CHAPTER FOUR
I was unceremoniously dropped onto a couch when I finally woke. My head was throbbing and I winced as I forced my eyes open to see my twin beside me. A man, a vampire I was guessing, was currently removing the ropes that bound my hands and feet. I eyed him wearily.
"What do you want?" Elena asked him as he removed her blindings as well and I silently begged her to shut up. She was going to end up getting us in even more trouble if she wasn't careful, "Please, I'm hurt."
"He kidnapped us, Elena, he doesn't care if you're hurt!" I hissed at her.
"I know. Just a taste." The vampire said, his fangs lengthening as he leaned down to bite my sister.
"Trevor!" A female voice halted him, "Control yourself!"
"Buzzkill." Trevor complained as he left the room, leaving us alone with the woman.
"What do you want with us?" Elena stammered.
"Oh my god, you both look just like her." She said, her eyes darting between both of us before landing on me, "Apart from the hair, at least."
"But I'm not. Please, whatever you-" Elena attempted to bargain.
"Be quiet!" Our kidnapper warned her.
"But I'm not Katherine. My name is Elena Gilbert; you don't have to do this." Elena continued and I let out an exasperated sigh from where I sat on the couch.
"I know who you are, I said be quiet."
"What do you want?" Elena asked and her question was met with a hard strike across the face. My sister landed unconscious on the couch beside me.
"I want you to be quiet." The woman said before turning her stern gaze to me. I gave her a bright smile as I mimed zipping my lips and throwing away the key.
The woman let out a sigh before leaving the room.
***
As our kidnappers spoke upstairs, my sister began to wake. I held a finger to my mouth, warning her to be silent and she quickly nodded. The two vampires were talking just loud enough for me to make out what they were saying.
"How are the girls?" The woman asked.
"Blondie stared daggers at me when I went to check and the other was still passed out." Trevor responded and I rolled my eyes at his remark about me.
"You didn't touch them, did you?"
"Give me some credit. So, you called him?"
My ears pricked as my heartbeat began to speed up. If they were talking about who I thought they were, it would be both a blessing and a curse.
"No, I called one of his contacts. You know how this works."
"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?"
I audibly sighed in relief. I could handle Elijah but I wouldn't have been able to handle seeing him yet.
"They say he got it." The woman confirmed.
"Wonderful and what?" Trevor asked as movement caught my eye and I looked to see Elena getting up and creeping up the stairs to their location, presumably to listen more clearly.
"Are you stupid?" I mouthed at her back as she disappeared out of my view. I held up my hands in disbelief as I leaned further into the couch and continued to listen.
"So that's it Trevor. He either got it or he didn't. We just have to wait."
"Look, it's not too late. We can leave it here. We don't have to go through with this."
"I'm sick of running!" The woman argued.
"Yeah? Well, running keeps us from dying." Trevor replied.
"Elijah's old school. If he accepts our deal, we're free." The woman said and my eyes darted upwards when a squeaky floorboard sounded, "You! There's nothing around here for miles. If you think you're getting out of this house, you're tragically wrong. Understand?"
Elena had definitely been busted, which was no surprise to me. She was an awful eavesdropper.
"Who's Elijah?" My sister asked.
"He's your worst nightmare."
She was wrong. I could think of someone much worse than Elijah.
***
When it had become clear that my sister wasn't dead and had somewhat managed to befriend the kidnapper, I chanced joining them. If any harm was going to befall us by the hand of this woman, it would've happened already. Plus I was a well behaved captive so if something went wrong, I had time to escape whilst they murdered Elena first.
"Why am I here?" My sister asked as I entered the room.
"You keep asking me these questions like I'm gonna answer them." The woman replied.
"Why won't you?"
"That's another one."
"You got me, okay? It's not like I can go anywhere. The least you can do is tell me what you want with me." Elena bargained and I could see that she was slowly chipping away at the woman. I was oddly proud.
"I personally want nothing; I'm just a delivery service." She answered.
"Delivery to who? Elijah?"
"Two points to the eavesdropper."
"Who is he? Is he a vampire?" Elena asked.
"He's one of the vampires, the originals." She replied.
"What do you mean the originals?" Elena asked and I forcefully kept my mouth shut.
"Again with the questions. Haven't the Salvatores been teaching you your vampire history?"
"So you know Stefan and Damon?"
"I know of them. A hundred years back, a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan. She said he was one of the good ones. I'm more of a sucker for the bad boys though but I digress." The vampire explained.
"Who are the originals?"
"Trevor and I have been running for 500 years. We're tired, we want it over. We're using you both to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess."
"But why us?"
"Because you're Petrova Doppelgängers. One of you is the key to breaking the curse." I swallowed and looked at the floor as she spoke.
"The curse? The sun and the moon curse?"
"Oh, you do know your history." The woman said in surprise.
"What do you mean one of us is the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse."
"No, the moonstone is what binds the curse. The sacrifice is what breaks it." She corrected her.
"The sacrifice?" Elena gulped.
"The blood of a doppelgänger. You're both doppelgängers. Which means, in order to break the curse one of you has to die." She explained before looking at me, "You're very quiet."
"I'm just being a good captive." I shrugged before leaving the room and making my way back downstairs. Guilt flooding through me as I sat back down on the couch and placed my head in my hands.
I wasn't the one that would die; Elena was.
Originally published: April 16th 2024