Chapter 4
3rd person's POV
Stefan went upstairs. How was possible that this little human was the spitting image of Katherine? How?
It had been 145 years since she died. 145 of suffering, thinking that because of him the love of his life had died; wasting away by her memory, watching that old picture, like if he thought because of the mere fact of watching it intently for a while she would appear from nowhere. Well, that was what had happened… more or less.
What if that human locked up in his basement's cell was Katherine? No, that was impossible. But… what if she had found out a way to turn back to human and she was just playing with him? Katherine knew a lot of witches. Who knows if one of them had discovered the formula to reverse the process of that eternal curse. But that wasn't possible as well. Not just because it was impossible that a vampire could be human again, but because Katherine loved being a vampire, a monster of the dark, the speed, the strength, the hunt, the blood, messing up with human thoughts… Katherine was the definition of a real vampire. She wouldn't like being weak and human again. That and much more, was why that little girl in his basement was not Katherine. But he was sure of something. That little girl reminded him too much of Katherine. Because of that he hated her. Because of that he wanted to punish her. And he was going to enjoy it a lot. With an evil smile he went out the house to hunt… humans, of course. He had turned it off when he laid his eyes down on the unconscious girl in his basement for the first time.
Damon entered in the boarding house for the first time in… many, many years. Everything was practically the same, except the electric installation, TV and other advances of the time. A quick look was enough for him to know Stefan wasn't there. He still could smell him all over the house. While he inspected the living room with a bit of nostalgia, a metallic sparkle caught his attention. An iPod. He narrowed eyes. Stefan… always trying to integrate. He wondered if he listened to Taylor Swift. With a little of curiosity, he connected the iPod to some speakers near and turned up the volume. He was surprised when he heard a rock band which name according to the machine was The Pretty Reckless and who now played a song called 'Make Me Wanna Die' Was Stefan still with that horrible grunge look? Seriously? The last time he checked him he almost looked normal...
'Bah' he thought, 'who cares about what Saint Stefan does?' If he wanted to be all retro back to the 60s with its hippies, its joints and its free love, good for him. The truth be told, the only good thing of the 60s was the free love. It meant sex and blood with no prejudices.
Now we're talking about blood, that was what he needed in that moment, blood. He doubted that Stefan had blood bags in the fridge or in the basement, but he lost nothing trying.
Taste me, drink my soul
Show me all the things that I shouldn't know…
The song was certainly dark, not the kind that fit with Steffy. The truth is that he was starting to like the song. Maybe… A voice interrupted his thoughts:
"You make me wanna die; I'll never be good enough… You make me wanna die"
It seemed that someone was humming the song. And it came from the cell in the basement. Curious, he headed towards the cell to discover there was a girl inside it. A girl. What the hell was a girl doing locked up in the basement? Carefully he bolted the door and opened the door. The girl pretended being asleep, but it was impossible to believe it because of her accelerated pulse and the scent of the adrenaline all over the room. It was obvious she was afraid. Was it possible that Stefan would have kidnapped this little girl to…? To what? One more quick look was enough for him to see she was chained. That had less sense.
Little by little, Damon approached the girl. He knelt and removed the locks that covered her face. Katherine. No, no. That wasn't possible. "But what…?" was all he managed to say. When the world was so cruel since? How was it possible that that girl was the exact image of the woman he loved 145 years ago, and still did? He decided that it wasn't the moment to make questions and decided to take care of the poor girl on front of him.
With his fingertips, he stroked her face. The only thing that the gesture caused was that she closed her eyes more and a few tears escaped from her eyelids. "I know you're awakened." Damon limited to say, now with a tone more controlled. With that, her eyes suddenly opened. At first, she seemed surprised, then relieved and then mistrustful.
"And Stefan?" She managed to ask with a weak voice.
"He's gone." He said. "He'll be back in a while."
"And who are you?"
"Damon Salvatore to serve you."
She narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously while her pulse accelerated.
"Are you also… you know… a vampire?" Her voice broke as he said the last word.
"Instead of talking, why don't I take you out of here?" He said changing the subject.
"You could?" She said with her big brown eyes full of hope and wide open.
"Of course." He said smiling. He stood up and worked on the chains. In a few seconds she was unchained and he was carrying her in his arms, because she couldn't walk.
Once they were upstairs, he set her carefully on the couch. "You still haven't told me your name." He whispered.
She smiled weakly. "I'm Elena Gilbert."
"Well, Elena Gilbert, are you hungry?" Right then, her stomach growled in response. She just smiled a little. "It wasn't necessary to be like that." Elena giggled a little. "What do you want?"
"I'll settle with anything that can be eaten." She answered.
"Hmm… I'll check if we have something of that, but I doubt it." Quickly he stood up and headed towards the kitchen, but there was absolutely nothing to cook. That was weird; Saint Stefan always bought food and did anything possible to integrate among humans. 'Yeah, as weird as keep locked up in the house basement the replica of the woman you loved 145 years ago, right?' A voice inside his head said. Well that didn't matter. Damon tried to focus on what concerned him. Food. He needed it for Elena. And there wasn't any. "There's no food", he yelled to Elena. "Wanna ask for a pizza or go out to a restaurant?"
There was a moment of silence before Elena answered.
"I think I prefer you ask for a pizza."
"With which ingredients?" Damon asked while he got back to the living room.
Elena hesitated. "Hmm… I don't know. What do you like?"
Damon glanced at her saying 'seriously?' "You're the one who's starving. You pick."
"Yeah, I see, well… then… tuna, bacon and cheese with extra cheese… if you don't mind." She added shyly. Damon melted inside.
"Sure." He said with a reassuring smile. He took his phone from his pocket and called the pizzeria. Once the pizza was ordered, everything went silent. Suddenly Damon thought that Stefan could come back in any moment and it'd be better to keep Elena hidden from him. The best thing would be that Elena was away from the boarding house, but she was clearly too weak to go out. "Umm… Elena." He began, "I think it'd be better if you went to my room. You know, if Stefan comes back…" His brother's mention made her eyes open wide with fear. She just nodded and tried to stand up by herself too quickly, which made her lose her balance and fall. But Damon, thanks to his fast reflexes, caught her just before her body hit the floor. They were like that for a few seconds, until Elena got het breath back.
"Thanks." She managed to say.
"If you want, I can carry you in my arms." He said in a seductive tone.
She tried to break out of his arms.
"I think I will be able to go by myself." This time, Damon allowed her to incorporate, though he kept one arm on her waist, just in case.
Carefully, Damon guided Elena through the huge mansion to his bedroom. If Elena hadn't been so weak, she would have admired a little more the beauty of the place.
Damon's bedroom was, like everything in that house, huge. It had a (huge) king sized bed, books, paintings, a TV screen and a big bathroom. "Wow" was all that Elena could say.
"If you want, you take a shower or a bath. I'll be downstairs until you're done, ok?"
Elena suspected a litte. The bathroom had no door. So if Damon decided to come in, nothing would keep him from watching her naked. On the other hand, she had no more options; she needed a shower after God knows how much time in that cell. "Okay." She finally said. "I trust you."
Damon was very surprised and he stayed there a second more than he should have, saying nothingm staring at her. Then, abruptly he turned around and got out of the bedroom. All the time that Elena was in the shower he put all his efforts trying not to think of the naked girl in his shower.
