Notes: Thanks for continuing to read, everyone! I hope you enjoy this story as much (if not more) than the last ones. I'm thinking for this one that each chapter will be an episode (for the most part) which will help me get the chapters up in a more timely manner (as opposed to two episodes per chapter) because it will take less time to write a 5 – 6k chapter than a 9 – 10K one. I'll do it for this first chapter, and if you'd all let me know which you prefer, that would be great.
Disclaimer: Obviously, I still don't own the Vampire Diaries or any quotes used/borrowed.
as deep as a bite, as dark as the night
"Pass me that lovely little gun
My dear, my darling one
The cleaners are coming, one by one
You don't even want to let them start."
.
.
.
Elena woke up, blinking at a white and fuzzy ceiling with the knowledge that she was forgetting something incredibly important. Someone was holding her hand – someone with pale, slender fingers that held a certain amount of strength but also gentleness whenever they touched her. She blinked rapidly, eyes clearing enough to make out Damon. His blue eyes were focused unnervingly on her, intense and worried. She wanted to pat his shoulder, kiss him softly and say I'm fine, you silly man, but the words would not come and she found that her strength was lacking.
She must have made some noise though because immediately Damon perked up and leaned toward her eagerly. He reached out a hand and softly stroked her cheek with one chilled finger and Elena leaned into the touch.
"Damon," She breathed and her eyes fluttered closed. Elena searched her memory for something, that one important thing that she was forgetting . . .
"Elena," Damon's voice was husky with an angry undertone. "How do you feel?"
Elena looked for a word to describe the sensations she was beginning to experience but couldn't settle on anything but, "Weird."
Damon's mouth twisted. "That's normal." Elena tilted her head and began to sit up in her bed – and it was her bed at the Gilbert house and not the one she shared often with Damon at his home – and frowned.
Thump.
Thump. Thump.
Thump.
Thump. Thump. In addition, there was a buzzing in her ear and was – were those sirens? What was going on?
"Damon?" Elena's breathing quickened. "Damon, what happened?"
"Hey, hey, it's okay," Damon sat on the bed and murmured quietly, a rare expression of tenderness on his face and in his gestures. "You've been in and out pretty much all morning."
"Damon?" Elena repeated sharply, "What happened?"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"And what is that noise?" She demanded loudly. Her memories were beginning to come back rapidly and her heart beat, originally extremely slow, was skyrocketing. Hospital bed bright lights – pain in her neck blood in her mouth –
"Klaus kidnapped you," Damon explained, eyes searching his face. "And then Finn and Sage showed back up in town, hell bent on getting revenge. Delayed revenge, I might add."
"WH-what did they do?" Elena whispered but she already knew the answer; she could feel it in her very bones that there was something different about herself and the memories kept trickling in. "Am I dead?" Her voice rose in pitch on that last word.
Damon pressed his lips into a thin, grim line. "I'm sorry."
"No, no, no," Elena cried, running her hands through her long brown hair and then down her face, almost clawing herself. "No, I didn't want to be a vampire! Damon, I don't want to be a vampire!"
"Well, unless you want to be dead, you have no choice now," Damon snapped in a brief moment of anger and frustration. "You have a day to feed and complete the transition."
"Or a day to say goodbye." The thought made Elena calm a little and she lowered her hands into her lap. She felt like her whole body was trembling with emotions. Or maybe that was the transition.
"Maybe there's a way out of this, we just have to figure it out," Another voice suggested from the door of her bedroom. Elena looked up and felt her jaw go slack with surprise.
"There is no way out of it, Stephanie," Damon snapped angrily without turning to even look at his sister. "You feed or you die, there is no number three."
"What is she doing here, Damon?" Elena demanded and she fists her hands in her thick comforter.
"She's a White Hat again," Damon surprised Elena further by wincing, "which was kind of the catalyst for Klaus kidnapping you. It's a long story."
"Maybe there's something Bonnie can do," Stephanie continued, avoiding Elena's gaze. "Some spell or something."
