The brisk October air nipped Damon Salvatore's skin as he exited the Mystic Falls Grill. Though he'd never admit it, he was extrememly pissed off at himself. He just couldn't do anything right these past few weeks. With all the chaos in Mystic Falls, he was amazed that he even made it this far without going completely insane. It was all Katherine's fault. He had been telling himself this since she arrived. But deep down he knew that she wasn't the real problem. It was him who was the problem. It wasn't Katherine's fault that he snapped Jermey Girbert's neck. It was his own for losing control. And now all he could do was feel the regret that continuously washed through his entire body. He thought things would've gotten better by now, but they haven't. Elena still hates him, which makes him cringe with guilt. At least now he's stuck with an enemy werewolf to keep his mind occupied. That is until, Mason Lockwood sinks his teeth into him. Damon raised an eyebrow at that. Could he actually take on Mason as a werewolf?
"Bad day?" Damon was instantly pulled from his thoughts. A surge of hope jolted through him at the voice. It was Elena's voice. Had she finally decided to accept his apology and move on from this whole event? He turned around to the direction of the voice. His hope was suddenly replaced with anger. It wasn't Elena.
"Bad century." He spat in a mocking tone. He watched as Katherine chuckled in response. Damon rolled his eyes and began walking away. There was no time for foolish games right now. He had much bigger problems with Mason and he didn't need Katherine to make him lose control again.
He stopped to glance over his shoulder. Katherine was following him close behind. "Are you following me?"
Katherine shrugged. "Maybe I am?" She grinned slightly at his anger, before changing the subject. "Oh come on Damon. Why so pouty? Are you jealous that I spent the entire day with Stefan?"
Damon glared at her in surprise. He took a moment to compose himself before answering. "Sorry. I don't do jealous. Not with you anyway." He turned and started walking away again.
This time Katherine didn't follow. She already knew a way to make him stop in his tracks. "Really? So now you do jealousy with Elena. Am I correct?" Just as she expected, he came to a halt. The sly grin on her face grew wider. It was entirely too easy to crack Damon.
"You leave her out of this." His tone changed completely. His words came out like venom from a dangerous snake. He desperately wanted to pounce and rip her thoat out.
"Calm yourself, Damon." Katherine refused to let her sly grin surpress. Instead she placed her arms behind her back and waited for his anger to die down. She tilted her head down and narrowed her eyes in on him. "I don't plan on killing Elena. Not yet anyway. " Katherine paused to sigh. "I think I'd rather have a little chat with Elena." She watched as Damon's eyes grew wide. "A one-on-one talk of course."
Damon chuckled darkly. "Don't even try it."
"I want to speak with Elena. Alone. I want what I want, Damon. You of all people should understand that I always get what I want." Her grin broke into a giggle. Watching how easily she could control his emotions was entertaining. "I can assure you that she will still be in one piece after our little get together."
"Why should I trust you?"
"Why shouldn't you?" She shot back. Silence washed over both of them. Katherine waited for him to answer, but he never did. "It seems like you don't have an answer, Damon." Her somewhat sweet tone quickly turned dangerous. "Look. I'm going to tell you exactly what I told Stefan. I have no intention of killing Elena at the moment. I came here for one purpose and one purpose only. To get Stefan back." Damon rolled his eyes. "But. If she doesn't stay out of my way and away from Stefan. I will snap her neck like a twig."
Just as she expected, Damon reacted the same way Stefan did. Only this time she was prepared. Damon lunged towards her. Katherine easily shoved him backwards into the Mystic Grill's brick building. Damon's body slid down the brick wall until he fell to the sidewalk. "Don't try and fight me." Katherine approached his now weak body. She knelt down in front of him. "That's why I want to have a little talk with Elena. She needs to understand what will happen if she continues to stay around Stefan. I will start to kill everyone she loves. When I'm finished with them, I'll kill her. Then, I'll make you and Stefan watch as I kill her. Sound good?" Her familiar evil smile appeared.
Damon watched as she began to stand to her feet. He reached out and griped her ankle. Before she could react, he pulled quickly, causing her to fall to the ground. He knew he didn't have much time. In one swift motion, he had Katherine pinned down onto the sidewalk by her throat. "You may be strong Katherine, but I'm not my little brother. I will kill you. I have been drinking human blood all day. I may not have 145 years on me, but I am strong." To prove his point, he pulled out the silver knife that he took from Elena's house earlier that day. Without hesitation, he stabbed the knife into her side. Katherine gasped in pain. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You leave Elena alone. Or next time, that knife will be a wooden stake."
Katherine laid there gasping for breath. She couldn't believe that she wasn't prepared for Damon's little outburst. She should've known that he would be drinking more blood than usual to keep his strength up. As soon as he disappeared, Katherine yanked the knife from her side. His threat about a wooden stake wasn't going to stop her. It made her want to fulfill her promise of snapping Elena's neck like a twig even more.
Slowly, Katherine sat up. She wasn't usually this weakened. But after being stabbed twice in one day, who could blame her? Damon was going to pay for his outburst. One way or another she would find a way to punish him. As Katherine stood up she stopped at the sight of the knife. When she pulled it from her side, she threw it a good three feet away. But something about the knife made her approach it.
