A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Enjoy!

Mackenzie Alemaund was an eighteen-year-old senior high school student living in Mystic Falls alone with her step-father. She was a quiet girl who didn't bother anyone. She was top of her class, always had been, always will be. There wasn't anything special about Mackenzie Alemaund. She liked to read and listen to music, nothing extraordinary there, but she had a certain talent when it came to the arts. She could draw and paint magnificent pieces that somehow always ended up in the trash. There used to be a time, a long time ago, when her drawings were pinned to the fridge or the walls of the house, back when her mother was still alive. Back when she was happy. Back when she was just a kid.

Now, Mackenzie was afraid to be inside her own house. Afraid to speak. Afraid to breathe.

Mackenzie had no friends, no enemies. She knew people, and people knew of her. But nobody really cared. Not that she minded. She didn't find her situation particularly unfair, though it was, she just didn't think about her situation at all. Every day was a struggle. Every day was about getting hurt as less as possible. She didn't have time to think about how it should be, she could only think about what it would be if she made just one little mistake.

Strategically, she thought going to the masquerade ball at the Lockwood mansion would be the best way to not get hurt at all that day. She would come home late, when he should be asleep.

Yes, it was definitely the best plan.

It was dark away from the mansion, where Mackenzie could still hear the music and the laughs of the people partying in masks. She was holding the stick of hers in her right hand, the large white feather brushing against the skin of her cleavage. She had made it herself, though it was so well-done that nobody actually believed her when they asked where she got it. It was white and purple, somehow the color was barely noticeable, and it matched the purple ball gown she had bought with her mother when she was sixteen for her first prom. It was a sleeveless elegant and modern dress that fit her perfectly, it was long enough that nobody could notice the ballerina flats she was wearing but not too long that she would stumble on it and make a fool of herself.

As she reached her car she noticed Elena Gilbert walking her way. She was wearing jeans and a pink shirt and Mackenzie frowned as she remembered she had just seen her half an hour ago in a black dress with a black mask on her face and a very red lipstick.
She was on the phone. Mackenzie couldn't hear what she was saying but she was pretty sure she heard the names 'Jeremy' and 'Bonnie'. After she hung up, Elena looked up and saw Mackenzie standing just next to her car. They gave each other a polite yet friendly smile. Mackenzie noticed Elena seemed tired as the Gilbert girl awkwardly waved at her.

That's when she first saw him. The man in the mask. She didn't recognize him, she didn't remember him from the party. She was sure it wasn't Stefan, Elena's boyfriend. Or was he her ex-boyfriend? Mackenzie didn't know. Mackenzie didn't care.

Elena turned around, curious about what Mackenzie was staring at. She gasped as she saw the complete stranger, all dressed in black, walk rapidly towards her. She was about to scream when the man grabbed her by the waist as he covered her mouth and nose with a white cloth that smelled funny.

"Elena!"

Mackenzie managed to shout right before the same thing happened to her. She tried to fight the sudden dizziness that took over her. It happened fast. The mask reached the ground as her eyes closed and she passed out in the stranger's arms.

It was hot in the black car. The driver and his friend on the passenger seat hadn't moved a muscle since they had parked in the empty field over eight hours ago. Elena and Mackenzie were still unconscious in the back when a black SUV with tainted windows joined them and stopped next to the car.

The driver, who was still wearing the same black suit from the night before, got out and walked over to the SUV. The dark window slightly opened to let appear a young man wearing a black cap and sunglasses.

"Where is she?"

"In the trunk."

"Did you do as I said?"

A few seconds of silence passed and the driver was getting impatient.

"Well?"

"There was a complication," he nervously admitted.

"What complication?"

"She wasn't alone. There was another girl there. We had to take her with us. No witnesses."

The driver looked away, aggravated, and paused, contemplating his options. Killing the unwelcomed victim would be a rookie mistake, and he couldn't afford it. If he left one single clue, one as big as a dead teenage girl, it could be his death sentence.

"Put them in the back," he eventually ordered.

He watched in the mirror as the two men did as he asked.

"Thank you for your help."

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Remember what I told you to do once you were done?" he asked, and the man in the suit nodded. "You're done."