Elena grasped on that hope with everything she had. "Bonnie's really good, Damon, maybe Stephanie's right." She would focus on Stephanie getting free from Klaus later. Right now, she needed to think about . . . this.
"She's not that good," Damon glowered. "Come on, Elena, be sensible."
"It's my choice," Elena met his eyes challengingly. "You wouldn't make me turn against my will, Damon. It's my choice." She was sure that he wouldn't force her to change; he loved her too much to do that.
"Like always," He muttered under his breath.
"What's that thumping downstairs?" Elena asked abruptly, distracted. She needed to know what it was.
"Heartbeats," Stephanie's voice was strained as she answered. Maybe she was having trouble around the humans too then, Elena half mused. "You can hear the neighbors' hearts because you can't control your extended senses yet."
"Why don't you stay up here for a bit while I have a chat with Steph," Damon's hand was suddenly on Elena's shoulder. "Okay?"
"I'm not an invalid," Elena said brusquely.
"No, you're just in transition and a danger to humans right now," Damon said lowly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you just say you didn't want to turn?" His face was hard and there seemed to be a wall rising between them. No, not a wall – a gaping chasm miles apart that was continuing to widen.
Sensing this, Elena stifled her protests for the moment; she could probably hear what they were saying about her anyway. "Fine," She said stiffly.
"Great." There was Damon's fake, plastic smile. Elena hated it. He stood and clapped a hand on his sister's shoulder and the two strode away, downstairs to the kitchen if the opening cupboards and slamming coffee cups and glass tumblers were anything to go by. If she strained herself, Elena could hear them arguing about giving her false hope and quiet murmurings of Caroline and Lexi.
Abruptly, Elena couldn't hear them anymore; the sounds of her clock ticking took over her concentration and her gums began to throb. She stood from the bed and went over to her Chester drawer with its large mirror that took up a good portion of her wall. Elena sat down and leaned towards the mirror, lifting her hands to her mouth. She felt around with her fingers, looking for the fangs she'd seen her friends bare, but could not feel the sharpened incisors.
The light from her lamp made her blink rapidly and the buzz of electricity began to hum loudly, making her head spin towards it. She winced as the hum wavered in decibels. Tersely, she strode over to the lamp and crushed the light bulb in her fingers. There was a brief burn that quickly resolved itself with her quickened healing and she felt better now that the humming was gone as well as the bright fluorescent light.
The conversation downstairs became louder and Elena covered her ears with her hands. She realized it was going to be a long, horrible day.
She didn't know the half of it.
"Elena doesn't want to be a vampire," Matt said gruffly.
"I really doubt she wants to be dead either, Matt," Anna retorted as she pulled on a dark jacket. Were they seriously going to miss school again? It wasn't like she could compel herself a diploma anymore and so she couldn't afford to keep taking off. But he wanted to go see Elena, the troublesome-in-transition-doppelgänger. God, she wanted a drink.
"She needs a level head to talk to right now," He continued blithely. "The only people around her right now are vampires, Anna, and they're all going to be telling her to turn." Matt headed towards the door of his house, but Anna slid in front of him, putting her hands onto his chest, forcing Matt to look down at her.
"Do you really want her to die?" Anna asked, genuinely curious. "She's your friend. Isn't it better she becomes vampire than not be around at all?"
"I know that she didn't want to be a vampire before she died, Anna," He faced her seriously, "and I just want to make sure none of those guys are pressuring her into doing something she doesn't want to know. You know Damon will want her to turn and I think Elena would do it to please him."
"Then I don't think you know your friend very well," Anna said shortly. "She's independent and makes her own choice, whether or not they're particularly good. If she wants to die, I think she'll make that decision, and if she wants to be a vampire so she can live with the Salvatore's forever, then you need to let her do that."
"Anna." Matt's face was so solemn. "I have to talk to her before she makes up her mind."
Anna sighed. "For the record, I just want it to be known that I think this is a bad idea. She's unstable right now and even the smell of human blood could set her off."
"Yeah," Matt grunted and they set off for his truck together.
"Damn it," Damon muttered.
"What's the matter, darling, are you not happy to see me?"
