CHAPTER FOUR / ACT ONE

The Heart is A Lonely Hunter

Angelina's eyes fluttered open to the light shined above her head, which she gradually adjusted to. To her surprise, she was welcomed with her wrists and ankles shackled to a wooden seat in the boarding house's basement.

The basement was faintly lit, dusty, and freezing. The top corners of the room were shrouded in spider webs, and the air resembled smoke. It was dirty, to say the least.

She attempted to shake her wrists free from the ropes, but soon realized it was no use as it had been days since she had a drop of blood. Her skin was pale and her throat was dry from the growing desiccation.

"Don't bother." A voice came from the dark part of the room. "You're not getting out of there." It was Stefan, stepping closer into the light holding a wooden stake in his hands.

"Let me out of here." Angelina demanded, gritting her teeth in frustration.

"Not until I get the truth out from you." He answered, bending down in front of her and pointing the stake in her face.

"I'm not lying Stefan." She groaned while rolling her eyes. "I don't know what else you want out of me."

"Because something about your story doesn't add up." He told her. "Now, every time you lie, I stab you in the stomach with this stake."

Angelina bit her bottom lip in disturbance, avoiding eye contact with the Salvatore. Despite the fact that it was awkward, she remained unfazed by the circumstances.

She knew Stefan wasn't capable of killing her, and she'd suffered undeniably more desolation than being stabbed with a stake. She knew she'd survive the ordeal even if he thought she was lying.

"Fine." She agreed reluctantly.

"Great." He smiled at her sarcastically. "What I don't understand is why you left Katherine to die in the tomb."

"You two're twins, best friends even in 1864; wherever she was, you were. You'd never leave her to rot in a tomb without a fight."

Angelina peered down at him, taking a full breath prior to responding to in his inquiry.

"I wanted to save her, of course." She answered him, which was only half the truth. "Like you said, I'd never leave her to rot in there. But I couldn't."

"And you didn't decide to come back for me or Damon?"

"You 'don't like me' now, why would you like me then?" Angelina answered truthfully. "Like I told Damon, I wanted to start a new life. Nothing personal."

Without wasting another second, he dove the stake into her stomach, constraining her to scream in pain.

"I told you the truth!" She yelled.

"You're lying!" He yelled, snatched the stake stomach. "You were taken away, but I saved you. You said you were going back for Katherine; but you never came back."

"I was caught again, but managed to escape before I just decided to run." She breathed out, her words still shaky from the pain in her stomach. "Stefan, I would've come back to you, and you know that, but I couldn't."

It was the truth. She wanted to come back for him, but she couldn't. Not because she was taken, but because she knew if she did, he'd never be able to live a life with her; but if she knew he would've died that night, saving him would've been her top priority above herself.

"How would I know you would've come back when all you've ever done is manipulate and lie?" He held the stake to her face, becoming progressively infuriated constantly.

"Because I love you, and we both know I didn't compel you to love me back." She teased.

"When you turned, all of your compelled memories came back to you. You you would know whether or not I made you love me. All you've been doing since I arrived yesterday, or better yet for the past damn century, is lying to yourself."

The room fell silent as Stefan sat on the floor on the opposite side of the room. Angelina bowed her head and kicked her feet on the floor, showing sympathy for him. All things considered, she was in love with him, and the last thing she wanted to do was upset him.

Stefan stood up from the floor with his head held down and ventured back over to her with the stake still in his grasp. By and by, without saying a word, he plunged the stake in her chest, scarcely missing her heart this time.

"I died for you," He spat out in a shaky tone. "I died for you, and you didn't come back."

She struggled to speak, attempting to keep her body still to stay away from the stake drawing nearer to her heart. Through a rugged tone, she spoke up again. "We both know you're incapable of killing me."

He gradually removed the stake from her chest and tossed it on the floor. Angelina gasped in pain and battled to recuperate her breath. "You were running from something," He continued. "What was it?"

"Why do you care?" She sighed, resting her head against the concrete wall.

