I Will Always Find You...

Thank God for love...

A few hours later Damon was back to his old self and they had found somewhere out of the way to hold up while they came up with a new plan.

"I doubt it will take Silas long to figure out that we were headed back to Mystic falls, I just hope he doesn't know why because I doubt we could get there first. We are gonna have to be clandestine, stealthy, under the radar...Damon are you listening?"

"Really? More jibes at me? It wasn't my fault I got jumped before...I can be stealthy (he looked at Stefan and then at Caroline who were both looking directly at him)... I can."

"Melissa, I don't want to ask the obvious here...but couldn't someone of your power just take Silas out...aren't there more of your people that take care of this sort of stuff...I mean, it all seems a little ridiculous to me, not to mention dangerous for all of us."

"Usually Stefan, you would be absolutely right...we wouldn't be so theatrical and it would all be sorted out by now with no one the wiser... but the way it would have been resolved would not have been to your liking...most of you have lived beyond your natural years and have escaped the grip of death on several occasions and so the solution would have been to remove you all from this existence, including Silas. No more doppelgangers, no more originals, no more problem."

"Well why couldn't you just get rid of Silas, he's the crazy psycho trying to kill everyone?" Exclaimed Damon.

"If being a 'crazy psycho' was the only criteria needed for 'getting rid' of someone you would have been gone long ago Damon, wouldn't you?"

Damon gave a snarky facial expression and walked away.

"So what was different this time? Why all this?" asked Stefan

Melissa looked at Tom, the love in her eyes for him was evident to everyone, she really didn't need to say anything but she explained "I couldn't lose Tom if there was a way to save him and the only way to save him was to do this. My people haven't encountered this sort of request before and they weren't happy about it, I wasn't sure they would agree and time was running out...so I acted on my own. That's why I need all of you to help me...I need the extra boost since I have bonded with Tom, linking him to me and me to him our existence and fates are joined, it is because of this that my people cannot act against him...but I also doubt they will rush to our aid if we need it...so there you have it. We either do this together or we die..."

"Well if that's the case, then thank God for love I say" piped up Damon "and what's the plan?"

Melissa laid out a map and marked a place on it where she said Blake was buried..."this is where we need to go, we must be prepared as soon as we get there to perform the ritual. Now that Tom and Damon are here they can fill in for Bonnie and Bonnie, I need you to go home and find anyone who might help us."

"Who can I possibly ask to do that and who the hell is gonna believe this story? I wouldn't believe it...no one is gonna help us, Damon was right...the people that are left in Mystic Falls would probably help Silas before they'd help us...we've burned a lot of bridges."

"I'm aware...but I also know that between you a lot of good things have been achieved and a lot of people owe you their lives." Melissa reached in to her pocket and took out what looked like a perfectly smooth, flawless, oval black gem stone. It truly appeared mystical in nature and she offered it to Bonnie. "Within this stone Bonnie is an account of what has happened, what is happening and a vision of what is to come. Placed in the hand of a willing recipient it may offer a persuasive argument for them to help. For any unintended viewer it will simply remain a shiny black stone."

"Oooh, what else you got in that pocket? Because I don't think a shiny black rock is gonna cut it against these goons." snarled Damon.

"Damon!...come on, we're all in this together" remarked Stefan as he placed his arm across Damon's shoulders and led him a few paces away from the others "Are you alright brother?"

Damon looked at Stefan and smiling he nodded silently..."let's get going then, the sooner we bring this poor girl back from the dead the sooner she can freak out and hurl insults at us all."

Caroline approached Bonnie and told her to be careful..."watch who you trust with this knowledge Bon, trust your own instincts...they've never let you down. When we have Blake we'll be in touch, remember Silas is close and he is looking for us so..." "I know Care, stealthy...I got it" whispered Bonnie.

A while later as they approached Mystic Falls from the back roads Bonnie branched off and the rest of them continued to the burial site. Damon asked why, if they needed to be prepared, hadn't they stopped to buy candles and herbs like before. Melissa said almost shyly..."we don't really need those things Damon, I just thought it would make you feel better to have something to do and that was more like what you might have been expecting...I'm sorry for misleading you but all we need is a Lapis Lazuli gem, they have a very strong mystical force and they will cement the bond of new life with Blake."

"Let me guess, you have one of those in your pocket of magic?"

"As a matter of fact" she said smiling and looking at Damon

Once at the site Stefan and Damon dug out the grave exposing the coffin that held Blake. Damon reached down to open it but was stopped by Stefan. "No brother...I put her in here so it should be me" "Stefan you don't have to, it wasn't your fault" Stefan simply looked at Damon shaking his head from side to side and Damon knew this was something Stefan needed and so just stepped out of the grave. Once the coffin was open Stefan stood there silently looking at Blake's corpse. His eyes welled up with tears and his heart with sorrow as he flashed back to the moment of her death. "Stefan!", called Caroline, releasing him from this trance, "Come on, it's ok." Stefan shook it off and climbed out taking his place next to his love, which at a time like this brought him great comfort. Caroline, Stefan, Damon and Tom stood around the grave with Melissa placed at the head, her arms lifted and out to the side, palms up she began to recite the words that would return Blake to this dimension of being. She had placed the Lapis Lazuli stone on her forehead and with the same mystique as before, the winds blew strong...her whole being glowed, we felt the connection of the Chanul as it pulsed within us and passed between us. Our eyes glowed for that split second and a blast of energy passed to Blake.

The next moments saw an even stranger sight as Blake stood before Melissa as an empty vessel. Caroline's mouth dropped open as she realised that Blake was her doppelganger and for the first time had some sort of understanding of what it was Stefan felt every time he looked at Tom or previously when it had been Silas. It was a surreal feeling and something you couldn't quite explain to anyone.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Damon "She's not a zombie is she? I really hate zombies."

"Any memories of her death have been removed, it'll be hard enough for her as it is to reconcile what has happened without dealing with what and who happened to her...she doesn't need to remember that." She gave a sweet smile to Stefan and surprised but grateful he quickly wiped away a falling tear from his eye and turned around.

With a loud gasp and a stumble backwards Blake was reborn into our world. Melissa gently took her by the hand and guiding her away from the grave said softly "Come with me and let me explain what is happening."

Shortly thereafter Melissa and Blake were making their way towards the car..."Hmmm...I can foresee a problem here" announced Damon counting six of them.

"It'll be fine Damon", Stefan laughed..."cosy."

"Well I'm driving" he demanded

Melissa stopped in her tracks...she looked slightly upward, startled, as though she were listening for the quietist sound...her eyes glowed blue..."Uh oh" stated Damon sarcastically, looking around for the inevitable horror that he was sure was about to befall them.

"RUN!!!!...." screamed Melissa