Damon looked up to see Bonnie and Kol striding through his kitchen to the living room. "What the hell are you doing here?" Bonnie went passed them without comment, heading up the stairs to Elena's bedroom, carrying a backpack presumably full of her witchy things.
Kol threw himself down on the couch and reclined. He shot Damon a lazy smirk. "Just checking out the entertainment. This town is dreadfully boring if you don't follow The Trials and Sufferings of the Petrova Doppelgänger Special."
Damon snarled. "How did you get in here?"
"Well, the owner of the house just died, didn't she? No invitation necessary," Kol drawled and Damon nearly leapt at him to throttle the Original.
"Hey, hey," Stephanie interceded and put a hand onto Damon's shoulder. "What were those calls about?" She distracted him.
While glaring at Kol, Damon explained. "Meredith says that the blood is being guarded at the hospital, Alaric and Pastor Young have relieved Liz and Carol of their jobs and all the vervain has been gathered up, somehow including our stash," Damon ticked off his fingers. "So basically, everything's gone to hell in a hand basket."
"So what do we do?" Lexi asked from the doorway.
"Is my mom okay?" Caroline demanded.
"So much estrogen in one room," Kol admired with a sly grin, earning him several glares.
"Not the time," Stephanie glared. "Where's your leash?"
"I've been cut off, but the master's just up the stairs if you need to know training commands," Kol offered.
"Can you just be gone?" Damon demanded of Kol and then turned to Caroline and Lexi. "Find Tyler and make sure he's not doing something stupid like trying to help out his mom. Don't try to contact your mother either, Caroline. I'm going to go see what I can do about the vervain and the blood for now. Steph, keep an eye on him-"
"I'm leaving," Kol announced, jumping up. "I can tell when I'm not wanted. I'll just see if Abby needs anything." He strode away and despite his eager self-dismissal, the others could see that he was satisfied with the minor chaos he'd caused for them.
"I've got to get more stuff, anyway," Bonnie announced and all of the vampires turned to look at her sudden appearance. "I can't find anything in what I brought, so I'm thinking I'll just continue this at my house."
"Then Steph, you keep an eye on Elena," Damon commanded and the group dispersed with each of their missions, though not without some grumbling about being told what to do.
"Did you forget I can't go out into the sunlight?" Lexi asked dryly.
Damon frowned. "Take a jacket or something."
"Or I could just stay here," She deadpanned.
Damon waved a hand. "Whatever." He followed the others out and the door shut with a soft click. Stephanie turned for the stairs to avoid talking to Lexi, but her friend stopped her with a handle to the shoulder.
"How are you doing?"
"Fine," Stephanie grunted.
"I know you, Steph," Lexi warned, "and you are not fine right now. Where did you go before? When we all just arrived back?"
"Just took a walk, Lexi," Stephanie jerked her arm out of her friend's grasp. "I needed to get out of this house for a bit."
Lexi arched her brows, but dropped it. "How's the bloodlust?"
Stephanie said nothing.
"When this mess is solved, I could help you," Lexi offered.
"Damon's going to help this time," Stephanie said, surprising Lexi.
"Really?" Lexi crossed her arms and wasn't sure if she was very pleased. "What's he going to teach you?" She scoffed. "How to take a woman to bed?"
Stephanie leveled her with a sharp look. "Moderation." Lexi barked a laugh and Steph glared. "Come on, Lexi, let's be serious for a minute. What you do doesn't really help me; it's gets me weaned off human blood, sure, but then as soon as I get so much as a taste, I'm off the rails again. I need a permanent fix, Lex, not just something to get me through a decade or two."
Lexi and Stephanie watched each other for a moment until the blonde finally nodded warily. "Okay. If that's what you want. But I'll be keeping an ear to ground, do you hear me? If things get too out of control, I'm going to step in because you're my best friend and I want to help."
"This mean you're leaving?" Stephanie asked, relaxing her stance. She was privately glad that Lexi had backed off so easily. Even though they'd been clearly living under the same roof, Damon and Lexi were by no means friends.
