The door behind Jasmine slammed shut causing her to pause and listen to the sound vibrate against the walls. Picturing the waves that she knew bounced off the wall and back to her. It calmed her. A moment of serenity before she entered the scene she knew awaited her.

     She stopped at the opening of the room and looked at Elena and Tyler's panicked faces as they paced the room. She wasn't sure what had occurred but she had a feeling it had to do with the smirking and amused vampire in the corner. Rolling her eyes, she walked passed them and set their food on top of the sheet covered table.

     "What did you do to them? They were less panicky when I left."

     Katherine shrugged her shoulders, "I just told them about—"

     She was interrupted by Tyler, who abruptly walked up to Jasmine. It seemed whenever his body was fueled by anger, he forgets that Jasmine isn't a being that likes to be confronted, "so you're just going to hand us over to Elijah and this Klaus person?"

     "So you gave them the whole gist."

     "They were curious and their panicked reactions cured my boredom." Katherine said as Jasmine approached her.

     Katherine was a bit on edge as Jasmine lifted the spell that kept Katherine in the small space. The siphoner simply grabbed her hand and escorted her, unwillingly, to the table then sat her down on one the chairs. A quick thought of escaping clouded Katherine's mind, but it was soon cleared up by Jasmine as she bounded her to the seat with vervain soaked ropes.

     Jasmine then sat beside her and gestured towards the other two. Elena and Tyler were skeptical at first but reluctantly sat down when she gave them a glare. Sighing loudly, Jasmine pushed the take out boxes towards her three hostages, "eat and you can ask your questions. Might as well wait this out."

     The three begrudgingly ate the food as they came up with their questions. There were so many questions to ask and who knows how long they had to ask them. Tyler thought about asking about his uncle and what actually happened to them. It was whiplashing how his emotions were settled on provoking the siphoner while his mind wondered what actually happened to his uncle with all of the new information. Before he could utter a word, Elena spoke up.

     "Why me?"

     "Because you're the human doppelganger. You're the main key to breaking the curse."

     Tyler's eyebrows furrowed, "the sun and the moon curse? The one my uncle wanted to break?"

     Jasmine nodded her head and Elena continued, "but I thought the moonstone is what broke it?"

     "Nope, the moonstone just holds and binds the curse. There's a whole sacrifice that will break it. And before you ask, it's your sacrifice. In order to break the curse, you have to die—well, you all have to die," she paused for a moment to smile at them before carrying on, "but you're the most important one. Well, Tyler's kind of important considering it's very hard to find a werewolf these days."

     "And why her?" Jasmine was confused by Tyler's question especially as he pointed to Katherine, "from what she's said, there are many more vampires roaming this town so why target her?"

     Jasmine took a second to reply, not expecting that question, "because she's been running for too long."

     "Running from who?"

     "Klaus." Jasmine felt a shiver of fear roll through her as the words left her lips. But she knew the feeling wasn't hers.

     Tyler stopped his hand from lifting the spoon full of food into his mouth and stared at her, "the guy you're gonna hand us over to? Is he a vampire? Who is he?" His gaze went back to his food and tried to keep his concentration on chewing his food.

     "You're awfully calm for someone who's going to die." Jasmine noted.

     Stuffing another spoonful into his mouth, Tyler grunted, "are you gonna answer my questions or what?"

     Jasmine rolled her eyes, but nonetheless, answered, "he's one of the first vampires to ever be created—"

     Pushing her untouched food away from her, Elena waved her hand for Jasmine to take a pause, "what do you mean the first vampires?"

     "Exactly that. They're from the old world. Vampires weren't just placed on the Earth, they were created by a witch back in the tenth-ish century." Jasmine pushed the food back in front of Elena and gestured for her to actually eat. She tilted her head to the side slightly at her own actions but brushed it off as someone else's concern for the doppelganger.

     "Why would a witch create vampires?"

     "Personal reasons. I answered your questions and you all ate. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make an important call." She gave them a tight lipped smile and headed straight for the entrance. She needed to have a little conversation with her assistant.

