tyler's plan unfeasible in the limited time they had.

"It's too far, there's not enough time," Aella interjected, her voice tinged with concern as she assessed the situation with a sense of urgency.

Tyler's pained growls echoed through the clearing, his gaze fixed on the looming moon above as Caroline's distress mounted with each passing moment.

"Tyler? Tyler?" Caroline's voice was wrought with anguish, her desperation palpable as she reached out to him, her heart aching at his suffering.

Matt watched on with wide eyes, his realization dawning as he witnessed the extent of Tyler's agony.

"Tyler?"

"It's starting," Tyler grunted, his words strained as he braced himself against the onslaught of pain.

Caroline's resolve hardened, her determination unyielding as she stepped forward, intent on aiding Tyler in his time of need.

"I've got to get him out of here," Caroline declared, her voice firm with resolve, though Matt's protest was swift and adamant.

"No," Matt interjected, his concern for Caroline's safety evident in his tone.

Matt's apprehensive protest fell on deaf ears as Caroline remained resolute, her unwavering resolve tempered by the fierce loyalty that bound her to Tyler's fate.

"Yes."

Aella's frantic objection cut through the tension like a knife, her voice tinged with a mixture of fear and exasperation as she confronted the perilous reality of Caroline's intended course of action.

"Alone, are you kidding me?! The last time you were alone with a werewolf in a forest, he nearly made you his dinner. You are aware that his bite is fatal."

In the deafening silence that followed, the weight of Aella's words hung heavily in the air, a stark reminder of the perilous stakes at play and the dire consequences that loomed on the horizon.

Damon, seizing the opportunity to make amends, stepped forward with a sense of purpose, his gaze fixed on Tyler as he prepared to take action. Aella's incredulous expression betrayed her disbelief as Damon issued a solemn directive.

"Get back to Elena; Klaus will be coming soon. Tell her I'm sorry," Damon's words reverberated through the clearing, punctuating the urgency of the situation at hand.

Caroline, her resolve unwavering, stepped forward to join Tyler, her determined demeanor belying the gravity of the task ahead. Aella's protestations fell on deaf ears as Caroline pressed forward with unwavering determination, her gaze fixed on the daunting challenge that lay ahead.

"Get Matt away from here," Caroline implored Aella, her pleading smile underscoring the urgency of the situation.

Matt's obstinate refusal only served to compound Aella's growing sense of incredulity, his insistence on accompanying them into the fray a testament to the gravity of the situation.

Aella's exasperation reached its peak as she surveyed the scene unfolding before her, her incredulity palpable as she questioned the sanity of her companions.

"Are you guys crazy?!" Aella's voice echoed with frustration, her gaze flitting from one face to another in disbelief.

With a pointed gesture towards Tyler writhing in pain on the ground, Aella emphasized the gravity of their predicament, her tone laced with urgency.

"He is about to turn into a mindless beast whose bite is a death sentence for vampires," she declared, her words tinged with the weight of bitter experience.

Aella's desperate plea for reason fell on deaf ears as she invoked the memory of Rose, a cautionary tale of the deadly consequences of underestimating a werewolf's bite.

"Does anybody remember Rose? Brunette? Fancy English accent? Got bitten by a vampire, lost her goddamn mind, and then died?" Aella's impassioned reminder served as a stark warning of the perils they faced.

Aella's impassioned plea fell on deaf ears as Damon gathered Tyler, poised for departure. Damon's dismissal of the reference to Rose's tragic fate earned him a pointed look from Aella, who couldn't help but feel frustrated by his apparent indifference. "I'll keep an eye on her," Damon's assurance cut through the tumultuous din, his gaze lingering on Aella with a sense of solemn resolve.

However, his assurance to keep an eye on Caroline offered a glimmer of reassurance amidst the chaos, though Matt's skepticism cast a shadow over the moment. "After what you did to Elena? I'm not leaving her alone with you," Matt's words cut through the tension like a knife, his distrust of Damon palpable.

Aella's frustration mounted as Damon prepared to depart with Tyler, her protests falling on deaf ears as she watched helplessly.

"Am I talking to myself?!" Aella's plea reverberated through the tense atmosphere, her frustration palpable as she grappled with the unfolding chaos.

Caroline's tight smile offered a glimmer of understanding amidst the chaos, her words laden with gratitude and urgency.

"We need you to protect Elena. You saved us. You saved me. Let us deal with this, and you stop Klaus," Caroline's plea resonated with sincerity, drawing a reluctant nod from Aella.

Aella's resolve wavered as Caroline's words sank in, her initial resistance giving way to a begrudging acceptance of her role in the unfolding crisis.

"Fine. Just... stay safe. Okay?" Aella's concession was laced with concern, her eyes flickering briefly towards Damon before settling on her departing friends. "That means all of you."

With a silent nod, Damon acknowledged Aella's directive, his attention shifting to Matt as they prepared to depart.

"Grab Boy Wonder, and let's go," Damon's directive was curt, his focus already turning towards the looming threat of Klaus.

As Damon sped off with Tyler in tow, Aella and Caroline shared a heartfelt hug, their bond strengthened by the trials they'd endured together. With a determined stride, Caroline took charge, urging Matt to follow as they set off into the night, leaving Aella alone to grapple with the uncertainty of what lay ahead.

Thank you for reading. Let me know what you thought xoxo