"Well, Lee has to miss me," Lexi shrugged but she had a tiny smile in the corner of her mouth. "Poor guy probably feels neglected. And I miss him, too."
They were interrupted by a creaking on the step. It was Elena, walked towards them. "Hey," The dark haired girl greeted quietly.
"Hi," Steph nodded. They stood awkwardly together.
"Want to tell me how you're here, Steph?" Elena asked after a moment. "I mean, last we saw each other, you were kind of . . ."
"A raging, psychotic bitch?" Stephanie offered wryly and Elena coughed out a dry laugh. Lexi smirked.
"Pretty much," She nodded.
"Klaus decided to let me go," Stephanie explained and crossed her arms. Elena frowned as she descended the last of the stairs. Even Lexi cocked her hip at that. She'd wondered, of course, but could Klaus have truly listened to her?
"What?" Elena was similarly amazed.
"He said something like that if you really loved someone, you'd let them go. If they didn't return, you never really had their love," Steph shifted on her feet. "I think he was trying to be gallant, but it was a bit too little too late."
Lexi placed her hand over to mouth to hide her shock; Klaus did have a heart, after all, she supposed. He was a terrible, murderous man, but apparently she'd gotten through to that guarded heart of his.
"He's sick," Elena agreed. She looked at the floor and then at Stephanie's brooding gaze. "I'm . . . sorry you went through all that. Caroline and Lexi missed you." Lexi nodded. "Damon too. Um," She rubbed the back of her neck, "I missed you too. You're a good friend."
"When I'm not snacking on the locals," Stephanie muttered under her breath.
"I think we can all agree on that," Elena nodded and the tense atmosphere began to lighten just a bit. The vampires looked up though, not even a minute later; they could hear several heavy footsteps on the front porch. Elena's heart began to race, even as Stephanie positioned herself in front of her protectively, just like before. Lexi turned to face the intruders head on.
The door burst open and they were surrounded by several unfamiliar deputies and two very familiar men. "Pa-Pastor Young?" Elena asked hesitantly and gently maneuvered around the smaller vampire. "Rick?"
"Everything will be alright, Elena," The Pastor assured her gently with placating hand motions.
Alaric smiled and it was almost as if nothing had changed until he said, "We're going to protect you from the vampires."
Several shots rang out and Elena screamed.
.
.
.
"Damn it all to-" Damon grumbled angrily as he ran around the house, fixing lamps and furniture for something to temporarily keep his mind and hands busy. He'd gotten back from his reconnaissance from the hospital (the security was iron tight and neigh impossible to get through) with Meredith on his heels to find that his sister and his girlfriend were missing from the Gilbert house. Lexi had been shot up full of vervain and wooden bullets and was still unconscious on the couch.
The front door opened and Damon whirled around; he relaxed when he saw it was only Liz. Meredith returned from the kitchen, still silent as death.
"They're gone," He said flatly.
Liz frowned. "I found Caroline and Tyler," Liz told him and Damon perked up.
"And?"
"I told them to hide somewhere," Liz sighed. "They wouldn't leave town, but I suggested they go to ground, at least. They finally went to the old Lockwood grounds temporarily. It was the best I could get them to do."
"At least they were captured by the Council," Damon ground out. "Is there anything you can do?"
"Nothing," Liz shook her head. "The Council locked Carol and I out of our offices; we can't access files, equipment, people, nothing."
Damon strode towards his friend menacingly. "And you never contemplated a backup plan, Liz?"
"Damon," Meredith warned lowly.
"I'm sorry I'm stressed, Meredith," He snapped, "It's just that my best friend is crazy and with the bad guys and my sister and my girlfriend have been kidnapped for God knows what reason."
There was a knocking on the door and the three adults immediately turned to see who had joined them now.
"Is Elena here?" Matt stuck his head around the door. At his side was Anna, who traded unhappy looks with Damon. Neither particularly liked the other.
"No," Damon said shortly.
"She was taken by the Council," Meredith told him sympathetically. "We're trying to figure out where they might have gone."
"With your vervain and Alaric's weapons, they could be anywhere," Liz told the group at large. "We don't have a chance in hell locating them."
