Chapter 35

Oh, hell.

First Elizabeth. Now, Elena. What kind of game is Danae playing?

William paced the empty road impatiently, checking the black tar surface for any sign that Elena was here. He had checked the car. Nothing there. He had checked the road, the thick forest by the side of the road, the abandoned building surrounding them.

Not a clue.

Frustrated, he walked back to the car, his strides wider and angrier, and slid inside the driver's seat. Moment's ago, he had hung up on Stefan, something he probably should not have done considering Elena had been taken on his watch. How careless was he, that he couldn't even hear Elena being taken?

Something gold glinted from the corner of his eyes and he paused, his face in his hands. Through the spaces between his fingers he could see the shining golden object. Curious, he sat up straight. There, right on the floor of the car, at the passenger seat's side, he could see it, shimmering slightly.

A coin.

An odd thought struck him. What are the chances of him stepping on a weird coin outside after Elena disappeared and then finding one inside the car, near the place where Elena sat.

Slowly, keeping his eyes on his surrounding, he bent down and took the coin. It felt hot in his hand, like burning gold. This one was larger and thicker. Again, the faces of the coin was different from the regular ones. One side of the coin was engraved with a picture of a girl tied to a post. On the other side was an engraving of another girl, with a noose loosely tied around her neck.

Cold fear washed over him, real fear that scared him because before, he had never been scared of anything. Hard as it is to admit, he actually thought himself superior to others. Not Charlie, of course. But the others, the younger ones, the ones whose power couldn't beat his. Yes, he was, maybe just a bit, arrogant, and he had never let anything scare him. The only times when he had felt afraid, no, worried, was when Elizabeth had to meet the council, when he had to wait outside the closed doors to know what was going to happen to her.

Shaking his head as if throwing away his thoughts, he turned the engine on and pressed his foot hard on the accelerator, speeding away.

He didn't now where he was going, or what he was going to do. In fact, this was the first time he went ahead with something without planning carefully. That thought scared him too.


Elena woke up to the sound of something thudding.

Dazed, she slowly opened her eyes. Her head felt sore and something warm and sticky was trickling down her left cheek. She raised a finger and touched the spot. Ruby red blood coated her finger pads when she examined them.

The thudding sound grew closer. Panicking, she stood up and raised her hands in front of her. She could see nothing, not even her own hands. The darkness consumed everything and blindly, she moved around the room, feeling the walls curve as she moved. Odd. Was the whole room circular? Her hands touched something cold and metallic. A door. Her hands travelled further upwards and felt locks, huge iron locks that were obviously locked.

The thudding sound was right outside the door now. Quickly, she staggered backwards and tripped over something, making her fall. Her hands touched something, something furry and wet that wriggled several times before scurrying away. Disgust and horror filled her but she fought hard to keep her mouth shut.

' Still not awake, then?' a gruff voice said from behind the door.

' Nope. Not a sound,' another voice answered.

There was a short pause. Then, the gruff voiced man talked again. ' I can smell her blood. Just get this over with-'

' No. She wants her alive.'

Another pause. Then, the sound of heavy footsteps started again, this time it faded away. Exhaling with relief, Elena slowly backed up, away from the door, when again, she bumped into something. Something moist fell into her arm. Heart racing fast, she looked down and saw the outline of something small, wriggling on her arm. More dropped onto her arms, shoulders and neck. They wriggled down her back, touched her skin. This time, she couldn't stop herself from screaming.


William stared at the coin in his hands. There were two now. The first coin was more bronze than gold, and it felt colder than the larger golden one. The bronze coin had no pictures on its sides, just words, letters jumbled up. It was small, making the letters appear squeezed, like a single word.

One line, lots of letters, one word.

More lines, more letters, more words.

More words.. That would make it a...a poem of some sort.

He stared at it intently now. Yes. He can definitely read the letters better now.

There she sat, among the wreck,
behind doors that will never break,
neither at land, nor at sea,
she knows now that she can never be free


not part of the story obviously- sorry if its a bit short but, hey! we're back=)

Chapter 34

It hurt.