The man nodded again, then backed away and turned to face his accomplice. He then took out his gun and shot him in the chest before he proceeded to shoot himself in the head.
The SUV drove away, leaving the bodies on the ground.

When Elena woke up she found herself in an unknown room with an unknown man. He was wearing jeans and a black hoodie. The room was a mess. It was dirty and dusty and old, and it smelled like it. She could feel she was lying down on what appeared to be a couch. A very ugly and old couch. Her vision was blurred for a few seconds but then she realized she was facing Mackenzie who was still unconscious. She looked her up and down and was a little relieved to see no injuries on her. That's when she felt it. The pain in her arm.

She looked up at the man whom she didn't recognize, and though she was afraid she managed to find the courage to speak up.

"What do you want?"

But he didn't answer. He put his finger on his lips, gesturing her to stay quiet.

"Please, I'm hurt," she tried again.

"I know," he said, staring at her bleeding wound. She could see what he was thinking. She gasped as he moved closer to her. "Just a taste," he told her, or maybe himself.

"No!" Elena shouted as she tried to back away from him.

"Trevor!" a firm female voice stopped him, "control yourself," she continued, in the tone of a mother scolding her child. She had the same British accent as her friend. She had brown hair and brown eyes, she was wearing jeans, a blue shirt and a brown jacket. She was staring at Elena like she had trouble believing what she was seeing.

Trevor recomposed himself and backed off.

"Rose," he sighed. "Buzz kill…"

Elena watched as the vampire walked away.

"What's that smell?" Rose asked.

"It's sleeping beauty over there," Trevor answered from the top of the stairs.

"Why does she smell so good?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But I'd love to find out if her blood is as good as it smells. Can I eat her?"

"No!" both Elena and Rose said.

Trevor, unhappy with the answer, rolled his eyes and exited the room.

"Who is she anyway?" she asked her friend, loud enough for him to hear, even though he would have heard her anyway.

"Complications!"

Rose made an annoyed face, the situation already wasn't easy, they didn't need complications. Her eyes fell back on Elena and the human could see astonishment on her face.

"My God, you look just like her."

"But I'm not," Elena shook her head, thinking they wanted Katherine, "whatever you…"

"Be quiet."

"But I'm not Katherine," she repeated as she stood up. "My name is Elena Gilbert. You don't have to do this."

"I know who you are. I said, be quiet."

Elena frowned.

"What do you want?"

The vampire was annoyed by her incessant questions and slapped Elena so hard the human fell back on the couch, unconscious.

"I want you to be quiet," she said, before she left the room, leaving the two unconscious teenagers alone on the couch.

Mackenzie woke up not long after. She blinked several times, confused, even in her state of slumber, to where she was. She slowly looked around and didn't recognize the room she was in. Suddenly, fear ceased her as she remembered the last thing she saw was a man grabbing Elena and the last thing she felt was a humid cloth on her mouth. She sat bolt upright and brought her hands to her face as if she could still feel it. She saw Elena lying in front of her. She couldn't not see the stain of blood on her arm. She instantly tried to wake her up.

"Elena!" she whispered as loudly as she could, she didn't want to alert the people who had brought them there. Wherever "there" was.

She heard her moan, as if she was in pain, and saw her slowly open her eyes.

"Elena, are you okay?" she asked, panic clear in her voice.

"Mackenzie," she whispered. "You're awake."

Elena sat up to face her and winced when she used her injured arm.

"Are you okay?"

"It's nothing."

"What are we doing here? Where are we?" Mackenzie asked, she looked like a scared little girl.

"I don't know where we are," Elena answered the easiest question.

Where they were didn't matter. What mattered was who was there with them, holding them in that shady dusty abandoned house for an unknown reason. There was no way Mackenzie would survive this day without seeing things she couldn't unsee, and Elena knew she was going to panic and that wouldn't end well, for anybody.

Elena took Mackenzie's hand as she got up. She gestured her to be quiet, pointed a finger at the door up the stairs and then pointed at her ear. Mackenzie understood what she meant. Two people were talking, a man and a woman, it wasn't hard listening to them as their conversation resonated in the entire house. They listened to them argue as they walked up the stairs as slowly and quietly as possible.

"So, you called him?" Trevor asked, he sounded nervous.