"Come on guys, think," Damon snapped. "It takes a lot to hold a vampire; reinforced steel, iron doors . . ."
Something must have clicked in the back of Matt's brain. "Pastor Young has cattle ranch," He said quickly, "Those pens and locks could easily be modified to hold vampires, especially ones weak on vervain."
"Way to go, Matt," Anna muttered and shot him a quick grin that he weakly tried to return.
"It's remote, it's secluded . . ." Meredith trailed off.
"Well guess what, I guess you get to prove how useful quarterbacks can really be," Damon locked eyes on Matt. "So let's go, QB. Everyone else wait here until we get back."
Elena sat in Pastor Young's farmhouse, finger in her mouth probing the place in her gums where she could feel her fangs growing. Every noise irritated her; everything was louder and brighter and she thought she was going to go crazy. Distantly, she heard Pastor Young ask her a question, but Elena was focused on her newly returned friend who was surely locked up somewhere with Alaric's crazy alter ego and who knew how many other captured vampires.
"Elena?" Pastor Young tried to grab her attention. The tea kettle screamed, making her wince painfully. She wanted to cover her ears.
"Why did you bring me here?" Elena asked quickly.
"My deputies can watch out for us here," He told her. "Look, Elena, I know this sounds crazy, but it was your parents that advocated having an emergency plan like this. I never actually thought we'd have to use it." The clock was booming in her ears and the light streaming in through the window made her cover her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Where are Steph and Lexi?" Elena ignored his question and she heard him sigh.
"They're vampires, Elena," Pastor Young explained gently, "They could seriously hurt you."
While that was honest when Stephanie was on a ripper binge, it was conveniently untrue at this very moment, "They would never hurt me." Thank you Klaus, for letting Stephanie go for this to be truthful, Elena thought to herself. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Well, I know that wherever you go, Salvatore vampires seem to follow," Pastor Young told her. "You hungry?"
"No." Elena glowered. She was certainly hungry, but not for anything he was cooking. His heartbeat sounded particularly appetizing.
Pastor Young began to explain his plans. "We left the blonde vampire, Lexi, back at the house since she didn't have a daylight ring and she wasn't precisely necessary. We'll hold Stephanie until Damon comes searching for you two, and we'll use Kol to bring back the Original vampires. Did you know that the original sign for Wickery Bridge was made out of a white ash tree? Thankfully, we found it in the Mayor's office and whittled it into a stake. We'll be able to get rid of the entire vampire race."
"Wait, you have Kol?" Elena asked sharply. He'd gone home with Bonnie. Surely they hadn't taken Bonnie down? She was a human.
"He tried to fight back," Pastor Young misinterpreted her tone for worry for the Council, "but for some reason, he couldn't land a hit on anyone. It was like something was stopping him each time he got close, which was good for us. Unusual though."
"Was anyone with him?" Elena hedged uncertainly.
"Your good friend Bonnie Bennett and her vampire mother," Pastor Young gave her the side eye. "We know she's a witch, so we couldn't figure out why she would be fraternizing with vampires. We put her out of commission temporarily so she wouldn't decide to try anything that would destroy our plans."
"What did you do to her?" Elena demanded. "She's my best friend."
"Nothing she won't recover from," The Pastor soothed. "It was just a mild sedative to keep her out for the rest of the day. She'll wake up this evening in her bed and by then the vampire infestation should be taken care of."
Elena clenched her fists, furious that anyone could have done something so vial to her best friend. The sounds of the kitchen intensified and all she wanted to do was leave and warn everyone. Pastor Young leaned in close suddenly and his blood was all she could hear and think of.
"Elena, you okay?"
Fine, she tried to mutter, but the sounds only got louder and his blood more distracting, so she sprang upwards, knocking her chair back. "I've got to get out of here." She ran from the house and she distantly heard the Pastor shout, "Get her."
They knew now, then.
The world went blurry as the force of the sun beat on her back and then she heard a gun being cocked and fired; a bullet tore through her stomach and she sank to the dirty ground. She lost consciousness.
