2. Transition in exile
"Damon, are you waking up? Oh, thank God, you're back. I was so scared that you may not of had her blood in you after all!" Her voice called out to him through the haze of his undead return.
Damon's neck hurt like hell, it was too bright out and he felt disoriented and confused, but a massive smile formed on his face as he looked up into the big brown eyes of the only woman he'd ever really loved. "Elena."
"Yes, it's me!" Elena cried, tears streaming from her eyes. She was overjoyed that he was alive, and he was her Damon who knew who she was. The two of them held each other close for a long time, and Elena explained that after she parted ways with George Lockwood, who Damon really wanted to kill, she brought him to the quarry but was unsure if Emily was going to arrive since the witch had not come across his body in the woods this time. Damon believed Emily wouldn't show, but considering how much had been changed that night, he didn't think it would be safe to seek her out yet either.
"How will we get your ring? We need to find a safe place for you to finish turning and stay out of the sun when you do, but I don't know anything about this time!" Elena was in a bit of a panic, knowing that Damon needed human blood very soon.
Damon caressed her cheek with his thumb, still in awe at how much Elena in Katherine's body was identical to the Elena he knew. It was as if Katherine had simply ceased to exist. Perhaps she had? All he knew was that the girl in front of him was definitely Elena Gilbert.
"Don't worry, just follow my lead. We'll go a few towns over and tonight I'll feed. When things settle down here, we can come back for my ring and get Stefan. He's still human by the way. I stopped Giuseppe from shooting him," he said with a proud grin.
"Stefan's still human? Oh, my God!" Elena took some deep breathes, melting into Damon's loving touches.
"Ha! Yeah, I honestly don't think I wanna deal with trying to train ripper Stefan yet. Maybe we should just let him grow up human for a while, but there's no way I'm leaving him with Giuseppe. That man will poison him." Damon shuddered at the thought of Stefan becoming like his father. No doubt Giuseppe was already turning him against his turncoat older brother at this very moment. This version of Stefan was so naive and easily influenced.
Damon smirked at Elena, "Plus, this way I don't have to compete for you anymore. You're all mine. If we weren't stuck in 1864, this would be perfect. We can take Stefan far away and compel him to go to school like the little scholar he was always meant to be, and I'll get to have you all to myself." He nipped at her neck playfully.
Elena sat up abruptly. "Do you think we're going to have to live through the next 150 years before we are back to our time again? Wait...If I'm Katherine now, then where is she, and what happened to the 'you' from this time?" Elena's nose scrunched up with her ever present worrying. He found it to be adorable.
"Look, Elena. I know this wasn't exactly the plan. Okay, so it's not even close to the plan. We were supposed to get sent back to when Stefan was alive and before you got put in a coma, and the spell went a little overboard, sure. The thing is, before sending us, Bonnie told us we'd be replacing our past selves so I guess the old 'me' doesn't exist anymore. I'm guessing that the spell booted Katherine from existance too when it plopped you inside your doppelganger's body. All I do know is that I'm really, really hungry, and a normal beef steak isn't gonna do the job, not even an entire cow. So, I need you to get your strength up to speed, literally, and help me get my first feed tonight. We'll just take this new 'life' one day at a time. Oh, and by the way, " Damon crushed his lips onto hers, opening her mouth with his tongue and kissing her passionately as she gasped, letting him in.
They clung to each other, the relief of being together again after so long taking precedence over any of the problems at hand. Their clothes were shed, and their bodies melded together in desperation as they made love. Neither of them having the patience to slow down, he complied with her begging for release with all the enthusiasm he had to give. After his final thrust, Damon exploded deep within Elena and he draped over her, exhausted and sweaty, as she ran her fingers through his dark wavy hair.
"Mmm, I've waited soo long to do that again," he mumbled into her bosum as she returned to reality, and noticed how weak he looked.
"Oh Damon, that was a bad idea. You look terrible. Come on, we've got to get you human blood." Elena tried to sit up but he wrapped his arms tighter around her and refused to budge from his position upon her.
"Sleepy. Lemme take a nap first." Damon's blue eyes fluttered shut, and Elena realized how pale and clammy his skin looked.
"No, Damon. I think we just shortened how much time you have left to transition. If you fall asleep now I might not be able to wake you back up." Elena jumped up using vampire speed and strength, forcing him to stand on his feet. "Get dressed, I need you to help me get you somewhere safe. I need blood too. Once you're a vampire we can spend all the time in the world that you want in bed. Hopefully, in an actual bed next time."
"Ugh, fine. I'm up. Just don't forget that you said that when I want to spend all the time in the world in bed with you, for at least a century. 'Cause honestly, I wouldn't mind ignoring the rest of the world for the next hundred or so years anyway. They suck." Damon trudged over to his clothes, slowly pulling them back on at the speed of sloth.
"At least my shirt doesn't have a massive bloody hole in it this time around. Still, I'm already regretting not killing Giuseppe when I had the chance since he was on his way to murder me 'n Stef. Now he's gonna be a pain," Damon mumbled as he button his shirt.
"That's not who you are anymore, Damon. After everything we've been through, going back in time to make things better does not include killing your father," Elena argued.
