I WALK DOWN THE stairs of my condo, barefoot and only wearing my light purple silk pj's. I head over towards the kitchen, pulling open the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of blood. I pull out a glass from the cabinet before I turn to the island in the middle to pour me a glass.

Aiden stands on the other side of the island, his elbows propped on the island as he watched me.

"When did you get here?" I ask him suspiciously, unscrewing the cap of the carton and pouring myself a glass.

"Just now."

I throw my head back and take a gulp. Instantly the liquid starts burning in my throat and I move forward across the island, the glass slipping from my fingers and crashing against the floor.

Blood spills from my lips as tears cloud my vision. The vervain burns me and I choke on it as I move towards the sink. But before I could Aiden grabs my neck and chokes me against the wall of the refrigerator.

"As much as I would love to watch you die, you still didn't get me that cure."

Silas.

I spit some blood onto his face and he steps backwards. I fall to the floor on my knees, the pieces of glass digging into my palm.

Silas in the form of Aiden kneels down and grabs my chin so I look at him.

"I will not stop torturing you until you get me that cure, Emilia." he whispers as he squeezes my cheeks, forcing the burning liquid to stay in my mouth. "Understood?"

I nod as tears of torture stream down my face at the unbearable pain.

"Good." he lets my face go, "I expect the cure soon."

Then he disappears.

It took all my power to stand up and lean over the sink, spilling all the liquid down the drain. I watched my mouth. Once I was finished, I fell down to the floor in exhaustion.

My clothes were covered with blood, pieces of glass sticking in my palm, and tears drying on my face.

—

I walk down the street of Willoughby, people rushing past me as the smell of pastries hit my nose. I look around the busy small town, streets line up the street as people cross the road.

"Emilia." A voice says behind me.

I turn around to see Stefan standing behind me, his hands crossed behind his back.

"Stefan," I smile, "always good to see you."

He smiles, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just dealing with my business." I replied, keeping the smile on my face. "You?"

"Oh, you know the usual." he shrugs.

"Chasing after Elena?" I ask, "Can't say I'm surprised. Any luck?"

"No, actually." he shakes his head, "No luck."

"Hmm sad." I turn to look behind me, "Hello Damon."

He smirks, "Emilia. Took you long enough to feel me behind you."

"Actually, I felt you the second you stared at my ass." I told him with a smirk.

Damon only smiles and moves to stand beside Stefan.

"So, why do you want the cure?" Damon asks.

"Who said I wanted it?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Well, we're all here for the same reason." Damon answers, "Spill. Why do you want it?"

I laugh, "Keep your nose in your own business, Damon."

"Who do you plan to use it on?" he asks.

"You if you don't shut up." I snap.

"You're getting her all riled up." Stefan says, "Keep doing what you're doing."

I roll my eyes and walk away from them, stepping into a small diner where I know Katherine is.

My eyes instantly meet hers and she smiles as I walk over. I stop at the table when I spot Rebekah beside her.

"Of course, barbie's here." I sigh as I sit across them.

Stefan and Damon appear by the table as Stefan smiles at us.

"Ladies." he greets as Damon slides in the booth to sit beside me.

"There goes the neighborhood." Katherine sighs.

"I see you got Katherine already." Damon says amused before he says to Katherine, "You're losing your touch, evil one."

Stefan sighs as he looks at Rebekah, "Where's Elena?"

A few minutes after Rebekah and Stefan arguing over Elena and what not, Rebekah sighs.

"So let me get this straight." she starts, "I tell you where Elena is, you shove the cure down her throat, and then I end up in a box, right? I don't think so."

Katherine smiles in the corner and Damon notices.

"What about you over there, smiley?" Damon asks, "Do you know where she is?"

"I can give you a hint." Katherine says, "Start by looking at the town morgue. She's probably dead."

"Interesting," I move forward, "Where's this morgue at?"

"Why are you even here?" Rebekah asks me.

"I have my reasons." I shrug before I look at Katherine, "So who might kill Elena?"

"She went to meet up with a friend of mine." Katherine replies, "You may know him-an Original brother, impeccable taste."

I smile.

"Elijah." Rebekah says, horrified.

"Elijah's here?" Damon asks, his face shocked.

"Well, you sort of have to question Elijah's impeccable taste if he's friends with you." Stefan says to Katherine.

"Oh, when I say friend, I mean friend." Katherine smirks.

Damon and Rebekah groan in disgust.

"You're screwing Elijah?" I ask, laughing. "Wow, Katherine, you could do so much better."

"Yeah well." She shrugs, "It probably took him about ten seconds to realise that she wasn't me, at which point he probably yanked her heart right out of her chest."

"All right. Where are they?" Stefan asks.

Katherine only smiles and says nothing.