----

     Deciding it was better to sit outside this time, Francis waited for Bonnie to join him. Once he caught sight of her hair, he straightened his posture and waved her over. She sat down across from him and smiled, "thank you for helping me."

     "We have to make a deal first. This information doesn't pass onto the—"

     "Vampires. How am I supposed to rescue my friends if I'm up against Jasmine." Bonnie said with a roll of her eyes. Although she had enough confidence to defend herself, she couldn't trust that she'd be alert for the entirety of the rescue mission. What if Jasmine strikes at her when she's worrying over Elena and Tyler?

     "I'll help you, Bonnie Bennett, but only if you go into this alone. No help from those parasites and no further help from us. Damon Salvatore was right, we have to prove our worth and I must say that it goes both ways. You do this... and you'll have the entirety of our coven's bloodlines help."

     She looked at him in disbelief to cover up the fact that she was desperate. She really wished her grandma was here to help her, "she's my best friend."

     Francis folded his hands on top of the table and looked at her expectantly, "deal or no deal."

     If she did this alone then there would pose some complications, but maybe Francis didn't need to know that she wasn't actually going to go at it alone. It's not like he has eyes everywhere. So with that thought in her head, she nodded, " ...fine. I'll do it on my own."

     Clapping his hands once, Francis beamed at her, "excellent. Now, I assume you've already attempted any locator spells you know?"

     "Yes and I keep getting dead ends."

     "Yes, well, Jasmine hasn't been evading her enemies because she was dimwitted. She knows how to cloak herself and fall off the grid, but fortunately for you, we've acquired some new tricks." He opened up his messenger bag and pulled out a rather large well kept but worn out leather book. It was a grimoire. "Locator spells aren't the only things that can find someone have you ever heard of astral projection?"

     Bonnie watched as he flipped through pages and finally ripped one out of the book. She grabbed hold of it when he pushed it towards her. no, what is it?"

     "You can send your spirit to whoever you're trying to locate. Do this spell and you'll be able to communicate with Elena in your spirit form."

     Bonnie looked over the page in her hands. It looked like a complicated spell, complicated enough that she wasn't sure she'd be able to do it. Deciding to shake off her negativity, Bonnie focused on another part of the plan, "once I find her, how am I supposed to get Jasmine out of there long enough for me to get them?"

     Francis gave her an amused smile and closed his grimoire, "you'll have to figure that out on your own. Also, don't be discouraged if you don't nail this on your first try. It only took my best witch about seven hours to master it... with continuous attempts and no breaks. Have a good day, Ms. Bennett."

     Bonnie watched him stand and walk away. He was really adamant about Bonnie doing this alone. She looked over the spell again and let out a deep sigh. She needed to do this and needed to at least get it right before the night ended. While there was doubt in her own skills, she knew there wasn't any doubt of Elena being rescued. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through her contacts and lingered on the one name she never thought she'd have saved on her phone. Rolling her eyes, she clicked on it and waited for him to pick up.

     Once he did, Bonnie wasted no time in pleasantries, "hey, I'm gonna need your help. I'm gonna save Elena, are you in?"

----

     Jasmine could safely say she had wandered the entirety of the forest as she kept arguing with her assistant. The sun was beginning to set and there was still no sign of Elijah or Klaus even though Jamison promised they'd arrive the night before.

     She spoke through the phone with clenched teeth, "I've been calling for the past several hours! Why is it taking them so long?"

     The sound of twigs snapping caused her to quickly hang up on her stuttering assistant and survey her surroundings. She was far away enough from where she kept Elena, Tyler, and Katherine so she wasn't worried about someone finding them by following her. It's quiet as she listened for more disturbances. And they appeared as three vampires made themselves seen.

     "Jasmine Saunders." The vampire closest to her said.

     "Maybe we shouldn't..." Jasmine watched as the second vampire took a step back as he saw her. It was clear that he was expecting this--whatever it was--to be quick and easy. He obviously didn't anticipate to see the most feared ally of the old ones.

     The third vampire was smaller than the first two, but that didn't stop her from puffing out her chest and taking a step forward, "we've traveled this far, we're not leaving without them."

     "But its-it's her."

