I opened my eyes as the sun filtered it's way into the window. My eyes were sore and blistered from crying myself to sleep. I could feel the weight of worry already crashing in on me. I had so many lives in my hands, so many lives of people I loved and cared for that would die in my name. I slung the sheets back and made my way to the bathroom. I ran my hands under cool water and splashed it against my face. I looked at my face in the mirror, long and hard. My eyes were tired and there were dark circles running underneath them from mental exhaustion. I tugged at my face here and there studying every angle. It was so disorienting looking at my own face in the mirror and seeing Katherine staring right back at me.
I jumped suddenly when there was a knock on the door and it began to open.
"Oh, Jeremy you scared me." I said as he walked in.
"You okay?" He asked putting his cell phone on the counter and grabbing his toothbrush.
"I've just...been stressed." I explained, having no intentions on digging up the nightmare from yesterday and explaining right then. Not that I would hide it from Jeremy...I would never do that. But I just didn't have it in me right now.
"Have you met that new guy at school? Luka? Him and Bonnie seem to be hitting it off pretty well." Jeremy said, he glanced down at his phone, pushed it and then looked back up to me.
I sighed. "No, I've been so wrapped up in everything I have no idea what's going on with my own best friend." I said. I heard my phone go off in my room. I saw Jeremy grab his phone and look at it. He noticed it wasn't his that was ringing and he put it down with slight disappointment. I was about to ask him what was going on with his sudden jumpiness around his phone but instead I went to my room and picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Elena, how are you, feeling any better?" Stefan asked.
"Is there still a raging maniac after me and everyone I love, and my sadistic dopple hanging in the shadows?" I asked sarcastically with a sigh.
"Come over. We need to talk." Stefan said.
"Stefan I don't know..." I said, not knowing if I was ready to sit down and grill over the hell that was encircling me.
"Come on, we need to start covering our options. Rose and Damon are needing to talk to." He said.
"Fine. I'll see you in a little bit." I said.
"I love you Elena." He said.
"Yeah, love you to." I said
I made it to the Boarding House a while later and let myself in. Stefan was in the middle of pacing the living room.
"Hey." I said weakly as he looked up at me.
"Hey..come...have a seat." He said gesturing to the couch. I sat down as he relaxed a little and took a seat next to me just in time for Damon and Rose to enter.
"I heard about your little chat with Katherine yesterday. Bold move." Damon said, his face lighting with slight anger.
"Give it a rest." Rose sighed as they came and sat down on the couch across from Stefan and I.
"Look, Elena. We may have found a way to render the moonstone completely useless, which would put whoever is involved at a disadvantage." Stephan explained.
"Right, as if they would just call it all off. I'm telling you. They don't forgive and they will find a way to make us all pay one way or the other." Rose said, debating Stefan.
"We have to start somewhere, and shooting in the dark isn't my style ...so this is uncomfortable enough." Damon said.
"Either way, we're in big trouble here, guys." Rose said, pleading with Damon and Stefan to understand.
"You know...you have a very negative attitude." Damon shot back sarcastically, cutting his eyes at Rose in annoyance.
"Hey guys...this conversation." Stefan said twirling his fingers around in the air to get their attention. "Seriously though, unless we can get Bonnie on board it may not matter at all." Stefan said.
"No." I finally spoke. "No more involving Bonnie. Stop looking into Tyler, and leave Caroline in the dark as well. I'm tired of everyone suffering at my hands..I just can't do it anymore. I said.
"Okay...then in that case we'll just strap you to a tree in the woods and leave a sign that says 'She's all yours'." Damon snapped.
"Relax." Stefan said, his eyes seemed curious as he watched Damon.
"Look Elena, I'm on your side, but I'm also on theirs. I for one, with my negative attitude in tact, think that we are screwed anyway. But, this may be our only chance." Rose said.
"No, just leave it all alone, moonstone included. Katherine's got it anyway." I said shaking my head.
"Klaus may already be here in town." Stefan said.
"Yeah, Damon and I were out yesterday and I'm pretty sure he tried to kill us all in the sun." Rose explained to me.
"How do you know it was Klaus? He probably has someone working for him." I said.
"True. But his main worker is dead. Damon drove a stake through his heart, remember?" Rose said.
"How can you be sure he's actually dead though?" I said.
They were all quiet for a moment. Thinking.
"Well, I could always go check the house. See if he's still there hanging on the door." Rose shrugged.
"No, it's too risky to return to the crime scene." Damon said shaking his head.
"It won't take me long." Rose said.
"I'll go with you." I said.
"No!" They all said together looking at me in anger.
"You can't even go out into the sun." I said.
"Damon got me this ring." Rose said holding up her hand to show it.
That's when I began to pick up on the details. How her and Damon sat so close. There glances at one another. His eagerness to keep her safe. But still I wasn't sure if I was imagining things. It wasn't like I had ever seen Damon care about anyone, not truly. Not that way anyway.
"Who made it?" I asked.
"Bonnie." Stefan answered. She did it earlier this morning. I'm surprised she was eager to do it for us, but she seemed to be in a chipper mood." Stefan smiled lightly, seemingly amused.
