Lucy woke slowly, blinking against the light in the room. Elijah sat on the edge of the bed beside her one of his hands holding hers. He didn't bother with the lie of a smile as his gaze moved from her to where Damon sat behind her. "Please give us a moment."

Damon kissed her temple before getting off the bed. "I'll be right outside if you need me, baby."

She nodded but didn't turn to look at him. She couldn't stand seeing that defeated expression on his face again.

Damon shut the door behind him as he left and Elijah frowned after him. There was no point in the younger vampire leaving the room if he was just going to stand in the hall. He'd be able to hear everything. Elijah also wasn't going to ask Damon to get lost in his own home.

Lucy licked her lips and untangled her hand from Elijah's to reach over and flip on the small box on the nightstand. She turned the volume all the way up and the sound of ocean waves filled the room. Elijah looked at her in surprise. "White noise machine. Works wonders."

He smiled softly. "I'll have to keep that in mind." He removed a vial of what looked like blood from his pocket and showed it to her.

"What is that?"

"Niklaus' blood. It is the only known cure for a vampire bitten by a werewolf. If it doesn't work on you..." he trailed off, unwilling or unable to finish the thought. He cleared his throat. "There are some things you need to be aware of before you drink this."

She studied him for a moment before nodding once. He wasn't happy about whatever he needed to tell her.

He sighed and took her hand back in his. "As I'm sure you have gathered, Niklaus can be...difficult. His beginnings were unhappy. Our parents were cruel to him. I failed in protecting him as I should have. He was my younger brother. It was my job and I failed. He has a warped sense of right and wrong. Imagine an abused child with the rage issues of a werewolf and the heightened senses of a vampire. It's usually not pleasant."

Pain stabbed through her again and she hissed as she arched her back. Elijah gripped her hand more tightly and brushed her hair from her forehead. Once the wave of agony passed, he took the rag lying on the bedside table and wiped her face down.

"We can discuss this in detail later, right now I will give you the abbreviated version. That blood belongs to my evil hybrid brother but it is the best chance at saving you. I hadn't talked to my brother since he confessed to dumping our siblings in the ocean. As you know, my intention was to lure him to Mystic falls using the doppelganger as the bait and kill him." The muscle in his jaw worked as he clenched his teeth and took a breath. "I gave him Elena to save you. I gave him my chance for revenge, but that wasn't enough for him."

"What did he want?" she asked when he didn't continue on his own.

"He gave me the blood with the understanding that if you drink it, you will meet with him when he comes to town and you will owe him three favors of his choosing."

She blinked in surprise. "So I live, in theory anyway, but I will owe three unspecified favors to the evil Original hybrid?"

"That about sums it up, yes."

Silence stretched as she thought, considering all the things the hybrid might ask her to do. "You gave him Elena?" Lucy wasn't certain exactly what that meant. She didn't care for the girl but wasn't sure how she felt about someone else's life being traded for her own.

He shook his head. "In a manner of speaking. I gave him her name and location. It puts him in control of the situation which I don't care for, but it can't be helped."

She took the vial from him and turned it in the light before handing it back. "Being alive and tied to the hybrid is better than being dead. I haven't been able to keep anything down, though. What if I just throw it back up?"

He hummed. "Damon had mentioned." He opened his suit jacket and pulled a syringe from the inside pocket. "I came prepared. Let me see the wound."

He sucked his brother's blood into the needle before injecting it directly into the bite. She screamed through clenched teeth and he uttered a quiet apology. He laid the needle on the table but kept the neck of the shirt shifted so he could watch see the injury.

At first, Lucy felt nothing but slowly the itching and burning eased. It was almost as if someone spread something cooling over it.

A few moments later, Elijah sighed in relief. "It is healing." He let go of her shirt and placed his hand on her chin to turn her attention back to him. "How are you feeling?"

She took a deep breath and did a quick mental inventory. "Better." With a still trembling hand, she reached over and took the glass of water from the nightstand. She took a large swallow, closing her eyes in relief as it cooled her sore throat. When several minutes passed and it didn't make a reappearance, she threw herself at Elijah and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Elijah. Thank you so much."

He returned her embrace and held her tightly. "You are welcome, little one. Though I fear you won't be thanking me when you meet my brother."

"We'll deal with that when he gets here." She pulled back to look at him. "Not a word about this to anyone, Elijah. I mean it."

He nodded his head once. "You have my word."

Elijah left via the window wanting to avoid the Salvatores' questions for the time being. Lucy opened the door surprised to find the hallway empty. With a frown, she wiped herself down with a washcloth and changed her clothes not wanting to take the time to shower just yet. She was surprised Damon hadn't already come back to check on her and wanted to find the reason for it. That meant searching him out, not just calling his name.

As she headed down the stairs and heard raised voices. The brothers were fighting. She headed toward the library as that appeared to be where the voices were coming from.

"It's John Gilbert, Stefan. He tried to kill me or did we forget that already? He can't be trusted."

"I'm not saying he can, but you can't just kill him," Stefan tried to reason.

"Why is he here anyway?" Damon sounded more frustrated than angry.

"Caroline said Elena sent for him. He claims to know about the sacrifice. Bonnie found out the Martins are working for Elijah so they're disregarding everything they were told by Luca. Apparently, Elena was under the impression we would do our best to save her because she's Caroline's friend." Lucy's lips twitched at the annoyed undertone in Stefan's voice.

"I can't talk about this anymore, Stefan. Lucy is upstairs possibly taking her last breath even as we speak. I couldn't care less about the save Elena squad right now."

Lucy opened the door just as he said those words and both brothers snapped their heads in her direction. Stefan smiled and Damon's eyes widened. "Lucy," he breathed. Then, before she could even take a step into the room, he was in front of her. His hands cradled her head and he looked her over before pressing his lips to hers. He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her as he continued kissing her head. "Thank god."

She looped her arms around his waist. "I'm okay, Day. 'Lijah fixed me."

"How?"

"Can't tell you that. Not yet."

"It doesn't matter as long as you're alright," Stefan said as he laid a hand on her back and kissed her temple. "I really wasn't looking forward to having to tell Caroline her bestie was gone."

"Shut up, Stefan," Lucy said, her voice muffled against her vampire's chest. The brothers laughed and Stefan left the room. Damon lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist to keep balanced. She was struck again by how much she loved him.

Whatever the hybrid may ask of her, it was worth it for this.