Title:The Book of Terrors
Authoress:superhackaninja5
Rating:M
Summary:see chapter one
Warnings:see chapter one
Disclaimer:You know what it is. I don't own anything. :P
He was in a pit of damp, haunting marshes, and the sky above was alive with roiling thunder and hail. Black rain poured from the heavens in heavy streams, like dark waterfalls. He'd never been here before, but somehow, this place seemed inescapably familiar.
Thick, solid fog swirled around the barren wasteland, blurring the landscape and clouding the grass and dark sky almost entirely from fog was as thick as smoke;deep grey smoke that permeated the air completely and utterly. There didn't appear to be anyone there-but then again, appearances could be deceiving.
A tall figure, cloaked in black, suddenly materialized in the center of the lightless marsh, silent and swift as a shadow;its face was completely hidden from view by the cloak's opaque cowl and hood.
Jeremy tossed and turned, attempting to shake these disturbing images from his mind. He didn't usually dream with this much clarity, this much anticlimax;but then, this series of pictures and sounds didn't really seem like a dream.
No, it seemed more like...a vision, actually.
There was almost no light, yet, the figure was as visible as if it were wearing a neon sign. The figure was unfamiliar;the voice that issued out from underneath its hood, however, wasn't.
"Many have been felled by the hunt for the Book of Terrors, both vampire and human alike. The Book was created as a test to see if anyone would be able to resist the lure of its powers. Heed my words, Jeremy Gilbert:do not undertake this quest. It will be the end of not only you, but of your creator as well. Are you prepared to make that sacrifice?"
The fledgling jolted awake at that, shooting up as if he had been electric-shocked and panting as if he had just run a marathon. He pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, trying to rid himself of the memory of what his mind had just shown him, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't.
That hadn't been any ordinary dream;that had been some sort of message. From who, he didn't have a clue.
He didn't think it was a coincidence, though;him receiving that message when they were about to set out to hunt for the Book the very next day. Could that have been a warning? Or just some odd delusion of his, produced by a hidden anxiety?
Jeremy inhaled deeply, opening his eyes and curling his hand into a fist that he pressed against his chest. He looked over at the elder vampire sleeping beside him with the navy sheet pushed down to his hips and exposing his toned, white chest; he wondered if he should wake Damon and tell him about the vision.
As if tuning into his thoughts, Damon stirred, eyelids sliding open and peering blearily up at him. "Hey, why are you awake?"he asked softly, putting a hand on the small of Jeremy's back and turning onto his side.
Jeremy leaned back against the headboard, running a hand absently through his brown locks as he considered exactly how much he wanted to tell the other. Finally, he spoke. "I had a strange dream-only, it wasn't a dream, exactly,"he started tensely, folding his hands in his lap. "It seemed like more of a message. And it was warning me not to hunt for the Book-it said in doing so, I was risking losing you."
His boyfriend's brow furrowed at his explanation, as he slowly rose into a sitting position next to Jeremy. "Really,"he said, drawing the word out into two syllables.
Seeing the dark look on Jeremy's olive-skinned face, Damon sobered. ``Do you think it was legit?"he questioned seriously, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.
Jeremy shrugged offhandedly. "I have no idea. It didn't seem fake, though-it seemed like someone was truly trying to warn me not to go look for this thing,"he stated truthfully, bottom lip catching in between his teeth.
"If it was real, I don't think we should do it."
A faint, slightly exasperated sigh escaped the elder vampire's pale lips. "It's a dangerous game the Originals are playing here,"he commented lowly, leaning back against the headboard and curling his fingers in the material of Jeremy's shirt. "There's more to this than just breaking Klaus's hybrid curse. And they're willing to make us the sacrifice for it all."
Jeremy pinched the bridge of his nose;he didn't think vampires could get migraines, but his head was pounding. He closed his eyes, feeling Damon's fingers digging into his back and taking comfort from the contact.
"We're not doing this anymore-I'm not doing this, not if it means dancing to their tune and definitely not if it means losing you,"he stated in a rigid tone, clenching his hand into a fist at his side. "The Book doesn't mean that much to me."