It hurts so much. Elizabeth tried to stand on her toes, tried to put her head above the water to get some air. Even a little would be fine because being underwater for such a long time definitely did not suit her. She yanked at the cords that bound her wrists and immediately, searing pain shot up her arms, throughout her body. 


Wooden cords. Of course. She could feel the splinters digging into her skin. 


So cold, too. 


She was shivering, trembling so violently that the water around her rippled with her every movement.


Wait.


Isn't she a vampire? Vampires can feel cold? Aren't vampires supposed to be invincible and all that? God, it's better if she died right now because between the wooden splinters pricking her skin and the ice cold water, dying seems like a pretty good thing now.


But vampires are immortal. That means she can't die. Which means this won't stop. 


Wow. Great.


Stupid-ass vampire thing.




It hurt.


It hurts so much.


It was as if William was the one suffocating, as if he was the one tied down with wooden cords, as if he was the one with wooden splinters scraping his skin. Hissing slightly, he clutched his head. He hadn't fed for days now and while this has never bothered him before, it did now. His throat felt tight and his jaw hurt. He groaned and lifted his head from his hands, to find Elena staring at him, her eyes wide.


A long silence followed.


' You creep me out sometimes,' she finally said.


' Thanks.'


' You're welcome.'


He bent down again and pressed the heel of his hands onto his forehead. His head felt like exploding.


' So, like, if you're thinking about drinking my blood, warn me first. Give me a few minutes to run,' Elena continued. She turned to him. ' You look like crap.'




' I feel like crap.'


Another long silence.


' So...know where Elizabeth is?'


William made an impatient gesture, as if to tell her to stop talking. ' I can't think right now. My head...feels like...ugh.'


' Yeah...I always feel like that every Sunday morning. Monday, too. Sometimes Thursdays.' Elena tapped her fingers on the dashboard of William's car. She tsked. ' I should probably stop doing that.'


' Where's your phone?' he suddenly asked her. 


' It's in my pocket. Why?' Slowly, she took it out.


' Give me that. I need to call your brother.' He grabbed it from her hands before he even finished talking, his fingers already flying across the keypads. Quickly, he raised it to his ear. ' Damn it! No signal.' He snapped it shut and opened the driver's door. At the very last minute, he turned around and fixed her with a long stare. ' Stay here.'


' Yeah. Sure. Whatever.' She leaned back and stared at the roof of the car. Then, she sat up and looked out the deserted road, expecting to see William deep in heated conversation with Stefan. 


But the road was empty. The deserted road was really deserted. 


She sat up straight now, her heart thumping steadily. Slowly, she stepped out of the car. ' Will?' Her boots made a loud crunching sound on the gravel. ' Will? Will, where are you?' Her voice quavered slightly at the end.
Something was wrong here. She could still hear the sound of her boots against the gravel, but there was another sound. A second sound. The sound of shoes against gravel. 


She whirled around. Something hard hit her temple.


Then everything went black.




' Where the hell are you, Salvatore?'


' I don't even know myself.'


' What? Do I have to save your ass again?'


There was a weak chuckle from the other end of the line. ' Someone got up on the wrong side of the coffin today.'


' Yes. And someone's gonna end up in a coffin if that someone doesn't tell me where he is.'


' Told you, man. I don't know.'


' Man? Man? You've resorted to using 'man'? Are you lost in Woodstock? Are you wearing tie-dyed shirts and flashing peace signs now?'


' Cranky.'


' Blood.'


' Ah, of course. You haven't fed yet.' There was a long pause. ' Let me talk to Elena.'


William turned around and stopped. The car was dark. And empty.


' Where is she?'


William was already striding towards the car and practically ripped the passenger's door open. ' Elena,' he yelled. ' Turning around, he started walking down the road. 'Elena!' 


From the phone, Stefan was also shouting. ' Where is she, William?!'


' I don't know okay? I don't know! She was in there while I was calling you and now, she's not! I told-' William stopped because he felt something under his feet. Something circular. Ignoring Stefan, he stepped back slightly and looked down. A coin. Confused, he picked it up and peered at it. It was an odd coin. Instead of having the usual 'Liberty. In God We Trust,' at the front, there was a bunch of jumbled up words. At the back, instead of having the usual,' USA. One dime,' there were more jumbled up words. 


