After lunch at Elena's house, which consisted mainly of Elena eating while Stefan talked since he was full from his hunting trip earlier the same morning, they made their way to the Boarding House. Caroline's car was already parked in the driveway when they arrived.
"I wonder what Caroline's doing here" Elena murmured, unbuckling her seatbelt and accepting Stefan's waiting hand to help her out.
"I'm not sure, she usually tends to avoid Damon at all costs" It was true, Caroline could never fully relax around Damon, partly due to the fact he had compelled her so frequently in the past, drinking from her like a walking blood bag, but mostly because it was hard to tell what mood he would be in from one moment to the next, he was volatile and even though she was a vampire now, it still unnerved her.
They made there way through the foyer, exchanging glances as they heard the smashing of glass from the kitchen. Seconds later, Caroline walked out looking slightly dazed; frown lines appear on her pale forehead.
"Car, is everything ok?" Elena asked, moving forward to place a hand on her friends arm.
"No, I came her looking for you, to talk…" she trailed off shaking her head, as the glass continued to smash in the kitchen. Stefan started to move cautiously towards the kitchen door, "It's Damon, there's something seriously wrong with him" Elena rushed past Caroline heading towards the door that Stefan had just entered, dread overwhelming her, was he hurt? Did he have another emotional break-down?
She froze at the doorway, the door hitting against the wall with more force than she usually used, Stefan was standing with his back to her, feet firmly on the ground as he stood and watched his elder brother.
Damon was standing at the sink whistling; he had rolled his drink trolley into the kitchen and was currently pouring a bottle of whiskey down the sink, throwing the empty bottle in the open bin that was half way across the room. He looked up at them while reaching for the next bottle, his lips curving up into a smirk.
"Can I help you?" he purred, pouring two bottles at a time, watching the liquid slosh out of the bottles, twirling into the sink before spilling down the drain.
"What are you doing?" Stefan blurted out, still not moving from his place.
"Isn't it obvious?" Damon asked, sending two bottles sailing across the room, landing in the bin with a loud crash as they smashed into small sharp fragments.
"You're really serious about this bet" Elena stated, not asking a question because she already knew he was serious, she should have known it from the beginning, Damon was determined and more than willing to sacrifice something important to get what he wanted.
He sent her a relaxed smile, shrugging his shoulders, "What can I say, I aim to please"
"Elena, why don't you go check on Caroline, she looked like she might have been in shock" Stefan said, looking as worried about Caroline's overdramatic behaviour as he could manage.
"Yeah, sure" she said, casting a last glance at the nearly empty drinks trolley, not able to control the small smile of appreciation that tugged at the edge of her lips as she went back to check on Caroline.
Stefan advanced forward, placing his clenched fists on top of the kitchen worktop, "Alright, what's this really about?"
Damon gave him an innocent look, sending the last bottle through the air to land on top of the discarded pile of bottles, "You're going to have to be more specific, Stefan"
"This bet you've made with my girlfriend" he sounded territorial, and Damon knew if he was holding a bottle right now, it what have been crushed into the palms of his hands or over the top of Stefan's head, whatever one would have made him feel better, most likely the latter, "And also this little charade" Stefan added, gesturing with a wave of his hand towards the empty drink cart.
"I can assure you little brother, this is no charade I'm a changed man, for the time being anyway"
"I don't believe you, and you may have others fooled into thinking that, but I know you. You want something more out of this bet than you're letting on" Stefan's voice was low, not wanting his voice to carry any further than the kitchen, he couldn't afford for Elena to think that he didn't trust her because he did, the problem was he couldn't trust Damon.
"Believe what you like, I honestly couldn't care less" he gave him one last smirk; a menacing light filled his eyes, before he pushed the trolley back through the doors that lead to the living room.
Stefan ground his teeth together, breathing a frustrated sigh before reluctantly following after him.
Elena and Caroline had gone upstairs, from what he could tell, they were in his room from the sounds of Elena's heartbeat. He strained his hearing and caught a few words of what Caroline was saying, something about Matt, girl talk; something he didn't feel like being part of. He also didn't want to stay and listen to Damon's incessant whistling, he could have sworn the only reason he was doing it was to annoy him, so he left a note of the table by the door telling her he had gone for a walk and would be back soon, before heading to the forest beside the Boarding House, as far away from Damon as he could get.
….
Damon was reading one of Jonathan Gilbert's diaries, he had once thought he was just some rambling fool in his human days, but now that he read some of his inner most thoughts he began to see how close to the truth about the supernatural world Jonathan had been. It was while reading this diary, sprawled across the sofa that he began to feel a tremendous pain vibrate through his body, gaining power as it went, and it felt like a stake had been ripped through his chest.