Stefan looks at Rebekah, "Rebekah, you do realise if something should happen to Elena, you have no chance of finding the cure, right?"

"Fine." Rebekah sighs, "They were supposed to meet at the gazebo by the park."

Stefan stands up, "I'll go talk to Elijah."

"You go deal with Elijah." Rebekah tells him, "Katherine will take us to the cure."

"No, she won't." Katherine shakes her head. "The cure is my one chance to win my freedom back from Klaus."

"You're gonna broker a deal with Klaus?" Damon asks, scoffing.

"No. She's gonna get Elijah to broker the deal for her." Stefan says, "That's why you need your little friend, isn't it? Some things never change, Katherine."

"Nope." Damon shakes his head.

"Fine." she sighs and looks at Rebekah, "Move. You have to follow me."

I stand up and instead of going out of the booth from my way, I walk between Damon and table. I give him my back and the table practically pushes my ass in front of his face. I walk out and smirk at him before I continue my way out the diner.

—

Rebekah, Katherine, Damon, and I walk into Katherine's house.

"No sudden moves. No tricks either. No Katherine-ing." Damon says.

I look around, "Your house looks like it belongs to a grandma who owns twenty cats."

"Wow. A quilt and a fish aquarium." Damon looks around as well, "Who the hell are you?"

"A very old lady with dreadful taste." Rebekah answers instead.

Katherine begins removing things from a bookshelf and opens a hidden safe. We watch as she moves her hands inside it.

"It's gone." Katherine says, "The cure, it was in the safe, but it's not there."

Damon imitates a buzzer sound, "Not falling for it. Where is it, Auntie Katherine?"

"I swear it was in the safe."

"What, just like Elijah's really your boyfriend and this is really your life?" Rebekah asks, "And for all we know, this isn't even your house."

"Yeah, it doesn't look like the Katherine I know." Damon says.

"Maybe you don't know Katherine at all." Katherine snaps, "Did it ever occur to you that you have no idea who I really am?"

"Did it ever occur to you that you're not that deep?" Damon raises his eyebrows, "This whole small-town girl thing, we all know it's an act."

"Stop the bickering, children." I stand straight, "Where is the cure, Katherine?"

Katherine only smiles and Rebekah growls, speeding towards her but Damon throws his arm out to stop her.

"Whoa, whoa. Hang on." Damon says, "We need her alive. The cure's not here. You check upstairs. Emilia and I will check down."

Katherine smiles as Rebekah walks away to go upstairs.

I sigh, "This would be a lot easier if you would just tell us where the cure is."

"Oh, she's not going to tell us. Let's think like her." Damon says, "So if I was a paranoid, distrustful sociopath, where would I keep my most prized possession?"

Katherine chuckles, "This should be fun."

"Because I'd want it to be close, but not on me." Damon searches the room, "Accessible but not obvious. I'd want to keep it safe, but not so safe that it'd be too difficult to grab and run."

Damon stops in front of the fish tank, "Well, that is a fancy little treasure chest-in a tank with no fish."

"I think I'm gonna have to check that out." he sticks his hand into the water but is immediately burned.

Damon hisses in pain, "Vervain water. Looks like we have a winner."

Damon picks up a large net to scoop out the chest but before he can, I vamp speed towards him and shove his face into the vervain water tank. Damon writhes inside and I hold him for a while before I pull him out and I throw him across the room.

I shove my hand down the fish tank, the vervain burning my arm as I swiftly pull the small chest. I move towards the door but I see Rebekah running down the stairs so I throw it to Katherine who stands in front of the door.

Rebekah speeds in front of her, "Give it to me or you're dead."

"You're gonna kill me anyway." Katherine says, "So what's more important to you, huh? Killing me or getting the cure?"

Katherine holds up a small pill shaped object and throws it in the air behind her. Rebekah runs to catch it and Katherine dashes out the front door.

I dash out the door behind Katherine. I speed after her till halfway across the street.

"Thank you for that, Emilia." Katherine smiles.

"Yeah," I smile, "Now give me that."

Before she could react, I take the small chest from her hand.

"What are you doing?" she asks cautiously.

"It's mine now." I smirk.

Realization hits her, "You tricked me. This whole time I thought you were helping me but you just wanted the cure for yourself."

"There are just some things you gotta do, Katherine." I smirk.

"Give it to me."

"Now why would I do that?" I ask, smirking as I dangle the chest between my fingers.

"Don't make me hurt you."

"Please, you can try."

Instead, Katherine swats my hand and the chest flies to the floor. I move to grab it but Katherine wraps her hands around my neck and twists it.

I really hate this chapter and I didn't wanna write it but I had to cuz it has important stuff for the future.

I hope you at least liked it a teeny bit and thank you for reading!

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love you lots xx