"No, I called one of his contacts. You know how this works."

"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?"

"They say he got it."

"Wonderful. And what?"

"So, that's it, Trevor. He either got it or he didn't. We just have to wait."

"Look, i-it's not too late," Trevor stuttered, "we can leave her. We don't have to go through with this."

"I'm sick of running."

"Yeah? Well, running keeps up from dying."

"Elijah's old-school, if he accepts our deal, we're free."

Elena looked back at Mackenzie. Even though she was a year older, Mackenzie was shorter than her, and Elena felt the need to protect her from everything she didn't know. She squeezed her hand and Mackenzie nodded. They had to be quiet. But the floor creaked under Elena's footsteps and alerted the two vampires.

"You!" Rose said, before she quickly and angrily made her way to the girls.

Elena stepped back and pushed Mackenzie behind her to shield her from the vampire.

"There's nothing around here for miles. If you think you're getting out, you're wrong. Understand?"

Elena didn't respond. She didn't even nod. Mackenzie was surprised as the woman clearly expected an answer. If it had been her she would have been nodding like a crazy person. If she had been alone she would have stayed on that couch, waiting, too terrified to move.

Rose, who had grown tired of Elena and her boldness, stepped out of the room. Mackenzie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Come on."

Elena started to follow them but Mackenzie, whose hand she was still holding, stopped her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, terrified.

"Let's find out why we're here."

"But…"

Elena didn't give her time to reply as she dragged her in the next room where they found Rose. The room was as bad as the one they woke up in. There were books everywhere. On the floor, on the sofas, on the table… The room was quite and dark. Almost all the windows had been covered up with cardboards. There were a few lamps across the room to make up for the lack of daylight.

As they joined Rose in the dirty room, Mackenzie was starting to wonder if Elena was trying to get them killed, if she knew more than she said, or if she was just crazy.

"Why am I here?" she asked, and if she was afraid, Mackenzie couldn't tell.

"You keep asking me questions like I'm gonna answer them," Rose said.

"Why won't you?" Elena asked next, a little too cocky for Mackenzie's taste.

"That's another one."

Mackenzie watched Rose take a cardboard and put it against a window, blocking the sunlight from entering the room. She found it curious that she would walk around the sunlight instead of just through it, like any sane person would.

"You got me, okay? It's not like I can go anywhere."

Mackenzie noticed that Elena only talked about herself, as if they only wanted her. Or as if she had completely forgotten about the girl whose hand was still in hers. Mackenzie was getting more and more convinced that Elena was crazy, or that she had a terrible survival instinct.

"The least you can do is tell me what you want with me."

Mackenzie knew that the woman didn't need to do anything. She wondered what made Elena think that she could boss her around and force her to answer her questions. The safest way to play it, the only way that would ensure they wouldn't get too much hurt, was to go back to the couch and stay quiet. But it seemed that Elena disagreed.

"I personally want nothing. I'm just a delivery service."

"To who? Elijah?"

Rose chuckled. "Two points for the eavesdropper," she said, she sounded amused.

Each step Elena took brought them closer to the short-haired stranger and Mackenzie couldn't have been squeezing Elena's hand any harder.

"Who is he? Is he a vampire?"

Mackenzie instantly looked up at Elena, though she was facing her back. She was certain she had misheard.

"He's one of the vampires. The Originals."

"What do you mean "the Originals"?" Elena mumbled.

"What do you mean "vampires"," Mackenzie whispered to Elena.

Different scenarios were playing in her mind. Either Elena knew something she didn't and knew that the two people who had taken them thought vampires were real and she was just pretending, or Elena was as mad as them and they were both going to die.

"Doesn't your friend know?" Rose asked with an amused smirk.

"She's not my friend," Elena said.

She didn't mean it in a bad way. It was just the truth. Elena and Mackenzie weren't friends. They knew of each other's existence because Elena was popular and everybody knew her, especially after she lost her parents, and because Mackenzie's mother had died two years before and the entire town had heard of it.

"She has nothing to do with this, why did you take her?"

"Be happy she's here," Rose answered, "we could've just killed her instead."

Mackenzie squeezed Elena's hand as she moved closer to her.