His body felt warm, far to warm for comfort, beads of sweat covered his forehead, his back drenched in sweat and his shirt sticking to it, he felt like he would pass out from the heat, and a few seconds later that's exactly what he did. The diary slipped out of his hands, falling to the floor, his mind went blank until a memory replayed before his closed eyelids.
"Stefan, is that you?" Katherine called out, trying to keep quiet as to keep from waking anyone, it was late in the middle of the night, when a knock on her door roused her from sleep.
"No, its Damon" he felt a pang of jealousy in his chest, but quickly made himself get over Katherine's lapse as she opened the door, her hair fell in waves down to her waist, the tight curls that were pinned up earlier had been let down, she wore only a white nightgown that didn't quite reach her knees, on a women of her class it should have been disrespectful, but it only made Damon smile wider, always astonished at her beauty.
"Damon" she greeted with a slight nod, he noticed the disappointed look on her face and had to swallow back the pain he felt, she folded her arms across her chest, a disapproving look on her delicate features, "Don't you know what time it is?"
"Yes, I know, I'm sorry" he apologized, if his father caught him he would surely make well on his threat of throwing him out of the house, of course that would mean a public scandal, one that he knew his father wouldn't bear to have tarnishing his reputation, "I just needed to see you" he pleaded.
"Well you have, so return to your room and we will talk at a more suitable hour" she demanded, already reaching out to close the door. His hand reached out also, closing around her wrist gently.
"Please Katherine, we need to talk" he begged, watching as her icy expression wavered, she nodded slowly. He came in closing the door behind him quickly, before she had a change of heart.
She pushed him against the wall, her vampire strength still surprised him even after having months to get used to it. She pressed one hand on his chest, keeping him firmly in place, then leaned in closer, her lips nearly touching his ear as she whispered firmly, "You don't get to tell me when we need to talk, and you don't have the right to come her, uninvited at these hours"
"Katherine-" at this point he would have got on his hands and knees and begged her forgiveness, but it would have been useless when she was in one of these moods.
She interrupted him, her hand covering his mouth as she looked him dead in the eye, "If you really want to be with me, then why do you act like this? It's improper, why can't you be more like Stefan?" Of all the things Katherine had said to him, that one hurt the most, his chest felt tight, and suddenly the room was too warm, he felt trapped under her disdainful gaze, all he wanted to do was show her he loved her, why did it have to be so difficult?
His head felt light and dizzy as he struggled for breath, trying not to show her how much she had effected him, he walked to the door, leaving and only making it as far as the hallway of his room before he collapsed against a wall. It was too much to bear, he was starting to lose her but he wouldn't give up without a fight.
Damon sat bolt upright, wiping the perspiration off his forehead, and taking large intakes of breath that he didn't need, he didn't want to back to those places in his mind, places he had tried so long not to think about. As his vision slowly returned, he almost flinched as he saw Katherine kneeling beside him until he realised it was Elena and she was calling out his name.
"Damon…Damon? Are you alright?" she was pushed the hair from his face, holding his face in her hands, her own face pinched with concern. Caroline stood behind her, looking at Damon wearily, looking just as confused as earlier.
He moved his arms and legs slightly, getting out the last aches from the pains that had taken over his body, then focused back to Elena, "I'm fine" he didn't like the way his voice sounded hoarse, he didn't like to look weak; not ever. Katherine had promised to cause him pain until he got Elena to admit one way or another that she loved him, at the stage though this felt like a possibility.
"You're not fine" she rebuked, "We heard you screaming, and come down to find you collapsed" she shook her head, her turn to try and control her breathing.
"Yeah, what's up with that?" Caroline asked, sitting on the other sofa and leaning forward, "Please tell me vampires don't catch fevers or something, cause that would suck so bad" she was going to go into a full blown story of her last fever, one she had before she had turned off course, but stopped herself when Elena looked at her with wide eyes, a sign she knew meant not-the-time.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth Damon" Elena's eyes were set, expression unfaltering as she stared at him, "What's going on?"
Damon looked into those beautiful brown orbs, ones that were full of concern, concern for him. He knew he would have to be ruthless, because there was no way he was going to let Katherine cause her the same pain that he had experienced.
Honesty was one of the things Elena could always rely on when it came to Damon, but he was going to have to change that. He used his years of experience of lying to put on his best poker face; still somehow lying to Elena was a lot harder than he cared to admit…
A/N thank you to everyone who reviewed/ alerted etc… Next chapter will be the end of the bet and you'll see who wins and you'll find out what lie Damon comes up with, please let me know what you think of it so far!