"I can't stand just waiting around!" Caroline finally shouted, throwing up her arms. "There has to be something we can do!"
"Care," Tyler soothed, "There's not. If we go out there, all we're doing is giving the Council more targets and our parents more people to rescue. We'll just be a hindrance."
Caroline groaned. "Tyler."
"Seriously, Care," Tyler snapped. "What do you want me to do? Ignore your mom and let ourselves be caught by the Council like Stephanie and Elena were?"
Caroline sank down to the dirty ground, defeated.
Elena woke up with a terrible headache and feeling of awful heaviness in her very bones. She blinked her eyes, trying to locate the loud buzzing noise in the barn; a powerful steel fan was blowing vervain around, weakening all the vampires. She remembered quite suddenly where she was: Pastor Young's cattle ranch.
"Lookit who finally woke up," A groggy voice drawled across from her. Elena blinked heavily and recognized Kol. "They thought you were a full-fledged vampire and stuffed you in here with us monsters, darling. Must not have recognized somebody in transition. Pity."
"Kol?" Elena called drowsily. She felt very out of it, dizzy and lightheaded. It was disorienting.
"That's me," Kol rolled his head onto his shoulder, revealing how frail he truly was in that moment. Elena almost pitied him.
"Stephanie?" Elena called.
Someone coughed in the pen next to her. "Right here, Elena." She sounded terrible.
"Steph!" Elena tried to quickly get to the bars of the pen so she could talk to her friend. "I need to feed," She gasped. "I'm so hungry . . ." Elena could hear shuffling in the pen next to her and suddenly there was a thin arm sticking through the bars. Elena gratefully clasped her hand. "If we get out of this," She huffed, "all is forgiven, okay, Steph? Even the Jeremy stuff."
"Thanks . . . for . . . that," Stephanie wheezed and coughed.
With her free hand, Elena shook the reinforced bars of the pen.
"It's no use," Kol called over quietly. "I've tried that already; the good Pastor and the vampire hunter truly know their stuff. There's no way we're getting out of this place alive unless someone rescues us poor damsels."
"You're including yourself in that list?" Stephanie coughed.
"Of course," Kol drawled. "I mean, I am trapped. I couldn't even protect the lovely Bennett witch when they drugged her."
"I couldn't either . . ." Abby Bennett Wilson. Elena looked over and saw her; Abby was in the same condition they were in, drowsy and weak, leaning against the back of her cell-like pen. "They doped up my daughter and all I could do was watch from the ground . . ."
"They didn't hurt her, Pastor Young said," Elena tried to reassure the mother of her best friend, but honestly she was worried about Bonnie as well.
"Ha," Abby choked out a laugh. "He'll go for the witches next, mark my words Elena."
The four vampires grew quiet for a moment. "Stephanie?"
Stephanie gripped Elena's hand a little bit harder. "Yeah, Elena?"
"I don't think I have much time left," Elena croaked, "I need blood. I'm dying."
Stephanie scrabbled around her pen, dropping Elena's hand. Moments later, Elena heard her dragging her body up from the dirty ground by pulling on the iron bars. "Hey!" She yelled, "Anyone! You think we're afraid of you?" The door to the barn opened and a white guy around his late twenties, early thirties stormed inside. He went directly to Steph's pen and Elena felt a flash of fear.
"Do you want more vervain?" He demanded.
"Help me. Elena's going to die if you don't get her out of here," She begged. "Please."
There was moment of tense silence where the man stared at Elena and the girl truly thought for a moment that he would relent. Then he turned back to Stephanie. "Sorry. Not my problem." Elena coughed.
"She's innocent, let her out," Stephanie tried again. When the man did nothing she raged at the bars. "Let her out!" The gun went off and Elena flinched as she heard Stephanie grunt and fall painfully to the ground. "I said let her out!" Stephanie screeched again and rushed the bars. The man only shot her again. When Steph fell this time, she did not get back up.
"Stephanie?" Elena asked hesitantly.
"Darling?" Kol called and Elena was surprised to hear a little concern. "Lovely show, but I'm afraid it wasn't particularly well thought out."