     "And there's three of us." She looked towards her companions quickly before reverting her stare to the scrutinizing siphoner, "we want the doppelgangers."

     Jasmine folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at them, "and why is that?"

     Gaining courage from his brave female companion, the first vampire stood his ground and saddled up beside her, "we've been running for too long. If we deliver the doppelgangers to Klaus—"

     "He'll give us our freedom. We're not leaving without them." And finally the second vampire stood his ground beside his friends.

     Sighing gently, Jasmine put her hands to her sides and shrugged, "very well, but you have to get through me. Should be simple enough, right? Like your friend said, there's three of you and only one of me."

     To give them a fair advantage, since Jasmine admired the fact that they put aside their fear to get what they want, she decided to stick to plain old vampire fighting--no magic. The first and second vampire sped around to grab her from behind while the last one attacked her from the front. Jasmine endured a couple blows to her abdomen and face before breaking free and attacking the first vampire. Blood was immediately spilled as she used her hand to viciously decapitate the vampire.

     Seeing her friend without a head caused the third vampire to let out a loud growl and pounce on Jasmine. Jasmine fell backwards and fought off the vampire's chomping teeth heading towards her jugular. Before she could use her magic, the vampire was suddenly limp as her heart was torn away from her back. Jasmine quickly got up, breathing heavily, and looked toward the final vampire. She watched as his eyes widened and ran away, seeing that he was clearly outnumbered now.

     Jasmine turned around to see Damon wiping the blood on his hand against his shirt. He smirked as she looked at him with a confused expression, "I don't expect anything less than a thank you."

     Pointing to the bodies, Jasmine scoffed, "I was handling that."

     "Wasn't doubting that you could." He approached her slowly and then began picking some leaves from her hair.

     She didn't know what to make of the situation so she let him continue on fixing her hair. Coming to terms with the link, she used it to her advantage to assess his emotions. Concern. He was feeling concerned. But what for? For her?

     "What are you doing here?"

     Damon didn't respond immediately and waited until he took out the last leaf to speak, "looking for you, up for getting a drink?"

     Jasmine didn't want to admit it but she desperately wanted to say yes. But then she thought of Stefan and how he put up pretenses of being civil only to twist the knife already embedded into her back. She took a step back and furrowed her eyebrows in disbelief, "is this some kind of joke? You haven't properly spoken to me ever since I've gotten here but now that I have taken your precious Elena, again, I have all of your attention." She scoffed as she looked him over, "quite pathetic if you ask me."

     Damon gave her a sarcastic smile. He knew it wouldn't be easy gaining her trust back, but he'd be damned if he didn't try, "well, it's a good thing I wasn't. Come on, we're going to that weird café place since I decided to cut back on my drinking."

     "No thanks."

     "It's not a yes or no offer. It's more of a yes or yes." He smirked at her and then turned away to take slow steps back to civilization, "You coming or what?"

     "Damon." She said his name dispirited causing him to drop his head down.

     "Look, I know how we've been treating you, how I've been avoiding you, but for once this isn't some plan or whatever." He turned around to face her and his expression was pleading, "I just want to talk, okay?" His joking smile appeared as he sauntered back towards her, "and maybe I'm hoping by the time our conversation ends that you'd at least consider letting Elena go."

     She struggled to fight off the smile threatening to over take her face and resumed her skeptical aura, "if this turns out to be—"

     "It won't. I promise. Please, just... trust me."

----

     The walk and drive to the cafe was kept in silence. Both parties didn't know what to talk about, which was something that's been happening since they've both arrived to Mystic Falls. Once they were seated inside in a secluded corner and were served by a rather reluctant Octavius, Damon cleared his throat.

     "I'm so used to people being so polite to you. It's refreshing to see the server scurrying away from you. What'd you do to him?"

     Jasmine rolled her eyes, "you wanted to talk so talk."

     "How are you?" Damon asked as he lifted up his mug to drink the coffee. He made a face at it and vowed to never order the damn sweet thing again.

     "Splendid, is that all?"

     Placing the mug back on the table, Damon rolled his eyes, "I meant with the whole--" his face contorted in a mock scary face and uttered monster noises, "you looked pretty scared when you were trying to break through the barrier back at volunteer day."