"Because I want an explanation."

"I don't give up my business to people who tie me up and stab me." She leaned forward until her face was inches from his. "What I did had nothing to do with you as much as you want it to."

For a moment, she watched as Stefan almost struck her again, but stopped himself.

"Let me go." She demanded as he stood up and backed away towards the cellar door. "Stefan!" She continued to call.

As Angelina called for him to return, he ran and left the basement, ignoring her pleas.

"Stefan, let me out of here!" She shouted to him one final time, watching as he closed the door. He locked the door and left her alone in the faint light.

She pressed her lips together and drooped back in her seat, defeated by her attempts to escape the chains. She realized she wouldn't have the option to break free from the chains, as she wasn't strong enough, so the best thing to do was delay until possibly him or Damon returned.

In any case, until further notice, she'd have to occupy herself by gazing at the vacant, grimy, and dusty walls.

After around two hours, neither Stefan nor Damon had returned to the cellar, and Angelina was beginning to grow impatient. Not that she had any patience to begin with. She was hungry, bloody, and, most importantly, bored.

"Stefan!" She called out as loud as she could, though due to the lack of blood, it wasn't as loud as she hoped it'd be. "Damon!" She slumped in her seat, grumbling excessively after no response. Katherine was right; she had totally screwed up.

In any case, Angelina's choices aren't generally ideal when she wasn't thinking with her head. But now wasn't the time to pout.

As hard as possible, she kicked her legs, attempting to break free from the grip of the hard metal chains yet tragically it was no use.

Following a couple of moments, she heard noisy thuds drawing nearer and nearer to her, which she assumed were footsteps. She lifted her head up to see Damon unlocking and opening the door.

"Finally," She sighed, her voice hoarse and weak. "I was getting lonely down here."

"Well, lucky for you, I'm here to let you out." Damon grinned as he moved toward her, stooped before her, and started removed her wrists from the chains.

"And why is that?" She asked. "You know Stefan would have a fit."

"Because we need your help." He answered her and began removing the chains from her ankles.

"You want my help?" She scowled as she twisted her wrists and stretched her arms in the air. "That's new."

"Elena was attacked by a vampire," He said as he finished unchaining her and rose from the floor. "If we're gonna kill him, we're gonna need someone strong."

"I haven't had blood in three days, Damon." She replied, weakly standing up from the chair. "I'm the exact opposite of strong."

As she stood, her legs gave out and she collapsed in his arms; though thankfully, he caught her and lifted her back up on his feet.

"Don't worry, I have some blood bags for you." He struggled to drag her out.

"What makes you think I'll help you guys?" She retorted as he drew her out of the cellar. "I mean, Stefan locked me in this cellar and tortured me with a stake, now you think we're cool?"

"Well, you wanna get on his good side, don't you?" Damon questioned, letting out a frustrated sigh at her defiance. "I think you'd be heading in the right direction."

Angelina bit her lower lip as she considered Damon's words. She was normally keen on helping somebody in the event that she received anything in return. Stefan, Damon, and perhaps Elena's trust, would be the most she'd gain out of it.

"Fine," She groaned, and Damon led her to the small freezer filled with blood bags which he had stolen from Mystic Falls hospital. Angelina snatched two and drank as much blood as possible from the pack, rapidly the reestablishing strength in her body and the color in her skin.

She drank the other one as fast as she could and tossed them both to the ground. Damon motioned his head toward the higher up and took off, Angelina speeding close behind.

Damon opened the door to Elena's house and stepped inside whilst Angelina attempted to enter behind him, but was put to an immediate halt when a large force blocked her from stepping any further.

"Um, I kinda need to be invited in." She scratched the back of her head and pursed her lips together.

"Right," He replied and turned his head towards the living room where Stefan and Elena were sitting. "We have a guest."

Elena and Stefan stood up from the sofa, confused, and made their way towards the door, where Angelina waited with a counterfeit grin.

