Her Purpose || Kai Parker

Chapter 4

Stefan was desperate, the weight of worry crushing his every step. Elena and Bonnie were missing, and with time running out, he turned to the one person he least wanted to trust—Damon.

"I need your help," Stefan urged, his voice strained with panic.

Damon, lounging in his usual arrogance, merely shrugged. "Not my problem," he said, unmoved. "I told you, Stefan. I'm done being your errand boy."

With Damon refusing to help, Stefan turned to the only hope he had left—Bonnie's grandmother, Sheila Bennett, affectionately called Grams. Together, they devised a plan to save the girls. Grams, steeped in ancient magic, agreed to open the tomb under one condition: they would only retrieve Katherine, no one else.

The spell was dangerous, the strain immense, but they succeeded.

Inside the tomb, Damon stood beside Elena, his eyes scanning the crypts with desperate anticipation. But what he found wasn't salvation—it was emptiness.

"Katherine's not here," he breathed, his voice hollow.

Anna, having arrived with her own secret mission, entered the tomb with a singular goal—to rescue her mother, Pearl. She forced Elena to provide blood for her weakened mother, and when Elena cried out in pain, her voice echoed through the dark chambers.

Stefan heard her scream and, without hesitation, rushed into the tomb.

"Elena!" he called, heart pounding as he navigated the narrow stone passage.

Reunited, Stefan, Elena, and Damon attempted to escape. But the tomb, temporarily open, allowed only humans to pass. Grams' spell had sealed the vampire inmates inside. Damon fought to get out, rage and disbelief consuming him. 

Elena pleaded with Grams to release them.

Moved by her compassion, Grams relented and adjusted the spell. The tomb was sealed once more after the escape—but not without a price.

That night, Bonnie found her grandmother lying motionless on the couch, her life drained from the strain of the powerful spell. Bonnie's cries echoed through the house, her grief raw and uncontainable. She had saved lives... but lost her anchor.

Days passed. The Salvatore mansion was silent, save for the echo of Damon's footsteps. He returned to the tomb, as if hoping he'd somehow been wrong, that Katherine would appear and tell him it had all been a misunderstanding.

Rain poured relentlessly, soaking him as he stood alone at the threshold of the crypt, his heart breaking beneath the surface.

"She never loved me," he muttered bitterly, his voice breaking. "Centuries... wasted."

Then, faintly, a voice. Hoarse. Shaky. Familiar.

"Hello? Can... can you help me?"

Damon turned sharply, blinking through the rain. A figure approached slowly, uncertainly.

"Damon?" the voice asked again, softer this time.

He froze. His breath caught in his throat.

"Estrella," he whispered, his voice barely audible over the downpour.

FLASHBACK

Katherine had once spoken to Emily with concern in her voice, "There's something strange about Estrella. I tried compelling her—it didn't work."

Emily had furrowed her brow. "That's impossible. Unless... she's protected. But she's not a witch. Not that I know of."

Katherine narrowed her eyes. "Find out more. I want to know what she is."