     The way Jasmine was trying to portray herself was supposed to be stoic and cold. But she was struggling to keep it that way as she focused on Damon's emotions because she wasn't only getting his emotions--she was getting everyone who was linked to her. It seemed to have grown in size as if more vampires were making a visit to the cursed town. She felt their fear and panic on not being able to leave with the barrier up around the town.

     She could also pinpoint Katherine's fear of the thought of Klaus coming for her, Caroline's nervousness on having to keep another secret, sorrow from Stefan as he thought he had failed Elena once more, concern from Damon for who knows what, and much more. Fear and panic coming from the vampire that ran away and confusion from two new vampires as they tried to locate the doppelganger so that they'd able to make a deal with Elijah but having no luck. It was messing with Jasmine's will to be emotionless and soon she was talking as if her humanity was switched back on after going so long without and she regretted her actions.

     She gently tapped her finger that held her daylight ring against the ceramic mug, "I-I guess I was. I don't know, it was like if I didn't push through then everything would be lost and it kind of was. You guys are set against me with good reason since I have the girl you love and Lexi... she left without saying goodbye. I think I might have ruined that relationship."

     Damon immediately leaned forward and covered her hand with his own, "no, you didn't. Lexi, as annoying as I think she is, she'd never give up on you. She loves you too much to do that. She just needs space, so just give her that and she'll come running back in no time."

     "I hope you're right."

     Damon cautiously held her hand knowing she was still on edge, "as for me and Stefan, well, we're still here aren't we? We may argue and consider each other enemies but you're still family and I'll never do anything to permanently harm you."

     Jasmine smiled timidly and squeezed his hand, "good to know. The feeling is mutual by the way."

     "Kinda figured." Damon said jokingly. Jasmine let out a laugh and retracted her hand to place on her lap.

     Forgetting their situation and forgetting their ill feelings toward each other, Damon and Jasmine sat and just talked. Should Jasmine have let her guard down so easily? She thinks that it was the right thing as Damon was obviously being genuine. So whether this was going to bite her in the ass later, she didn't care right now and let herself rejoice in having one of her best friends back into her life.

     Damon knew not to push too much so he directed conversations to memories they shared together. Their first Christmas back in 1862, their backpacking adventures in 1889, the many concerts they attended together, and every memory they could think of. He missed her. Besides Stefan, Jasmine was the one person he depended on to sticking by him--she was family. And this family--this messed up but good family, they don't abandon each other completely.

     The sky was dark already when Damon received a message, a message that caused him to quickly frown. He announced that he needed to go which was in perfect timing to Octavius announcing that he was closing up. Since they took Jasmine's car to get to the cafe, Jasmine offered to give him a ride to which he declined and stated that he could walk.

     Opening the door for Jasmine, Damon smiled, "can I walk you to your car?"

     Content with the evening, Jasmine nodded, "sure."

     They walked in silence. They didn't need to talk especially considering how much they've already did. Damon opened her car door for her and waited to close it until Jasmine was comfortable in her seat. She rolled down her window so that she could say goodbye, but stopped her words when she saw him give her a sad smile.

     "What's wrong?"

     Damon quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching as he leaned closer to her to place his hands gently against her cheeks, "I had a good time talking with you. It reminded me of how it used to be before we came to this stupid town. I've sincerely missed it, so I'm terribly sorry for this."

     Jasmine's guard immediately went up but before she could even think of a spell, Damon quickly snapped her head to the side. She slumped against the seat, making it appear as if she had fallen asleep inside her car. Damon looked at her, saddened, and pushed her har away from her face.

     "I really am sorry, for what it's worth."

     With one last glance at her face, Damon sped away and headed to where he was summoned to. Once he reached it, a rundown house came into view. Stefan and Bonnie were standing in front of an opened door where Elena and Tyler stood inside.

     Standing beside his brother, Damon spoke out, "well, Jasmine is going to definitely hate us after what I just did. What's with the 911?"

     Bonnie gestured towards her two still trapped friends, "they're sealed in with a barrier spell."