"You let her out?!" Stefan exclaimed, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Do you wanna kill this guy or not?" Damon argued with him. "She's older and stronger than all of us combined, now invite her in."

"And quickly please, it's cold out here." The Petrova added.

Elena looked over at Stefan, who reluctantly gave her a reassuring nod, and back at Angelina, taking a deep breath. "You can come in."

Angelina's smile widened and she slowly entered the house, examining the exterior of the living room. "Nice house."

Elena grinned delicately as Stefan took her hand and led her to the couch while the other two vampires followed behind.

"How'd he get in?" Damon asked as he walked around the side of couch.

"He was invited in." The Gilbert answered.

"He posed as a pizza delivery guy last night." Stefan added.

"Well, he get's points for that." He sarcastically complimented. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No, he was too busy trying to kill me." Elena retorted.

"And neither of you have any idea who this is?" Stefan questioned both Damon and Angelina.

"Well unless it's some crazy ex-boyfriend of mine who mistook Elena for me, I have no idea." Angelina joked, biting her nails.

"You?" Stefan turned his head towards his brother.

"No," Damon answered truthfully, though Stefan continued to give both of them a look of suspicion.

"Don't look at me like that," The eldest Salvatore rolled his eyes. "I told you we had company."

"You think there's more than one?" The Gilbert asked.

"We don't know."

"He was invited in." Stefan said.

"Then we go get him tonight." Damon said in a blunt tone, looking at Angelina and then back at Elena. "You guys up for it?"

"I receive my payment in blood bags or humans." The eldest doppelgänger kidded as she took a step closer to the group.

"What do I have to do?" Elena spoke up.

"Let your boyfriend take you to the dance," He answered. "We'll see who shows up."

"That's a bad idea." Stefan argued, shaking his head softly.

"Until we get him, this house isn't safe." He argued back with him. "For anyone who lives in it."

"It's worth a shot."

"How can you come to the dance when you look exactly like me?" Elena asked Angelina, who was barely paying attention to the conversation. "You'd barely get passed the parking lot."

Angelina titled her head to the side and examined Elena's outfit, looking her up and down. "Well, either I compel everyone in sight to believe we're twins like I did with your friend Caroline, or I pretend to be you."

"The choice is yours."

"Both," Stefan answered for Elena. "Pretend to be Elena and if that doesn't work, compel them."

"Aye Aye, Captain." She saluted him jokingly and sat on the arms wrest of the couch. "Do you have another outfit similar to that one, Elena?"

"Uh, yeah," Elena answered softly. "Caroline made me get an extra just in case, it's upstairs."

"Perfect!" Angelina stood up from the arm rest with fake enthusiasm, ready to get dressed for the dance.

"Okay," Elena sighed. "I'll do it."

She looked over at Damon and back at Stefan, gently holding his hand for comfort. "I'll be with the two of you. I'll be safe."

Angelina sighed and started pivoting towards the steps to find the other outfit in Elena's room yet was unexpectedly halted when Stefan sped before her to hinder her way.

"Um, excuse me-" She began but was immediately cut off by Stefan.

"If you try to mess anything up, I will kill you myself." He threatened her, getting closer to her face.

Angelina rolled her eyes in annoyance and pushed him away from her. "Relax."

"Don't ask me to help you if you don't even trust me." Her tone became more solemn than before. She brushed by his shoulder and made her way up the stairs to Elena's room.

Stefan's continuous skepticism was not surprising to her, though it was aggravating. It was driving her insane. The constant lectures, snapping her neck, tormenting her, and locking her in a cellar. It was annoying to say the least.

Yet, Damon was right. Saving Elena's life would be exactly what she expected to secure his trust; and that is actually what she planned to do.

AUTHORS NOTE
originally this chapter was going to include the dance and i had already written it but then i realized no one wants to read that much in one chapter and it was even overwhelming me. the next chapter will be out VERY quickly since i already have written half of it so yay. ❤️❤️

ty for reading!

the crazy ex boyfriend line was lowkey foreshadowing