"Who are the Originals?"

"Again with the questions," Rose sighed. "Haven't the Salvatores been teaching you vampire history?"

Mackenzie's eyes grew big as she realized that she was talking about Stefan and his brother.

"So, you know Stefan and Damon?" Elena asked.

"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. More of a sucker for the bad boys, though, but I digress."

A hundred years back. The words echoed loudly in Mackenzie's mind, and a strong headache started to make her feel dizzy. She was among crazy people, alone, somewhere she didn't know, and somehow, she still felt safer than she did inside her own house. Maybe it was because of Elena, who seemed pretty courageous at that moment, or maybe it was despite of her, who wasn't making much sense…

"Who are the Originals?" Elena asked again.

Rose rolled her eyes and slowly turned around.

"Trevor and I have been running for 500 years. We're tired. We want it over. We're using you to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess."

"But why me?"

"Because you're a Petrova doppelgänger."

Doppelgänger? An image from last night popped into Mackenzie's mind when she heard the word. Was it possible that Elena from last night, with the dark dress and the dark mask, wasn't actually Elena? No, it couldn't be possible, because that would mean that Elena wasn't crazy, nor were the people that were holding them in that old house, and that vampires existed. And vampires didn't exist. Vampires weren't real.

"You're the key to breaking the curse," Rose said.

"Curse? The sun and the moon curse?"

Did Elena know what that woman was talking about? Was Mackenzie the only person in the dark? Or the only sane person?

"You do know your history," Rose nodded.

"What do you mean I'm the key? The moonstone is what breaks the curse."

"No. The moonstone is what binds the curse. Sacrifice is what breaks it."

"Sacrifice?" Elena breathed out, suddenly scared.

Finally, a rational reaction.

"The blood of the doppelgänger. You're the doppelgänger. Which means, in order to break the curse, you're the one that has to die," Rose explained.

That finally shut Elena up. But it's also what made Mackenzie speak up.

"You people are crazy," she breathed out as she let go of Elena's hand and started to walk towards the door.

She figured she could at least try to make a run for it. After all, they weren't really vampires. They were just delusional people talking about curses and sacrifices. She just had to run fast, like she had never run before.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rose asked. She didn't sound angry, just a little annoy.

Mackenzie didn't reply, she just started to walk a little faster. The vampire sighed and, a second later, was standing right in front of the human.

"Holy…" Mackenzie gasped.

Her heart skipped a beat, and her face turned white as if she had just seen a ghost.

"You don't want to get out there," she said, "if Elijah's coming you might run into him outside and that won't end well for you," Rose said, and Mackenzie was surprised that she actually cared.

She stepped back, afraid of how close she was from the "vampire". She jumped, frightened, when someone took her hand. It was Elena.

"It's gonna be ok," she said. "It's me they want. You'll be fine. I promise."

Rose chuckled. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."

Elena gave her a reproving look that the vampire shrugged away.

"Vampires don't exist," Mackenzie whispered.

"Yes. Yes, they do. I know it's a shock, and I'll explain everything later, okay, just, calm down, please."

But Mackenzie didn't want her to explain. She wanted to get the hell out of there. Away from them, all three of them.

"Let me go!"

"Mack…"

Rose didn't give Elena a chance to calm Mackenzie down. She had no patience and thought she could stop the girl from causing any more problems. She knew an easy way to keep someone quiet. She put her hand on Mackenzie's left shoulder and pushed her against the wall. The hard impact made the entire house shake. Mackenzie cried, both out of fear and pain. The vampire locked her eyes in hers and said: "Calm down. It's gonna be fine."

"Let go of me!" Mackenzie begged.

The vampire frowned. She looked confused. She looked at Elena who looked as confused as her.

"I said, calm down," she tried again.

But Mackenzie wasn't calming down. In fact, she was panicking even more.

"Why can't she be compelled?" the vampire asked, in an angry tone.

"I have no idea," Elena shook her head, asking herself the same question.

"What are you talking about?" Mackenzie cried.

"What are you?" Rose growled, squeezing the girl's shoulders harder. But Mackenzie had no answer to give her.

Rose slowly leaned forward. Mackenzie was trembling and whimpering against the wall. She gasped when she felt the vampire's nose on her neck. She heard Rose sniff several times.