     Not seeing the problem, Damon continued in an exasperated tone, "then take it down. You did it at the masquerade."

     Stefan crossed his arms across his chest, "it's not working."

     "Of course it isn't."

     They all appeared startled as they saw Francis appear behind them. Damon and Stefan exchanged looks as they both wondered how he was able to sneak up on them without them hearing his footsteps. Francis paid them no mind as he stared accusingly at the Bennett witch.

     "You broke our deal."

     Bonnie sighed, "I couldn't do this by myself."

     "You could, you just didn't try hard enough. You underestimate your power and strength, Ms. Bennett. Frankly, I'm quite disappointed. I was really looking forward to working alongside you."

     Bonnie looked away from him, feeling as if she had failed him. Which she technically did, but she didn't think she knew him enough to care. Before she could think about how she was feeling, she saw Elena's pleading face, desperate to get out.

     "I can't get through the barrier spell."

     Rolling his eyes, Francis confirmed that it wouldn't be easy to lift it, "it's not a regular barrier spell; it's a blood barrier spell."

     Stefan furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Francis, "a blood... what does that mean?" Everyone waited for him to answer but soon it became clear that Francis wasn't even acknowledging the vampires' presence. Stefan nodded his head once and suppressed an annoyed chuckle, "Okay then."

     It was Bonnie's turn to roll her eyes as she asked Stefan's question again. Francis smiled, amused, at her and answered, "it means only her blood can break the spell or anyone who shares her DNA. It's rarely ever used by witches since they normally always have a relative on the wrong side. Jasmine didn't want to make an easy barrier spell that could be broken so thinking that she was the last of her bloodline—perfect spell."

     "Wait that means that—" Bonnie's eyes widened a bit as she pointed towards Francis.

     "I can break the spell. It's really lucky for you that I came into town, huh? Imagine if I hadn't and Jasmine still pulled something like this."

     Deciding to push her luck, Bonnie asked, "will you help us?"

     Francis didn't take time to think about it. He just sighed and nodded, "well you've already failed the mission, didn't you? What's one small favor?"

     Bonnie, Stefan, and Damon take a couple steps back as Francis approached the entrance of the building. The Salvatores heard him mutter a small spell they didn't understand but from the sudden smell of blood, they were sure it was a spell that created a incision on his skin. Francis squeezes his hand over the threshold and continued to quietly mutter the counter spell to the barrier. They all looked in awe as the barrier was suddenly visible to their eyes and they followed it as it retreated into the Earth slowly.

     Elena looked at her friends anxiously thinking it was too good to be true. So she looked at Bonnie for confirmation, "can we leave now?"

     Bonnie nodded and encouraged them to cross the threshold, "the barrier is down so come on."

     Elena didn't need to be told twice as she rushed out and immediately embraced her best friend. She thanked Francis, who nodded his head and retreated back into the forest to convene with his coven. The Salvatores were glad they were able to free Elena so for now hey ignored the feeling of dread that accompanied the thought of what will happen when Jasmine wakes up.

     "What about her?"

     They all turned to look at Tyler who had not yet left the building. He cast glances behind him as if expecting someone to show up. Stefan strained to see who he was referring to but he couldn't put a finger to who else would have been with them, "who?"

     "Katherine. We can't just leave her here." Tyler gives Elena a disapproving look as she tried to interrupt him, "I know she's the supposed villain but we can't just leave someone here to die, it's not right."

     They all looked at each other, wondering what to do. They could just leave Katherine there as payback for the things she's done, but it seemed as the Lockwood kid wasn't going to leave until Katherine was out. So, reluctantly, Damon sighed and walked up to the entrance, "I've got her. You guys get out of here before Jasmine gets back."

     He didn't look back to see them leave as he descended the stairs. He checked every square inch of the house until he finally came across a heap of a weakened body on a chair, "Katherine?"

     The heap lifted its head and looked at him with annoyance, "it's about time."

     "I should let you rot down here." Damon seethed as he walked towards her.

     "But you won't." Damon would give anything to wipe the smirk off her slowly desiccating lips.

