Elena sat curled on the couch in the Salvatore living room, her head buried in her hands. The events of the past few weeks pressed down on her like a weight she couldn’t shake. Everything was unraveling too fast—Caroline had turned into a vampire and was barely coping with her new reality. Katherine had returned, only to end up imprisoned in the Tomb after the failed attempt to steal the moonstone at the Masquerade Ball. And Elena… she’d been kidnapped by Rose and Trevor, only to discover the terrifying truth: she was the Petrova Doppelgänger, fated to play a role in a curse older and darker than she could have imagined.

The moonstone. Elijah. Klaus. The so-called sun and moon curse. Each new revelation was another brick in the walls closing in around her.

Elena pushed open the doors of the Salvatore house, expecting to find only Stefan—or maybe Damon—waiting inside.

But as she stepped into the room, she froze.

Someone unfamiliar was sitting on the couch.

A stranger.

Her heart skipped a beat as she instinctively took a step back, eyes narrowing with wary confusion. “Who… are you?” she asked, her voice low but steady.