"I never met a human who smelled like you," she said. "Tell me. What are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she wailed.

"Let her go. She doesn't know anything!" Elena told Rose.

Rose looked at the doppelgänger, contemplating the request. Eventually, she grew tired of hearing the girl's cries and let go of her. Elena immediately rushed to Mackenzie.

"It's gonna be okay."

But no matter how many times Elena said it, Mackenzie didn't believe her. The doppelgänger helped her up and tried to give her a reassuring smile. Mackenzie wasn't having it. Elena took her hand again and followed Rose back in the room. Mackenzie reluctantly went with her. She would rather stay with the "not-so-crazy Elena" than alone in the hallway where Trevor could walk by at any moment.

Mackenzie was trying to understand the situation. Who would believe vampires were real? But how could she not believe it now? Now that she saw how fast and how strong Rose was. How every question Elena asked and every answer Rose gave made sense somehow. In a world different than hers. A world she had no idea she lived in.

Elena wasn't giving up, she still had plenty of questions. And she wasn't afraid of Rose, or maybe she was more afraid not to have answers.

"Tell me more."

"Captivity's made her pushy, eh?"

Mackenzie jumped when she heard Trevor's voice behind her. She was lost deep in her thoughts and she hadn't heard him join them in the dark room. She stepped forward, squeezing Elena's hand harder, the way she did before, and placing her free hand on her arm, as if the only safe place in that house at the moment was behind Elena's back.

"What do you wanna know, doppelicious?" he asked, taking a piece of cardboard and putting it against another window.

"Who are you running from?"

"The Originals."

"Yeah. She said that. What does that mean?" Elena didn't sound cocky anymore, she sounded impatient, and Mackenzie just listened, trying to calm herself down but it had the opposite effect. Listening to them and their horror stories was starting to make her physically sick.

"The first family. The Old World. Rose and I pissed them off."

Rose cleared her throat in disagreement.

"Correction, I pissed them off. Rose had my back. And for over half a millennium, they've wanted us dead."

"What did you do?"

"He made the same mistake countless others did. He trusted Katerina Petrova."

"Katherine…" Elena let out in a whisper.

"The one and only. The first Petrova doppelgänger."

"I helped her escape her fate. And I've… sorry, we've been marked ever since."

"Which is why we're not gonna make the same mistake again," Rose said before she stepped out of the room and Trevor followed her, leaving the girls alone with their thoughts.

Elena sighed. She turned around towards Mackenzie who didn't look well. She didn't look well at all.

"Come one," she said. "I'll explain everything."

Mackenzie wasn't sure she wanted to hear it. The more she learnt, the sicker she felt. Her headache became more painful every time she asked herself a new question and every time she had an answer. She just wanted to go home. For once.

Elena led her out of the room and they walked quietly in the dirty hallways of the old house. Mackenzie was afraid to speak, she dreaded Elena's next words.

As they reached the stairs and walked back to the room where they had woken up, the silence became too unbearable for Mackenzie and she finally asked her first question.

"So… Stefan is a… vampire?"

"Yes," Elena nodded. "And his brother, Damon, too. So is Caroline."

"Caroline? Forbes?"

It couldn't be possible. She had first met the blonde when she was eight. Caroline was a year younger than her, they had been in the same schools, had played the same games, had met the same people. Even though they hadn't spoken more than two words to each other, Mackenzie knew that Caroline was human. Just like she was.

"Yes. Katherine turned her."

"Katherine is…"

"My… ancestor," Elena explained. "She looks exactly like me. She's a vampire. She's… a psycho."

"Your doppelgänger?"

"Yeah… it's… a long story."

"Was it her in the black dress at the party last night?"

"Yes," Elena nodded. "Stefan and Damon had a plan to… stop her."

"So… she's dead?"

"Unfortunately, no," Elena sighed.

"But, they stopped her?"

"Yeah. They did it to protect me. And the rest of the world," she scoffed.

"… I thought… you and Stefan… I thought you two dated?"

"We did," she nodded.

"Did you break up when you found out he was a vampire?"

"I did… but then we got back together."

"But… don't vampires… drink blood?"