     "And why do you think that is?" Even though she was right, he wanted to hear what she thought.

     Katherine lulled her head back then straightened it to stare him in the eye, "I would say it was because deep down you still love me but let's be honest, you stopped loving me the moment you found out I wasn't in that tomb."

     Damon sarcastically smiled, "glad we agree on something."

     "The real reason is that Tyler refuses to leave without me and of course, Saint Elena refuses to leave her friend behind. And we all know how much you want to please your precious Elena."

     Damon didn't confirm or deny her as he walked closer to where she was. Katherine sat smugly on the chair as he reached behind her to untie the ropes. As she opened her mouth to teasingly thank him, her head snapped to the side. Damon sighed as he hoisted her body over his shoulder and out the door.

     "You may be right but it's also because I know the perfect place to put you."

----

     With a groan, Jasmine slowly regained consciousness. It was still dark out but one look at her dashboard told her that she'd been out for over two hours. Quickly remembering what had happened, Jasmine deduced that the only reason Damon snapped her neck was for Elena. Turning on her car, she quickly sped over to the farthest part of the forest she was able to travel to and with anger filled eyes saw the doors to the underground shelter were blown open.

     Wanting to double check and wondering how the hell they were able to take down the barrier, Jasmine sped inside and checked every single space. She couldn't find anyone. They were gone. It was eerily quiet apart from Jasmine's heaving breaths as her anger turned into rage. Knowing exactly who rescued the doppelgangers and the werewolf, Jasmine wasted no time in speeding back into her car and heading straight for the Salvatore's house.

     With her face seemingly become permanent on her vampire transformation, Jasmine raised her hand causing the door to fly off its hinges. Stefan and Damon take a quick step back as she stalked toward them. She looked at them both before settling her look of disgust on Damon.

     "You promised." Damon opened his mouth, but quickly shut it as Jasmine clenched her fists at her sides. Her anger had driven her magic forward causing the lights to explode around them, "YOU PROMISED! I trusted you just like I trusted Stefan and you both betrayed me!"

     Damon grew angry quickly and took a step forward, "you had Elena!"

     Seeing her emotional state, Stefan spoke calmly, "she said you were going to kill her, how could you expect us to not go after her?"

      "She wasn't going to be dead dead, I had a plan to bring her back!" She stalked towards them again and in a soft but deadly tone said, "I'm not letting this go easily."

     "You don't know where Tyler and Elena are." Damon said smugly.

     Jasmine simply smiled sinisterly, "don't worry, you'll tell me."

     Stefan stood his ground beside Damon, "we won't." If he couldn't reach Jasmine right now, then he would do the next best thing and that was saving Elena.

     "Wanna bet?"

     Punches and kicks were thrown at both parties by both parties. Jasmine had the upper hand though as she raised her hand and threw them back. Stefan groaned as he slammed against the fireplace and Damon yells out in pain as his abdomen is impaled by an upside down chair. Jasmine angrily stalked toward Damon and ripped the chair out of him, only to break the legs of the chair and settling to beating him with it. Stefan charged at her and knocked her to the ground causing her to writhe and try to break free.

     As Stefan has her pinned down and she's thrashing around, he sees her pupils repeatedly appear blown out reverting back to normal size. He loosens his grip as he tried to figure out what was happening to her which was a mistake as he found himself shouting in pain. Jasmine had managed to get her arm free and wasted no time in using all her strength to hit it against Stefan's arm--breaking it.

     Jasmine's breathing is more ragged then it had ever been as she feels her head pulsating with bloodlusting rage. The Salvatores knew that if they don't overpower her then there was a good chance that she would nearly kill them.

     "Where are they?!"

     Quickly regaining his strength, Damon breathed out, "not... telling."

     Her anger was suddenly taken down a notch as if someone had turned down the volume to four on a stereo. She wasn't furious anymore but was still angry. Seeing as being violent wasn't getting her anywhere, Jasmine took a step back, "fine, then I'll just kill everyone Elena loves. How much will your doppelganger love you still after she sees her family and friends dead and displayed in the town square? How sure are you that she won't want anything to do with you after I do that?" They stared at her in horror as they pictured her future actions.