' What the-'


' What? Did you find her? Can I talk to her?' Stefan's voice was just a buzz in his ear. 


' Hey. Did the president issue new coins?' he asked, staring at the coin.


' What the hell? No! Where is Elena? I need to talk to her!'


' Stefan.'


' What?'


' I think she's in trouble.'

Chapter 32

The scene was all so normal.

The Town Square was busy. Women in brightly coloured dresses bustled about, chatting noisily, packages wrapped in brown paper tucked under their arms. A steady stream of people were exiting Madame Marie's, carrying large heavily padded boxes made of dark blue pinstriped silk for the men, pink tourmaline silk with patterns for the women.

Elizabeth stared at them longingly. The Season, the time of the year when extravagant dinner parties, balls and large charity events were held, was just in a few days. Usually, at this time, Elizabeth's closet would already be filled with new dresses, her shoes cleaned and polished and her jewelery laid out for her to choose which to wear. Her mother would already be busy sending out invites for their famous yearly Davenport dinner.

Suddenly she felt like she was being watched. Slowly, her gaze travelled downwards, and she found a small boy staring at her. His light blonde hair was swept to the side by the wind, almost poking his eyes, but he didn't seem to notice.

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that someone had finally found her. Tentatively, she smiled at the boy, but instead of smiling back at her, started walking backwards, his eyes wide. Then, he let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran into the very centre of the Town Square.

Elizabeth knew that it was time to run. Quickly, hiding her face under the wide hood of her cloak, fled the alley, taking the back passage through the woods. At a far distance, she heard the sound of approaching hooves, heading her direction. For the first time, she felt a little smug for being a vampire, because she knew she could outrun the horses at anytime, no matter how good the rider was.

To her left, separating the thinner forest from the thicker woods, was a stream of flowing river. The water was dark grey, and she could see her reflection clearly in the water. Finally, she understood what made the boy scream. Her eyes, usually a clear colour, alternating from emerald green to blue green, was completely dark. Even the whites of her eyes were black. Her hair, usually so sleek and smooth, was unruly and tangled, with bits of leaves caught in them.

A gasp escaped her mouth when her eyes glinted red for a while, followed by a flash of thirst in her throat.

Her thoughts flickered to Chantal. Chantal might help her. They were best friends, right? Why wouldn't she? And if she didn't want to help her, well..

Sighing, Elizabeth cupped her hands and scooped up some water from the river and drank it slowly, ignoring the queasy feeling in her stomach. Then, she wiped her hands dry on her cape and pulled the wide hood over her face again.



Chantal never thought that something like this could ever happen to her.

If someone had said that she would be bitten by a vampire and then recruited by the another vampire, who wanted her best friend dead, she would have laughed at that someone. After reporting them to the authorities, of course, since ideas about dark creatures were not....entertained.

Sighing, she undid the clasp of the pearl necklace around her neck and placed it gently in its blue velvet box. Then, with the same slow movement, she untied the rope of diamonds around her hair and placed it in another box. She could've asked her maid to help her, bu for some reason, she felt like being alone tonight.

Tiredly, she slipped on her white lace dressing gown and cinched it around the waist, when she heard a sudden loud clanging noise outside her balcony. A figure wearing a black cape that was far too large appeared outside.

Chantal froze, not knowing what to do.

' That's Elizabeth,' Danae hissed at her and Chantal started slightly. She can talk to me telepathically?

' Elizabeth?' Chantal called out hesitantly, walking towards the balcony. A long stretch of silence followed this.

' Can I come in? Please?' Elizabeth's voice sounded small.

' Of course,' Chantal instantly replied. She couldn't help but stare critically at the state of her hair and dress. ' You look....terrible.'

Elizabeth sighed loudly and settled herself on the bed, looking out of place. ' Can I please stay here for a while? Without your parents knowing?'

' Say yes,' Danae hissed again. ' Be nice to her.'

' Of course you can,' she said out loud, walking to her bedroom door and locking it. ' You're my best friend before and you're still my best friend now.'


SORRY KINDA SHORT.