"Heh," Stephanie tried to laugh and ended up grunting instead. She dragged her body up to the side of her pen again, as close to Elena as she could get. She plunged her fingers into her thigh, searching for the bullet there. "And it feels like I just got out the last wooden bullets they shot me up with at the house," She groaned. Steph tossed it across the pen after she'd fished it out, and searched for the second one in her gut.
Grunting and panting, Stephanie found it and yanked. "Elena? You still with me?"
"Yeah," Elena whispered and found to her surprise that she could barely talk. Still, she tried to convince her friend she was fine. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"No, you're not," Stephanie called her out. "I can hear your breathing. Damon was right; you should have fed this morning. I'm so sorry for suggesting otherwise."
"It's fine," Elena whispered, "You had hope, which is what I wanted everyone to have." She closed her eyes. "Oh God, Jeremy. I'll never see him again."
"Yes, you will," Stephanie snapped, teary eyed. "I'll make sure of it."
"How?" Elena whispered. "We're stuck . . . in . . . here . . ."
"Darling, don't pass out now," Kol called to her. "I'm sure rescue is son the way; I mean, there's no possible way Damon Salvatore is going to let you die in here. You know, did I ever tell you about the bar fight I had with him in 1912? New Orleans, it was. I pummeled him."
"No, you didn't," Stephanie laughed dryly, which only made her cough. "You both were far too drunk. And anyway, you were on the same side that night."
"Really?" Kol pondered. "Maybe I was a little too trashed . . ."
Elena smiled as her eyes fluttered closed.
Damon jumped out of the car and slammed the door angrily, jerking Matt along. "Come on, Quarterback." The house was silent, but there were lights lit everywhere.
"So, what? We just storm the place with no weapons?" Matt asked sharply.
"Nope. We just need bait," Damon said.
"Huh?" Matt asked, turning to him. Damon darted in and bit Matt's neck, sucking the blood from one of his main arteries. Damon gripped the jock around his thick shoulders to hold him in place as he fed. It had been so long since he'd drunk from the vein . . . he hadn't realized how much he'd missed it. Damon dropped Matt to the ground and looked back to the house, not bothering to wipe his face or straightening up his appearance otherwise; he looked feral and felt utterly wild.
While Matt groaned in the grass, Damon hollered toward the house. "You who, big bad vampire out here!"
The door opened and Pastor Young stepped out. "Leave him alone; the boy is innocent," The man commanded sharply.
"Reasoning with Damon is pointless," Another man joined Pastor Young and Damon stiffened. Alaric grinned. "You have to use force with him or else he just never learns."
"I really don't need to learn anything, Rick," Damon said lowly and he grabbed Matt. "I know you want Matt alive, but seeing as I don't care, I suggest you do what I ask and give me Stephanie and Elena."
"You gotta use force, Pastor," Alaric said again and retrieved a gun. He cocked it and shot, hitting Damon in the shoulder.
"Get away!" The Pastor yelled, "You are not getting in and we are not coming out!"
Damon looked down at the wound and then back up at the men on the porch. "Okay, now I'm angry. This was designer jacket."
Kol, watching Elena and Stephanie hold hand through the bar, giving each other strength, made a decision. He dragged his body up from the cell-like pen, using the reinforced iron bars to hold himself up.
"Oi! Watcher man! I'm in need of a favor!" The women in the barn looked at him, confused, and so Kol gave Stephanie a significant look. She blinked, let go of Elena's hand, and began to pull herself up as well.
"I'll take care of this," One of the men called, "You bring in the other one."
"Got it."
"Excuse me! Hello, watcher man?" Kol continued to call until the man stood in front of him.
"I thought I told you to shut up?" The guard demanded and pointed his gun at the Original.
"Right, well, here's the thing," Kol said, "my family has a lot of money; lots of property and jewelry. Anything you could possibly want, we've got it. So how about you let me go?"
"I'd much rather watch you die," The man growled.