He distinctly heard Damon let out a soft chuckle.
"I'm flattered to know I'm so important to you, Jer,"he said next to his ear, kissing Jeremy's temple and smiling slightly. "But there was a reason why I agreed to help Elijah find the Book when he first told me about it and I still intend to go through with it, even if it's at the risk of losing my life." "And what is this iron-clad reason that you still won't back down from?"the fledgling questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Damon ran a tense hand through his short black hair, debating about whether or not he should tell Jeremy the real reason he wanted the Book of Terrors.
"I want to put that spell into practice;the one that could make me a more powerful vampire than even an Original,"he finally stated in a blunt tone, turning his light blue eyes onto Jeremy's guileless brown ones. The younger vampire blinked;whatever he had been expecting to hear, it hadn't been that.
He opened up his mouth to speak, but his boyfriend held up a slender hand to forestall him. "Before you say anything, listen to me. Are you listening?"he waited until Jeremy closed his mouth and nodded before continuing, "If I had said no to Elijah and his siblings, no matter how many times they say that we're friends, they would kill me without batting an eyelid. They're vampires, just like us;we don't do real friendships."
"You're real friends with Alaric and have been for over a year,"Jeremy pointed out before he could stop himself, crossing his arms over his broad chest. When Damon shot him a look, he clammed up. "Not really;he doesn't matter to me. Why do you think he wasn't one of Sage's targets?Even your aunt made the list before he did,"Damon disagreed frankly. "And anyways, that's beside the point. The Originals aren't me.We aren't real friends. Backing out of the hunt for the Book wouldn't have been a smart choice, and I wanted to avoid the choice altogether. That is why I want to change. So that we'll never be in this sort of situation again;so we won't be beholden to these goddamn Originals anymore and fuck the consequences."
He didn't pull away when Jeremy placed both of his hands on either side of his head. "If that's what you want, then, I won't be trying to talk you out of it. I'm your mate, after all, not your mother. Or Stefan,"the brunette said with a careless shrug.
A faint smile crossed over the black-hair's pale lips as he leaned forward so that he and Jeremy were cheek-to-cheek and pressed another kiss to the space just below the younger's ear.
"So I figure if we don't give this a shot, I'll end up dead, anyways. At least, if we continue on, I'll have a chance at getting what I want and at staying alive,"the elder finished swiftly, squeezing Jeremy's wrist, making the other smile, too. "Are those two different things?"Jeremy joked lightly, cocking a dark brown eyebrow.
Damon chuckled against his neck, nuzzling it affectionately. "Actually, now that you mention it, they are,"he said with mock thoughtfulness, laughing when Jeremy nudged him with his shoulder. "Shut up,"his boyfriend retorted, rolling his eyes.
The younger leaned his head against Damon's. "So you're really not worried, then?"he questioned seriously, carding his fingers through the blacknette's silky locks. "At all?" Damon shook his head.
"You know me, Jer:I love coming up with stupid-ass plans and rushing into them headfirst without a second thought,"he replied offhandedly, pulling Jeremy down on top of him as he fell back against their pillows. "And I intend to see this through to the end, whether it costs me my life or not."
"And I'll be right there with you, babe,"Jeremy added firmly, resting his chin on the other's chest. "I wouldn't have it any other way,"Damon grinned, rubbing the back of his neck.
They kissed again briefly before Jeremy closed his eyes and let himself drift off again. He didn't know why he was so worried;Damon would never be felled by something as stupid as some weird vision. He wasn't some broody, weak-minded vampire like most of the others Jeremy had met over the years. He was strong and invincible. And Jeremy would always have him.
With that comforting thought lingering in his head, he slowly relaxed, listening to Damon's heartbeat and letting it lull him back into slumber.
I love you, Damon Salvatore. And I won't ever let anyone, or anything touch you .He made a promise to both himself and Damon just before falling asleep. Damon was his lover, his soul mate and the only one he had left in the world. He was the only one left that Jeremy cared about, and the fledgling would do anything to keep it that way.