"Maybe, maybe not," Damon responded. "Technically, he was supposed to get eaten tonight by my brother, and letting him escape his fate could easily change things for the worse."
"Well you can't go home right now to confront him. You're in transition and too weak and you know that Stefan will defend him, and who knows what could happen to all of you then. We need to finish your transition somewhere safe, and then figure out how we can get back in touch with Emily Bennett before the founders kill her too." Elena had a good point, and Damon didn't have enough strength to take unnecessary risks.
"Fine. We'll see how it plays out, but you have no idea how horrible that guy can be. I may not have killed him the first time, but I was glad when he was gone," Damon muttered as Elena reached out and took his hand. "Let's go northeast, towards Charlottesville. Without my ring, I can't feed until it gets dark, and I'll need places to hide afterwards."
Several hours later, after traveling as far from Mystic Falls as they could on foot with Damon becoming weaker every moment that the day went on, the evening sun began to set.
"Damon, I need to go find us blood," Elena insisted as she set him against a tree where he groaned and finally collapsed. "Stay here 'til I get back, I hear some voices off in the distance. It sounds like a few men."
As she turned to go, Damon grabbed hold of her shredded dress sleeve. "Be careful Elena, this is the tail end of the civil war. The men in this time are all armed and quick to fire at perceived threats, not to mention superstitious and hostile towards witches and 'demons'. You're kinda a mess, and they may respond with paranoia or aggression. Be sneaky and quick."
She nodded, and headed off towards the sound. The corset under her tattered and singed dress felt constricting and strange. She recalled in her thoughts how Bonnie had mind jumped into her coma through Damon after Stefan had died in the future. The awful spell in their time keeping her life tied to Bonnie had been full proof, and there was no way to awaken her. Damon's devastation of his brother's loss had prompted him to conspire with Bonnie a plan to send him back in time to before Stefan died. Bonnie had believed that if she also sent Elena back to her former self before the coma, it would negate the present day life binding spell that prevented her from being awake while Bonnie lived.
Also, Bonnie wanted to insure that Damon went far enough back before Enzo had been murdered if Stefan was going to get to be saved. So after their meeting inside her dream, and with Damon holding her hand as she lay beside him, Bonnie had performed the spell to send them back in time. Of course, none of them had planned for a full mulligan such as this current situation. They'd expected to be teleported back to Ric's wedding, and the plan was to prepare the Gemini to set a trap to stop Kai before he could kill anyone or cast the spell on Elena.
Lost in her thoughts about how screwed up this whole thing had become, she almost wandered out into the open as the woods gave way to a wagon trail. A few bloody and bandaged confederate soldiers trudged along. They were a small group of three wounded men, likely survivors from a nearby battle.
As they neared her, unaware of the danger they were walking into due to the darkening twilight, she sprang into action. They didn't stand a chance against the power of Katherine's nearly 400 year old vampire body, and Elena easily incapacitated all three before they could lift their rifles. She fed upon them to regain her strength, hiding them off road, and giving the weaker two of them just enough vampire blood that they would heal and live another day.
The third man she brought to Damon, who had slid down the tree he'd leaned against when she'd left him, laying in a heap. "Damon, wake up!"
Elena inhaled with relief as his eyes cracked open as she held the wounded soldier's wrist out for her man. He drank until she stopped him in time to keep the victim alive, feeding the soldier a bit of her blood as well. Once Damon's fangs grew in, she brought him to the other soldiers, allowing him to feed some more.
Damon had some trouble stopping his newly turned vampire bloodlust, so it was a good thing that she had Katherine's strength. After they were through, the three men lay sleeping as they healed, compelled and unaware of their near deaths.
The stars were their only light, but with their vampire vision they had no need for illumination. What they did need was shelter before morning. They continued traveling northeast towards Charlottesville through the night until coming upon a cabin with only one occupant. Luring the old woman out before convincing her to invite them in was easy, and they covered the windows with heavy shades. So far, they hadn't had to kill anyone and Elena was very relieved.
Old lady Potter was actually a kind and lonely host, and in return they minimized their usage of her as a blood thrall. She was compelled not to fear them and to forget they were ever there unless they returned, and they enjoyed her company for the day. In fact, when night arrived, she sent them off in new garb. Elena left wearing one of the old lady's bell shaped skirts and an uncomfortably tight bodice, and Damon had an old jacket, shirt and trousers that once belonged to the widow's husband. They were invited to return for a visit any time they wished, should they return to Red Hill.
Damon decided that they'd gone far enough from the scene of the crime since he wanted to reach out to Emily Bennett and get his ring as soon as possible. However, since Giuseppe had probably not died and would likely shoot Damon on sight, they needed to be very cautious. He had no doubt that his father would have disowned him as a traitor by now and it was impossible to know what he would tell the council in order to save face and hide his 'shame' over Damon's disappearance. Then there was the situation with Stefan, who would likely be very confused and his loyalties would be unknown until they could get him away from his father.
Everything was an unknown, complicated mess... but Stefan was alive, and Elena was awake. Right now, those two simple thoughts brought him such joy that he focused all of his newborn vampire emotions on them. Elena saw his smile, and did her best to put on her own brave face. The weight of this new reality was finally starting to hit her. She was stuck in Katherine's body in 1864. Damon was all she had.