"Look, I'm going to the house, I'll be back before you know it. I'll be fine." She said looking over to Damon in reassurance.
She stood to leave and walked to the door.
"Be careful." Damon said quietly as he walked up to her. He tucked her hair behind her ears and kissed her lightly.
"I'll be back." She said smiling and left.
I felt like the couch I had been sitting on had flipped upside down with me still attached. I didn't know what to think...or why I had to think. Something felt off all of the sudden.
"Why don't you just go with her, if your so worried?" I asked suddenly, not thinking clearly and not even sure why I said it.
Damon turned and eyed me strangely. "I'm going to see Alaric. Let him know everything that's going on. He's a crafty guy..might have some ideas." Damon said. I nodded but continued to stare at him. His eyes seemed to lock onto mine and we seemed to fall into a strange moment.
"Well, I need to get going myself. I told Caroline I'd meet her at the grill, she has umm some question about the whole vampire thing." Stefan said.
"Honestly...should we right her a manual or something?" Damon asked rolling his eyes and crossing the room to make a glass of scotch. "She should be picking that up by now." Damon said suspiciously. "Oh wait...it's Caroline. I guess her vapidness got amplified as well." He said. Stefan shrugged.
"Want to go?" Stefan asked me.
"Umm, no. I really could just use some alone time." I said. "I have a lot on my mind, if you didn't already know." I said.
"Okay." Stefan said. He looked at me strangely for another moment and then began to leave. Things were still strange between us. Although we had come together a little closer since everything had happened, we were still officially broken up and I hadn't had the peace or the time to talk things out and consider the possibility of us being together again.
After he left I waited until his car was gone and I made my way to the front door myself.
"What are you up to?" Damon asked suddenly behind me.
I turned startled. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"I know your not about to go home and take a long nice warm bath like a normal girl with 'a lot on her mind'" He said putting sarcastic quotations in the air with his fingers.
"I have my own agenda." I shrugged. I went to open the door but the door slammed and Damon was standing in front of it.
"Whatever you think your about to do...your not." Damon said darkly.
"It's none of your business Damon." I said in aggravation.
"Mmm, it is now buttercup. I have the upper hand...I'm a lot...lot stronger than you." He warned. "So...if you want to carry on with your, most likely idiotic, plans...then I'm going with you." Damon said.
I sighed and stood there, waiting for him to move out of my way. But he didn't back down. He only stood staring like a statue.
"I thought you already had plans, Damon." I said.
"They can wait."
"Fine...I'm going to see Katherine. I have something I need to tell her and the only way your coming is if you swear not to interferer with what I'm doing and when I get there I will talk to her alone. Got it?"
He nodded, smiling as if he was amused.
"I'm serious, Damon...you have to swear to me." I said.
"Scouts honor." He said
I rolled my eyes and brushed past him.
As we made our way through the woods towards the tombs I listened to the rhythmic pattern of my shoes through the brush and was amazed at the silence of Damon passing through it.
"So...you and Rose?" I asked suddenly as the kiss between them struck my mind. I instantly wished I hadn't asked.
Damon shrugged. "It's not a big deal."
I nodded. Before I realized what was happening I tripped on a tree stump hidden in the brush and began to fall. Damon quickly caught me and steadied me on my feet.
"You okay?" He asked, looking at me so deeply that I became uncomfortable.
I nodded. He looked down and picked up my vervain necklace on the ground.
"You don't have very good luck with this thing." He said holding it up. "You really should start drinking it a little each day. That can't be removed." he said. He held it out and draped it over my neck fastening it in the back. Suddenly I was jolted with a strange feeling. A feeling I couldn't recognize. There was a sadness attached to it, a strange recognition that I couldn't bring into focus.
"I've got it." I said backing away and fastening it myself. His lingering stare caught me off guard so I began walking again.
Bonnie & Luka
" So Bonnie, what do you know about Elena Gilbert?" Luka asked as they made there way to a seat at the grill.
"Well, she's my best friend, so practically everything." Bonnie laughed.
"I know about what's going on Bonnie." Luka explained. "I mean some of it. I have pretty strong visions and I can pick up on things pretty quickly."
Bonnie glanced around the room looking for a quick escape. Afraid of why he knew so much.
"Bonnie, don't be frightened, I just want to know how I can help." Luka said calmly.
"She was kidnapped recently. I don't know all of the facts yet but I know they want Elena for something." Bonnie explained.
Luka nodded.
"I guess it would make matters easier if we were able to know everything...but there's so many secrets...so many people compelled, lies...it's hard to tell anything between it all. You never know who is who and what they are up to." Bonnie said. Luka stared at her thoughtfully.
"Yes, that's true. But if it helps I know a good spell that can remove the cloudiness of being compelled. That way maybe someone will remember something with vital information." Luka said.
"That would be good." Bonnie perked up. "We could do it on me, Jeremy and Elena." She explained.
"Yes, that would work." Luka nodded.
"Good then, we'll do it tonight. I'll call Stefan." Bonnie smiled.
Had to give it a set up. Hope you'll like it. The next chapter will heat up for sure " ) Reviews