     Still on the floor, Stefan frowned and pleaded, "Jasmine, please."

     Taking a deep breath, Jasmine replaced her sinister look with another approach--sympathy, "tell me where they're at." She got down on the ground until she was eye level with him and melted the angry away from her stare, "come on, Stef." She lifted her hand and gently caressed his face causing him to instinctively close his eyes, "you know me and you know my threats aren't empty. So what's it going to be?"

     Keeping his eyes closed, Stefan whispered, "don't hurt her, please."

     "Just tell me."

     "Promise us! Promise that you will bring her back alive." Damon croaked from beside them.

     Jasmine thought it over for a second before groaning, "fine, you have my word that I will bring her back, don't worry."

     Stefan opened his eyes. If Jasmine wasn't angry with him, then she was sure that she would have apologized profusely at the look of disappointment he directed at her, "she and Tyler are with Bonnie. And Katherine..." Stefan looked towards Damon and sighed, "she's where she's supposed to be."

     Smiling broadly, Jasmine pats his cheek and mockingly said, "now that wasn't so hard, was it?" She stood up from the floor and dusted herself off, "that plan I had to revive Elena? Yeah, I'm throwing that out the window." She smirked as they looked horrified and began walking towards the door.

     Damon stood up and with his voice breaking, he called out, "you gave us your word!"

     Jasmine stopped to turn around and face them, "yeah, that I'd bring her back. I never uttered the word 'alive', so when the time comes you're both going to sit and watch as I drain every last drop of blood in her body. Congratulations, Elena's death is on you."

     Hearing her words, they both begin to walk towards her again, but stop when she raises her hand, "this is for earlier, by the way." She twisted her hand to the side and immediately the Salvatores fell to the floor with broken necks. Dropping the smile on her face, Jasmine walked out the door.

     As she neared the town's square, the sound of footsteps alerted her of someone walking beside her. She didn't need to look to already know who it was. She had her suspicions.

     "It was you, wasn't it?" She continued to walk as she waited for him to respond.

     Francis simply smirked at her and shrugged his shoulders, "whatever do you mean?"

     Scoffing, Jasmine quickened her pace, "drop the act. Alethea mentioned something about an emotional link and if that's possible, then that means that you somehow have a control over my emotions when it conveniences you."

     "I can't give you emotions, but I can surely amplify them. For example, you were angry, but then your heightened senses made you furious and I kicked it up a notch to full on blind rage. Marvelous, isn't it?"

     "And that barrier spell. Only someone from my bloodline could drop it and considering I never had any kids then it means that my mother survived and somehow had more children." She slowed her steps to a stop and looked at him, wanting him to deny it.

     Which he didn't do as Francis scowled at her, "a vampire with a brain, how extraordinary."

     "What do you want from me?"

     Francis waved his hand as if to be dismissive about it, "oh just for you to suffer. If you haven't noticed, this supposed prophecy? It's coming true and you have never been more alienated than you are right now. You're going to die alone and it'll be your entire fault."

     Breathing rapidly again, Jasmine lifted her hand and tried to swipe at him, but he suddenly disappeared. She scoffed as she realized that he was astral projecting. Calming her breathing, she looked down the street and noticed Sheriff Forbes leaving the police station and heading to her car.

     "Sheriff Forbes!" Jasmine called out as she began jogging towards her.

     Elizabeth smiled warmly at the teenager and waited until Jasmine was beside her to greet her, "Jasmine, hi."

     "Do you have a minute?" Elizabeth nodded her head and gestured for Jasmine to get whatever she needed out.

----

     At the Bennett household, Bonnie sat on the couch with her phone on her lap and Caroline's name shone brightly on the screen as she had her on speaker. The blonde had immediately called her once she found out that Elena and Tyler were safely out of whatever hellhole Jasmine had them in.

     Elena sat beside Tyler as they both leaned in closer to listen and join the conversation, "what if she finds us?"

     "She won't," Bonnie reassured.

     Tyler wasn't convinced, "but what if she does?"