Their exhibition started early the next day, before the sun had barely even come up yet. The Originals clearly didn't sleep;when they came to Damon and Jeremy's door, they were all just as impeccable as ever.
"Come on in,"Damon said sarcastically when Klaus brushed past him after he'd opened the door and the Hybrid walked in without a word.
He closed the door behind the blonde Original and his siblings once they were all inside and turned around to face them coolly. "So I'm assuming you're all packed and set to go, then."
Elijah looked back at him dully, both of his hands deep in the pockets of his neatly pressed dinner jacket. "We're on a tight schedule here. The full moon is in less than a week, which is exactly how much time we have to find the Book and bring it back here to break Niklaus's curse,"he stated with his characteristic lack of emotion, bronze eyes dull and expressionless. "Therefore, the time for pleasantries is long gone." "Apparently, so is the time for common courtesy,"the younger vampire commented caustically, rolling his light blue eyes at Jeremy, whose lips flickered in the briefest trace of a smile.
"Come on, chop chop, Salvatore. We don't have all day,"Klaus interjected pointedly, "The clock for my impending transition is ticking away as we speak."
Damon rolled his eyes a second time, then beckoned Jeremy over to his side. "Fine, just give us a minute, will you?"He didn't wait for any of them to answer before curling his hand over the back of his fledgling's neck, steering him out of the living room and back into their bedroom.
"So are we really doing this?"Jeremy asked the elder once they were out of sight and Damon had moved away from him to gather their things. Damon responded tersely, not looking up from the action of shoving things into one of Jeremy's black duffel bags, "Yeah, Jer, we are. At this point, we don't have a choice. But,"he paused momentarily to straighten up and press a kiss to his boyfriend's cheek, speaking into the soft, olive-coloured skin, "Once we get that Book, we can use that spell and then we can do whatever we want and those Originals won't be able to do shit about it."
Jeremy chuckled softly as Damon moved away again and picked up the bag from the floor. "Okay, let's go. Don't want to keep those assholes waiting any longer than we have to,"the blacknette said in a normal tone, taking Jeremy's hand and pulling him out of their room again.
"Ready, are we?"Klaus snarked when they came back into the sitting room, crossing his arms over his chest impatiently. "Like it matters whether we are or not?"Damon shot back dully, walking out their door without even a backward glance, making Jeremy laugh again.
"Well, come on, then,"he called back over his shoulder when he saw the Originals weren't following, "I thought we were on a tight schedule." Jeremy stared, unblinking, at the four Originals with his arms folded, as if daring any of them to make a remark.
Surprisingly, none of them bothered, not even Kol or Klaus. They just followed suit, shutting Damon and Jeremy's front door behind them and taking the lead down the street to where they had a car waiting.
Damon shook his head, looking over at Jeremy, who rolled his eyes in understanding of the aggravation in his lover's expression.
"Let's just go. The sooner we find this Book, the sooner we can get rid of them,"Jeremy said to him in an undertone, squeezing his boyfriend's hand briefly before trailing after their self-important, so-called ''friends'' without any further preamble.
After glancing at his lover's rapidly departing back, Damon let out a quiet sigh under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a split second. He was pretty damn sure that, as a vampire, he couldn't receive premonitions, but there was something at the back of his mind telling him that this little trip of theirs was going to be about a whole lot more than just some book-and that if they found it, it was going to mean a whole lot more than just breaking the fabled Hybrid curse and setting free Klaus's dormant werewolf side.
He'd been getting this alien feeling-a feeling he'd never truly experienced before- ever since Jeremy had told him about his ominous dream/vision the previous night, about being told that he was going to end up dead if they continued helping the older vampires with their search for the Book of Terrors.
That wasn't what this feeling was, though;no, this was something else entirely-an almost forewarning that his fate if they kept going in this direction was going to be something much, much more complicated and more dastardly than an impending death. It wasn't fear;he was a vampire, he didn't get scared-but it was close.
It was anxiety.
