12

—12. By the Light of the Moon

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Aurora is talking with Damon and Stefan, who were standing at the tomb's entrance.

"You trapped her in the house?" Aurora asked with a smile on her face.

"It's for the best. Trust me. Elena is on a martyr tear that rivals your greatest hits. You should be glad the witch and I are even getting along. I brought you this."

He holds up a bag.

"Care package: candles, lanterns and...lunch." He shows her a bottle of blood.

Aurora gulped, staring at the red liquid in the bottle before tearing her eyes away to look at Stefan, who only shrugged his shoulders. "Give that to me and I'm just gonna have to share it with her." Damon looks at Katherine who standing not too far away.

"Yeah..."

"You two are surprisingly calm, considering Klaus will hunt you down and kill you if you mess with his little plan."

"I've been dead before. I got over it." He looks at Aurora. "Once we deal with this moonstone, we'll figure a way to get you out."

"Don't worry about me. Just make sure Elena's safe." Aurora said, Damon looks at Katherine and leaves with the bottle of blood.

"Sorry, I didn't know he brought that." Stefan said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Aurora shook her head but before she could answer, Katherine spoke up, "Oh, I get it. You're still having ripper problems." She looked at Aurora, "I thought they would have went away after..."

"They didn't." Aurora quickly cut the woman off, "It was nice seeing you, Stef."

"Yeah." Stefan nodded warily, looking between Katherine and Aurora, "Bye, Rory."

"Bye."

After Stefan left, Aurora sent a look to Katherine, "What was that?!"

"What?" Katherine asked innocently.

Aurora rolled her eyes and groaned before moving further into the tomb.

Aurora is laying on a bed. Katherine is looking at her, "So we're fasting now? We're so pious. How long have you actually gone without blood? I know you get desiccation in theory, Aurora, but in reality, it's much worse. Your heart still beats, struggling to pump whatever blood remains. When it's gone, your veins rub together like sand paper. It's excruciating."

She got up. "The pleasure I'll get from watching you suffer is greater than any pain I'll ever feel."

"We're similar, you and I, Aurora." Katherine said suddenly.

"What are you talking about?"

"We were loved, hurt, betrayed and even your own brothers would rather save a girl who looks exactly like the person who they were in love with one hundred years ago." Katherine mentioned, "That's gotta hurt."

Before Aurora could get a word in, Katherine continued, "And we are both on the run."

"We are nothing alike, Katherine."

"Are we seriously not going to talk at all?"

"We could talk about how you regret all you've done to make all our lives miserable."

Katherine rolled her eyes, "What do you want me to say, Aurora? That I'm sorry for everything that I've done? Well I'm not, okay? It's called self-preservation. I've been looking out for myself for 500 years."

"Look where it has gotten you."

"Yes, I've done terrible things. I know that, but I do love you, Aurora. You are my friend, even if you don't believe it."

"You want me to believe you? Show me. Do something. Prove to me that there's something inside of you that's actually worth trusting."

"And then what? You're still gonna hate me."

"Maybe and maybe I'll see that there's still hope for you after all." Aurora shrugged.

"You're playing me."

"Am I?"

"You don't want to find Klaus, so why are you asking?"

Aurora shrugged, "I lost track of him awhile ago, I would rather not be caught by him because of a stupid mistake."

"You're gonna run again, Aren't you?" Katherine stated.

Aurora nodded, "Maybe we are more alike than I would like to admit."

"Start with Isobel, Elena's mother. She was a research expert. She found me." They look at each other. "You're welcome."

They hear that the door is being opened. They look at each other and go to the entrance. They see Elijah. Katherine is surprised and frightened. "Elijah."

"Good evening Katerina. Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened." He looks at Aurora.

"Don't say anything." She pointed a finger at him, watching as he fought away an amused smirk.

"Your release has been requested."

"What? By who?" Aurora asked, confused.

"The lovely Elena drives a hard bargain. However, we reached a peaceful agreement, she and I. Please." He gestures for Aurora to walk out of the tomb. "Come."

Aurora let out a breath, "Finally." She gets out slowly. Once she's out, Katherine rushes to get out too, but still finds the invisible barrier there. Elijah compels her.

"As for you however, you should not exit until I say so. When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are." He looks at Aurora. "You're free to go. Elena will explain the arrangement. If she keeps her word, I'll keep mine."

She starts leaving. "Aurora, no. Please don't let him leave me in here."

"Goodbye Katherine." She looks at her before leaving.

Aurora opened the door of the boarding house but before she could announce her presence a blur pushed her against the wall with his hand around her neck.

"Jesus. Dames, you really gotta stop doing that." Aurora choked out.

"Gremlin?" He asked, immediately letting her go and pulling her in for a hug, "How did you get out?"

"Elena." Aurora answered.

Damon immediately pulled away and looked her in the eyes, "What happened? Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's fine." She rolled her eyes, "She made a deal with Elijah."

Damon scoffed, "Of course she did."

"Where's Steffy?"

"With Elena. He probably agrees with every word she said." Damon rolled his eyes.

"She's his girlfriend. Of course he did."

WORD COUNT : 995