Katherine snatched the knife from the sidewalk. She tilted her head to the side and examined it. Memories flashed through her mind. The first night she returned to Mystic Falls, she had used this very knife to kill. And not just anyone. She had used this knife to kill Jonathan Gilbert. Now she knew where Damon found his silver from. He had spent the entire day at the Gilbert home for some sort of get together. He must've taken it from the same place she had. Katherine smiled to herself. Now she had an excuse to visit Elena tonight. After all, she'd be returning something that rightfully belonged to Elena.
(XxXxXxXxXxX)
Even after Stefan had assured Elena that Katherine definately wasn't here to reclaim him, she still couldn't seem to process that. It just didn't make any sense. Why would Katherine continue to pursue him if she didn't really want him? Elena sighed. All of this drama was doing nothing good for her. She ran a hand through her hair and plopped down on her bed. Just as her eye lids began to drop, the doorbell rang.
With a loud groan, Elena pulled herself from her bed. She jogged down the steps, wondering who it could possibly be. "Damon." Elena glared at him. She folded her arms across her chest and blocked the doorway. There's no way that he'd be coming in tonight. "What do you want?"
"I came to make sure you're still breathing." He replied with a smirk.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Damon rested his arm on one side of the doorway. "Well I may have overheard your little break up with Stefan." He paused to see if she would give any reaction. She didn't. "I am sorry to hear about that." He added.
"Yeah. I'm sure you are." Elena replied sarcastically. She went to close the door, but he pushed it open.
"Elena wait." Damon's entire expression softened. He almost looked hurt. It's like it pained him to be to nice and caring. "That's not why I came over here." Slowly, he took his hand away from the door. If she really wanted to hear what he had to say, then she would listen. If she didn't, then she would close the door. Apparently she did care because she reopened the door wider. "I came because I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Elena swallowed. She had to remember what Stefan said. If she told Damon that the break up wasn't real, then the truth would eventually get back to Katherine. "Thanks, but I'm fine. It was just a minor fight."
Damon's eyes traveled down to the ground. He chuckled slightly. "That's not exactly what I meant." He moved back up to look her in the eye. "I mean, I'm glad that you're doing fine emotionally. But I wanted to make sure that you were fine physically."
"Oh." Elena had no idea what he was talking about. Did Damon think that Stefan would hurt her physically? "I'm not quite sure what you mean by that."
"Katherine said she was coming here."
Elena's eyes grew wide. "Here?"
Damon nodded once. "She wants to speak with you. Alone."
"About what?"
"Stefan of course."
Elena sighed. This day was just getting better and better, wasn't it? "She doesn't need to talk to me about Katherine. We broke up. That's the end of it."
"Well Katherine doesn't seem to think that."
This was just too much. Elena had only met Katherine for the first time today. And that was barely a proper meeting at all. The way Katherine had circled her at the boarding house was intimidating. One wrong move and Katherine could've taken a snap at her. But if she did agree to talk to her then maybe she could make her believe even more that her and Stefan were done. Even though they really aren't. Elena sighed once more. "I wanna do it."
"Do what?" Damon asked, surprised.
"Talk to Katherine."
Damon laughed uneasily. "Elena, I don't think you truly understand what you're saying."
"I know exactly what I'm saying."
Damon took a protective step closer to her. "She wants to talk to you alone, Elena. That means I can't be there to protect you. Neither can Stefan. Are you seriously ready to take that kind of risk?"
"Yes Damon." Elena snapped. "I'll be fine. If Katherine wanted me dead then she would've done it by now."
"Don't be so sure." He sneered.
The two of them stood glaring at each other for several minutes. Elena was being stubborn and it was driving Damon crazy. Why couldn't she just let him protect her? Why couldn't he be the hero just this once? He knew she was still angry at him, but this was a matter of life or death. If Elena said one wrong thing then Katherine would surely explode. There's no way in hell that he trusted her about leaving Elena in one piece. "Good night Damon." He was pulled out of his thoughts suddenly. "Elena please." He couldn't believe that he was actually begging.
"Don't do this Damon. If I need you, I'll call." She started to close the door. "Now leave. I'm serious. Katherine won't show up if she knows that you're here trying to protect me." Damon opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him. "Damon. I'll be fine." He stood there silently. With a simple nod, he turned to walk off the porch.
Once Damon was no longer in sight, Elena closed the door. It made her heart sink that he would go through all this trouble just to protect her. After all the things that she said to him. After she used him. He still cared. Maybe he didn't lose her forever. She just needed time to get over the whole Jeremey thing. She was finally getting her brother back. She didn't want to lose him again.
A round of clapping from behind Elena made her heart stop. Aunt Jenna was already in bed asleep and Jeremy was away. Slowly, Elena turned around on her heel. The clapping ceased abruptly. Katherine descened the staircase. With every step she took there was a clicking noise from her heels. The clicking sounded like a bomb just waiting to go off in Elena's head. "That was a wonderful performance Elena. I must confess that I'm impressed." Katherine smiled at her brightly.
Elena swallowed the lump in her throat. "I understand you want to talk to me."
A spark of evil twinkled in Katherine's eyes. She smiled once again and was sure to show the tip of her fangs this time. "That's correct."
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