After a long nine hours of training with Damon, I was exhausted and extremely sore. As much as I would have usually moaned and groaned about—as much I wanted to—I couldn't. It was all worth it if I would be able to find Stefan in the long run.

I had found the rest of them where we agreed to meet, and everyone looked different than how they did before we started. Bonnie looked drained, most likely because she hadn't conjured up as much magic as she did in a long time, although she seemed happy about it. Caroline was somewhat dirty, and her hair was messy, although with the small smirk on her face, I couldn't tell what the training actually consisted of while the rest of us were gone.

"So, would everyone say this was a successful day of training?" Klaus had asked us all. I simply nodded my head, not able to catch my breath to actually voice my opinion to him.

Damon must have seen my struggle because he voiced his opinion. "Let's just say I've never seen Elena fight like this. She packs quite a punch."

Klaus simply let out a chuckle. "Oh Damon, don't underestimate the power of true love. It'll get anyone to do anything they want to." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him and Caroline share looks of pure affection, which made my heart melt. "Stefan is the love of Elena's life, after all."

Davina was the next and last of us to speak up. "Bonnie is incredible, Klaus, truly. I've never seen a witch of her age harness so much power after getting them taken away so many times. She truly is a survivor." Both of the girls had shared smiles of gratitude before the Claire witch continued. "She truly is one of the brightest witches of her age. It's an honor to be working with her."

Klaus let out a loud laugh that rang around the entire forest. "I wouldn't tell Kol that. He may start to think you're cheating." Our laughs all followed after his until he started speaking in a more serious tone. "Everyone else can go home, however I'm going to talk to Elena." His eyes bore into mine and I couldn't tell whether or not this upcoming conversation was going to leave me unstable.

"Okay," I nodded, hoping my voice sounded a lot stronger than I thought.

Caroline's boyfriend led me into a more secluded area of the woods; I didn't know whether to expect good news or bad news since Klaus had been with Stefan during most of his Ripper stages.

"I found an update on Stefan's located," Klaus started, "but I'm not very certain as to where it's at." I tried to keep my emotions as unaffected because I knew the minute I got my hopes up everything would come crashing down. After all, when Stefan had left the first time, he promised he would never leave me and always love me. Everyone knew how well that turned out.

"Continue Klaus," I forced my voice to say.

"I found a string of murders all in California. I don't know why he would go there of all places, but there most be a reason. Do you have any ideas?" He most have known my stability on my emotions was slipping he held out a hand to support me. "Elena, stay with me. We need all the information you can give us to try and get Stefan back."

"We had talked about it once," I choked out. "Planning on moving to California since that's where most of the authors live. He always knew how much a dream that was to me. Thinking about it, that should've been the first place we looked. I can't believe he actually remembered." I had put my hand to my mouth.