"They do. Stefan doesn't drink human blood."

Mackenzie was surprised. "Can he do that?" Maybe not all vampires were kidnapping monsters. Maybe not all vampires wanted to sacrifice you to break a curse.

Elena chuckled. "Yeah, he can."

They walked through the dusty room, Mackenzie's long purple dress was sweeping off the place. When they reached the couch, Elena noticed a piece of paper that wasn't there before. She took it and opened it: Stefan and Damon are coming for you. -B.

"What's that?" Mackenzie asked.

"It's a message from Bonnie. I told you we were gonna be fine."

"Bonnie? H-how?"

Elena bit her lower lip and looked down.

"Oh God… what now?"

"Bonnie's a witch."

Mackenzie stared at Elena, she didn't know what to do with the information. She didn't know what to think at all. She only knew that she was terrified and that she was probably gonna die soon.

"Of course she is," she breathed out as she sat on the couch.

"It'll be easier with time," Elena promised. "You'll get used to the idea."

Mackenzie knew she was right. It would never be easy, but just like the death of her mother, she would get used to the idea. She would learn to live with it. She just didn't want to.

"What does… What was Rose trying to do, earlier?"

"You mean compel you?" Elena asked, and Mackenzie nodded. "Vampires can compel people. Make them think or do things against their will." She brought a hand to her necklace. "Vervain prevents that."

"Why can't I be compelled?"

"I don't know," Elena frowned. "Supernatural creatures usually can't be compelled."

"But… I'm human."

"I don't know," Elena repeated as she shrugged. "You're the best person to know what you are."

"I'm human," Mackenzie said, sure of herself.

"Maybe you ate something with vervain in it," Elena shrugged.

"That's probably it…"

Rose entered the room with a bag and started to collect her things she had scattered around the room. Nobody said anything. Elena was waiting for Stefan and Damon to come rescue them. Mackenzie had plenty of things to think about, she had to reimagine the world she lived in, and Rose had nothing to say, she looked nervous.

After an hour, Trevor rushed into the room, completely panicked.

"He's here! This was a mistake."

Mackenzie's heart skipped a beat. He meaning Elijah. He meaning her probable, violent and scary murderer.

"No, I told you I would take you out of this mess. You have to trust me."

"No. He wants me dead, Rose!"

"He wants her more."

"I can't do this," he said, pacing in the room like a mad man, "you give her to him. He'll have mercy on you. But I need to get out of here!"

"Hey," Rose said as she took his hands to try and calm him down, "what are we?"

Trevor took a deep breath. "We're family. Forever."

Suddenly, a noise resonated in the room. Someone was knocking on the front door. At the realization that a bigger, stronger, badder vampire was about to make his entrance, Mackenzie sat up and moved closer to Elena.

"You're scared," the doppelgänger said, as she saw the vampires' faces.

That wasn't reassuring at all.

"Stay here with them. And don't make a sound," Rose told Trevor before she walked up the stairs and disappeared in the other room.

Elena got up, too nervous to stay seated. Mackenzie was breathing heavily. She had never been more scared in her life, and she had had many reasons to be. But she knew that she could die a horrible death in the next hour and at that moment she wished she weren't human, she wished she had some kind of power that would teleport her and Elena back to Mystic Falls.

The seconds felt like hours. They were barely breathing, waiting for Rose to come back. About ten minutes after she had left, Rose stepped back inside the room followed by a man in a suit. Elena and Mackenzie both instantly looked up as he appeared. He was looking right at the doppelgänger, like he couldn't believe was he was seeing. Elena stepped protectively in front of Mackenzie. It's her he wanted, after all.

One second, he was standing on top of the stairs, and the other he was right in front of Elena, just inches from her. Both girls gasped at the sudden apparition. Now, Elena was scared the same way Mackenzie had been all day.

He was looking at her as if she had killed his entire family, his dogs and their puppies. Elena's body was quivering and she could barely breathe. She watched him warily as he moved closer to her and leaned forward to breathe her in.

But even though he was trying to focus on the doppelgänger, he couldn't help but notice a stronger, more appealing, different, and new smell. He tilted his head on the side and saw the terrified girl on the couch behind Elena. She couldn't have looked any more frightened. She was shaking with fear, and he could hear her heart pounding hard in her chest. He caught her wet brown eyes in his and fear made it impossible for her to look away.