"Okay, well, here's another thing," Kol continued as he propped his head on the bars; he was so tired . . . "My family really doesn't care about me much, see. And they're spread out around the world, in any case; Finn high tailed it out of here when Klaus killed his lover, Klaus has been taken care of by a lovely witch, my sister is off cavorting with her new girlfriend, and Elijah is probably in a business meeting somewhere in Prague. They're not going to rescue me because they won't notice I'm gone. In all actuality, they would probably celebrate my passing with streamers and piñatas," Kol admitted.
"Oh, really?" the man said, clearly unconvinced.
"Yes," Kol nodded, "It's true. I'm unloved and unwanted-" Faster than he thought he was capable of while hindered with vervain, Kol snapped out at the man, making him quickly walk backwards a little too close to Stephanie's pen.
Immediately, Steph was up and had her hands around the man's neck. She pulled him back toward her pen and knocked the human's head up against the reinforced iron bars one, two, four times until the man slumped to the ground, dead and bleeding from the head.
"Nice teamwork there," Kol breathed and he slid back down to the ground. "Great . . . great work, everybody. Lemme just . . . take a . . . nap."
The blood dripped and spilled towards Elena.
"Elena," Stephanie called tensely. "Elena." She watched as the other girl's hand reached out and her fingers clawed towards the puddle, finally touching the life giving liquid. "That's it," Stephanie murmured. Elena brought her bloodied fingers back to her mouth and sucked as tears (of relief or pain at the fact that she was turning into a vampire, Stephanie would never know) fell from her eyes. Stephanie turned back to the dead man while Elena finished her transition and searched for the keys. Finding them, Stephanie shoved his body out of the way and then unlocked her cell.
She went to Elena immediately next and let her out. Already, the girl was looking much, much better. Elena gave a wobbly at her in thanks, but then stiffened. "Something's happening outside . . ." and then she was gone.
"Elena!" Stephanie yelled, but she had already disappeared. Muttering to herself, Steph quickly released Abby and Kol, (both helped themselves to the dead deputy) helping them out of the barn. When they got out to the front lawn, they found Elena holding Damon down onto the grass and Matt half sitting several feet away, holding a hand to his bloody neck. Around then were two dead deputies, and Pastor Young and Alaric were standing on the threshold of the the Pastor's house, not quite daring enough to step outside to face all the vampires milling around without any backup.
"Damon! Elena!" Stephanie called and limped to their sides. Behind her, she heard Abby disappear, though Kol lingered.
"Are they having sex on the lawn?" He asked far too curiously.
"I hope not," Stephanie muttered. She waited until the lovers in front of her separated, and then she helped Matt up and to Damon's car, with Damon and Elena following behind.
They were finally going to go home, sleep, and then figure out how to best deal with the Council in the morning.
With the sunrise came the Town Council at Pastor Young's request. They were still as his cattle ranch, the place where their original plans had fallen through. That morning Pastor Young would be fulfilling something that he hadn't even let Alaric in on, which had upset the vampire hunter who was sitting grumpily at the table. The rest of the Council milled around the kitchen in tense silence.
"Folks, by now you know that the vampires have escaped," Pastor Young told them gravely as they passed around vervain. "It won't be long until they retaliate against us. But fear not, I have been chosen to lead us into a new movement." He locked them all inside.
"What?"
"Soon, you'll be free to pass through the gates. And we'll all reunite in eternity."
"Seriously, Pastor, what's going on here?"
"We are the beginning," Pastor Young smiled and took out his lighter.
.
.
.
Despite the rough day and night he'd had, Kol had lingered at the cattle ranch, confident that he couldn't be harmed any further now that he was prepared and the Council was scattered and scared. Dawn came and with it people into the Pastor's house; Kol watched them all enter and none of them leave. And so he lingered, curious (curiosity killed the cat, his mother always said, but Kol knew that satisfaction brought it back), and listened in to the conversation.
We are the beginning.
The explosion that followed was wholly unexpected. It was only after, when Kol had returned to the Bennett house did he realize how many people had been in that explosion.
Twelve.
Coincidence?
Kol didn't believe in them.
We are the beginning.
.
.
.
.
Tbc.