     Bonnie took a deep breath before reassuring him, too, "then I'll take her on. Just relax, okay? She can't enter the house because she hasn't been invited in."

     Not really listening to what they were saying, Caroline blurted out, "oh, god, what if she comes after me? She needs a vampire for the ritual and Katherine is locked away in the tomb and she's not going to sacrifice the Salvatores." She began hyperventilating which caused a traumatized Tyler to start panicking, too.

      Neither of them were listening to Bonnie as she tried to dissuade their fears so she decided to just yell out, "everyone just calm down!" Immediately everyone grew quiet and waited for her to continue, "we've got this, okay? If she comes, we can beat her, I know we can." Suddenly the sound of the door opening caused Bonnie to be on high alert, "who is that?"

     It was silent on the other end until Caroline responded, "it's just my mom. She's home late again."

     The sound of distant chatter silenced them again. Elena strained to hear what was being said, "wait, who is she talking to? Ms. Forbes?" She left Tyler's side to go investigate causing everyone to remain quiet.

     "Who is it?" Bonnie whispered into the microphone.

     Tyler whispered back, "we don't know."

     Caroline was beginning to grow confused as Elena took longer than usual to simply check who was with her mother, "what's taking her so long?" Still paranoid of being attacked, Caroline handed her phone to Tyler and went to check on Elena.

     Both lines were eerily quiet. The chatter from Sheriff Forbes was silenced and they couldn't even hear Caroline or Elena's footsteps to see if they were coming back. Bonnie was beginning to panic as she grabbed hold of her phone and pressed it against her ear, "Tyler, what's going on?"

     Taking a deep breath and pushing down his nerves, Tyler stood up, "hold on." He followed his friends' lead and walked toward the hallway to see where they got themselves into.

     Bonnie could swear that her heart was going to explode from her chest as it thumped loudly in her ears. Her friends had left her hanging with no word back yet and it was safe to say that she was one step away from leaving her house to go investigate herself.

     "Guys? What's going on?" No answer. "I'm coming over." As she was about to hang up the call, a voice rang out.

     "There's no use, they'll be long gone by the time you arrive. Have a nice night, Bonnie."

     Bonnie stood fear stricken as the line went dead. She should have known that Jasmine would figure out where Elena and Tyler were hiding out. She looked at her phone and tried to quickly come up with an idea to save her friends... again.

----

     Elena, Tyler, and Caroline quietly groaned as they sat up. They looked at their surroundings but it was hard to make out anything since it was very dark... and cold. The walls felt as if they were made from rocks and sand covered their feet. Then, a torch was ignited and set against the wall providing very little light.

     "Welcome back." The three of them looked over and with a varying of screams, saw Katherine resting against the wall with a tired smirk on her face.

     They looked at each other with slight panicked faces then quickly turned their heads to the sound of another torch being lighted. This time they were able to make out the exit which meant they were able to see Jasmine standing outside of it with a smug smirk on her face.

     "Thought you'd escaped me? I've been waiting for quite some time for this so a small escape plan isn't going to deter me. Sit back and relax because you're not getting out any time soon." Jasmine then turned around and walked up the steps, ignoring their sounds of protest. As she reached above ground, she let a small victorious smile graze her lips.

     "Well done. You've gathered everything you need. It was very sloppy but it did the job." Jasmine turned around to face the smiling man walking toward her. She didn't get a chance to greet him as he continued on, "you're a hard person to locate, especially with all of your running around."

     Jasmine rolled her eyes, "it's good to see you."

     Letting out a laugh, the man walked up until he was half a foot away from her, "I somewhat doubt that, but it's good to see you, too, Jasmine." He leaned in forward and wrapped her in his embrace. He laid his head on hers as he looked around, "of all the places to meet, Mystic Falls?"

     It was Jasmine's turn to laugh as she heard the tone of distaste, "it's the doppelganger's birthplace."

     He nodded his head and hummed for a second. It was bizarre being there where he's heard only bad things have happened, but he supposed he'd have to seal his distaste and get through whatever comes next.

     Finally thinking she's hugged him enough, Jasmine pulled away and smiled gently at him, "welcome home, Elijah."

————

graphic by CarKann