"What do we have here?" he smirked.

"She was with the doppelgänger when we took her," Rose explained. "We had to bring her with us."

"Why does she smell so good?" he asked Rose, but he was still looking at Mackenzie.

In his long life, he had never met someone who smelled like her.

"We don't know. She's probably not human."

"Why do you say that?"

"She can't be compelled."

"Really?" he said, he sounded and looked a bit surprised.

"She thinks she's human," Rose added. "She didn't know vampires existed before today."

"Interesting."

He focused a little while longer on the unlucky girl. Mackenzie felt like she was about to pass out. She was more scared of him than she had been of Rose and Trevor. Though, at that moment, he didn't look like he wanted to hurt her. He looked like he had a few questions for her. She hoped he wouldn't ask them because she had no answer to give him, and that wasn't a situation she imagined would end well.

"Hello there," he said smugly with a mischievous grin.

Surprised, Mackenzie blinked several times. She pressed herself against the couch, wishing she could disappear inside it.

Elijah looked at her, watched her tremble with fear, listened to her fast heartbeat, breathed in her delicious scent, and explored her face with his eyes. She was a beautiful girl, he had no doubt, even in her dirty purple dress, with her messy brown hair, the tears running down her cheeks and the mascara stains under her eyes. To Mackenzie, it looked like he was debating whether or not he was going to eat her now or keep her for later.

After what seemed like hours spent in a terrifying and somewhat uncomfortable silence, Elijah finally focused back on the matter at hand and reluctantly brought his attention back to Elena. She smelled like a human, her heart beat like a human's; she was a human.

Once he was certain that he had never met her before, that she wasn't Katerina, a content smile appeared on his face, as if he was proud, or merely pleased.

"Human," he said, surprise clear in his voice.

He turned around towards Rose and nodded.

"You didn't lie."

"She's yours."

"Well," he smiled, as he turned back towards Elena. "We have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going."

Mackenzie worriedly looked up at Elena. There was no sign of Stefan and Damon, nobody there to help them.

"Please, don't let him take me," Elena begged Rose.

The vampire looked away, as if she were ashamed of herself. She wouldn't be doing it if she had another choice.

"One last piece of business, and we're done," Elijah said, completely ignoring Elena's pleas.

He stepped away from her and turned around towards Trevor who looked terrified. Elijah was walking around him, listening to his apologies.

"I've waited so long for this day, Elijah. I'm truly very sorry."

"Oh, no, your apology is not necessary," Elijah told him.

Mackenzie watched carefully as the Original vampire circled around Trevor like a shark around its prey. He didn't look angry, he was smiling, as if he was amused.

"Yes. Yes, it is," Trevor insisted. "You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you."

"Well, yes, you are the guilty one," Elijah nodded as he walked passed him. "And Rose aided you because she was loyal to you," he said, as he looked up at her. "That, I honor."

He stopped in front of Trevor, he was still smiling, as if the situation was somehow funny.

"Where was your loyalty?"

"I beg your forgiveness," Trevor told Elijah, as he looked up at him with scared eyes.

There was a moment of silence, during which the vampires and the girls waited for the Original's answer with anticipation.

"So granted."

Mackenzie watched as Trevor smiled, relieved, right before Elijah slapped him so hard that he cut his head off. It happened extremely fast. Elijah moved, then, there was a gross "splash" like in the movies, and Trevor's headless body fell on the ground.

Mackenzie gasped with horror as Trevor's body hit the dirty floor and blood spilled out of the vampire's neck. She couldn't look away as a pool of blood grew larger by the second where Trevor's head should have been. She felt like she was going to throw up or pass out, or both. She couldn't breathe. Her ears were ringing, and she could barely hear Rose moan and cry.

"You…" the vampire groaned with anger. She was shocked and furious and all she wanted to do at that moment was kill the Original vampire, but she knew very well that wasn't possible.

"Don't, Rose," Elijah said calmly, "now that you are free."

More tears fell down Mackenzie's cheeks, though she was crying out of fear unlike Rose who felt betrayed, lost and stupid for trusting an Original vampire.

