Rebekah's Daughter-Natalia Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter 24

When I first came to I was thankful the iron was no longer hot, but there was still the issue of it being pierced through my hands with no immediate way of removing it. If only cloth dried as quickly as metal cooled. Silas had drenched it good and well and I was almost certain the skin where it touched was completely raw. The friction from trying to sit up was terrible, causing me to squint my eyes in pain, only adding to it. Everything felt like a lose-lose... lose.

After some time psyching myself up, I did it band-aid style and just gave it one good go. Using as much strength as I could in the awkward position I was in, I forced myself upright. I was breathing heavy from the pain, surprised by how weak I felt. There was also a deep burning in my throat that was impossible to ignore, a bloodlust I hadn't felt in a long time. Silas had drained me of my blood. He was thorough, I'll give him that. 

I tried to get a read on what time it was, having no idea how long I had been out either time and not sure if it was even the same day. Making a connection to the sun or moon to tell time was a simple type of magic that even novices could do, but I couldn't. The moon was out, that was all I could tell, but for all I knew this could be the third night I was trapped down here. 

I was debating on my next move when the sounds of people outside caused both hope and panic to spike in me. I could only hear voices from the mouth of the cellar but couldn't make out what they were saying. Silas had weakened me to the point of stripping me of my supernatural abilities so that I was basically human.

"You realize I'm not just some wandering child in the supermarket, right?" I felt a pang in my gut at the voice that had just entered. "I'm a vampire that can kill you."

"Whatever happens to me happens to you. Do you really think I want you here?" a second voice said, clearly unthreatened. I instantly identified her as Bonnie, but why was she here and with one of the doppelgangers? I hadn't decided which one, yet since emotionless Elena was not against giving her friends death threats. 

"I hate to interrupt," I cut in, not actually hating it, "but do either of you think you could help a girl out?"

"Oh my gosh! Natalia, what happened to you?" Bonnie asked, sounding almost worried. I wasn't a fool, though.

"Not what, who," I answered, unable to keep the venom dripping from my words.

"Silas," Bonnie answered.

"This is his little insurance policy to make sure I can't stop you from doing what he wants you to," I explained. "But what I'm curious about is... why are you here at the Lockwood cellar... at one of the Expression sites? It didn't quite sound like you were worriedly searching for me."

"I'm doing what I have to in order to defeat Silas," she answered, evading my question.

What little blood I had left ran cold. She was linking the sites to complete the triangle and drop the veil between the living and the dead. Stupid girl. "Bonnie," I began, taking a deep breath, "this is not the way. You're playing directly into his hands."

"He doesn't even know I'm doing this! That's why I have Katherine linked to me. Silas can't get inside my head and Katherine is the only other one who knows my plan because she has his headstone that I need to drop the veil. There's no way he knows what I'm doing."

I was fighting the rage boiling through me at her stupidity. How was she so completely fooled? I had to keep my cool though, I needed her to believe I was in agreement and on her side. "And how is dropping the veil going to help you defeat him, isn't it exactly what he wants?"

"Yes, but I need to drop it in order to talk to Qetsiyah. She's the only one who's been able to stop him. With the veil dropped I can ask her how to do it again."