Elijah fixed his sleeves and made sure there wasn't a drop of blood on his suit before he held his hand to Elena and instructed her to follow him.

"Come."

"No, what about the moonstone?" she said in a panic, hoping it would win some time for Stefan and Damon to come and rescue the day. She saw Elijah looked interested.

"What do you know about the moonstone?" he asked.

"I know that you need it. And I know where it is."

"Yes?" he nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"I can help you get it."

"Tell me where it is," he simply said.

"It doesn't work that way," Elena told him.

Elijah was both surprised and amused by the doppelgänger's behavior. He didn't know if she was being brave, or just plain stupid.

"Are you negotiating with me?" he asked Elena before he turned around towards Rose.

"It's the first I've heard of it," she told him.

Elijah turned back towards Elena, looking for her eyes, but noticed she couldn't be compelled. His eyes fell on her necklace and he raised an eyebrow.

"What is this vervain doing around your neck?" he said, angrily, before he took it and threw it across the room. "Tell me where the moonstone is," he compelled her.

"In the tomb, underneath the church ruins," she complied.

"What is it doing there?"

"It's with Katherine."

"Interesting."

Mackenzie was still staring at Trevor lying headless in a pool of his own blood. She wasn't hearing anything, just a loud silence. Her mind was empty. She wasn't thinking about anything, she wasn't feeling anything. She was just staring, not even seeing. She didn't hear the sound of broken glass coming from the other side of the house which distracted Elijah who let go of Elena.

"What is that?" he asked Rose.

"I don't know."

"Who else is in this house?"

"I don't know."

Elijah grabbed Elena by her left arm and gestured Mackenzie to get up. She didn't even see him. He saw her pale face and knew she was going to be sick. He followed her gaze and sighed when his eyes landed on Trevor. He guessed he could just leave her there. She wasn't any threat to him and he could come back for her after he got rid of whoever had broken into the house. After all, if she stayed there, she wouldn't see him kill any more people, and that would probably be for the best.

Screams and other loud noises could be heard inside the house. It lasted about five minutes, not that Mackenzie could have known that. She wasn't paying attention. Maybe she fell asleep. Maybe her brain shut down. Her eyes were still on Trevor. Actually, they were on the blood. She was just seeing the blood.

At some point she felt a hand on her left arm and started to hear a buzzing noise. The noise became clearer by the seconds. It was a woman's voice. She had a British accent. She was speaking loudly but she had to repeat herself several times to get an answer.

"Little girl! Wake up! Your friends are leaving!"

When Mackenzie looked up, there was no one there. She took a deep breath and tears fell down her cheeks when she looked up and became aware of her surroundings again. She was still in that room. She hated that room.

Elena appeared at the top of the stairs with Stefan. Mackenzie tried to stand up but, as soon as she was on her feet, the room started to spin and she could feel herself fall over. She expected to hit the floor, but instead she felt someone sweep her off her feet and the last thing she saw before everything went dark was Elena's worried face.

When Mackenzie woke up, for the second time that day, she was in her bedroom. It was a clean room, with white walls and a wooden floor. She was lying on her bed in her dirty purple dress. She was panicked and breathing heavily. She sat up and quickly looked around the room to make sure she was alone. It was dark, but the lights from the streets were enough to allow her to spot a piece of paper on her night table. She took it with a shaky hand.

Come to us if you have any questions. Elijah is dead. I am so sorry. -E

She stared at the note like it was contaminated with the plague. On one hand, she was relieved that Elijah was dead, on the other hand, it confirmed that day had really happened and it wasn't just a dream.

A spark appeared in the middle of the room, and for an instant Mackenzie thought she was hallucinating. That was until the note caught fire on its own. She gasped as she let go of the paper which fell back on her bed sheet. She backed away, pressing her back against the wall, and watched it consume itself. It wasn't a normal fire. It didn't spread to the sheet, and it didn't even burn her. It felt warm, but it didn't feel threatening. The note was gone and only smoke remained. There weren't even any ashes.

The smell of burned paper invaded the room as Mackenzie realized her stepfather wasn't the scariest man in the world anymore. Now, she had to fear vampires, witches, and maybe even herself.

Thank you for reading!