He would never admit it aloud to anyone, especially not the Originals, but something told him, just like it had told Jeremy, that this little quest was going to end in nothing short of disaster;he was sure of it.
"We will build a web of lies so dense that no one can untangle it. The Book of Terrors will remain forever in our possession;no one shall ever lay eyes upon it, save for its creators."
The dark-haired male turned away from the rain-streaked glass to stare at his companion with eyes so cold that they appeared to be made of pure ice.
"And what of my heir?"he asked quietly, keeping his voice low so none of the palace's human inhabitants would hear him. Taking a long drought from the glass of amber liquid clutched in his gloved right hand, he swallowed and glared. "Eventually, he will discover his true heritage. And when he does, the entire world will be turned upside down. The old ways will return and everything will be thrown into chaos. I know;I have servants with the ability to see the future and each and every one of them has told me the same."
"Then you must do all that you can to prevent that,"the woman at his side advised bluntly, not bothering to sugarcoat it. She stepped forward and looked into the vampire's pupilless eyes without blinking. "The world won't survive another outbreak of the purebloods. They will tear us all apart, without remorse."
"And you expect me to stop them, knowing full well what I am and what I've already sacrificed to get you this far?"the vampire retorted in a withering tone, curling his fingers tight around the crystal glass, so tight that his knuckles turned white. He shook his head with an icy, rueful laugh. "You expect too much, you take too much for granted. I do not protect the humans, I merely keep their slaughter to a minimum so that we may continue to live unbothered. Ask me to do more and I might kill you all myself simply on principle." "That would be foolish, my Lord,"the woman whispered, all but spitting out his title, grimacing as if it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
One of the immortal's immaculate charcoal brows rose queryingly, lips curving in what was obviously amusement.
"Oh?And why is that?"
The woman took another step forward so the two supernatural creatures were face-to-face and he could fully look into her hard brown eyes.
"Things have changed since we were in your servitude, Vampyrri,"she all but growled, doing her best to keep her temper in check. "The Shiraq have grown in the last hundred years. If you test us, if you continue to push us and renege on your promise, we will fight back. And, mark my words, it will not be a battle that is easily wo-"
Her words were cut off by a cry of distress as the vampire seized a handful of her brown hair and yanked her head back forcefully. "Do not threaten me, witch,"he hissed into her ear, and there was more danger in the silkiness of his tone than in the most deadly of curses. "I have been on this Earth much longer than you. There is little that I have not seen or done or faced and if you are foolish enough to challenge me, I will not only destroy you, but your precious Book as well."
He released her with a soft snarl, retracting his fangs with difficulty and turning back to face the window.
"It's been a long time since you lost your temper like that,"the Shiraq leader commented darkly, rubbing the back of her neck, still feeling the phantom pain of his hand in her hair. "It would be wise for you not to cause me to do so again,"the immortal retorted flatly, not turning around this time, picking up his glass again and pouring himself more of the Scotch that rested on the table next to him.
Taking another long drink, he waited a moment before speaking again.
"I won't defend the humans from the fallout if my heir regains his memories, whether it be in a few days, or in a few thousand years,"he stated simply and without remorse. "It is his destiny to become the next king of the pureblood race and I will not stop that. He is my son;he deserves his place above all the other bloodsuckers who have demeaned themselves into aching for lost humanity." "And if your son ends up being the one to destroy all we have worked for?"the Shiraq leader quipped sternly, pulling her long cloak back over her shoulders.
"Then so be it,"the black-haired immortal declared with a characteristic lack of feeling. "I will not sacrifice the last member of my family for you. The Shiraq don't mean that much to me, and they certainly don't mean more to me than my race."
The woman merely gave him a humourless chuckle.
"Then would you like me to tell you what your prophets have neglected to mention on this matter? Would you like to know what will truly happen if the prince's true self awakens in the future-and if his predestined mate should find the Book of Terrors?"the brown-haired Shiraq questioned smoothly, knowing full well what the immortal's answer would be. "Pray tell,"the vampire prompted in a decidedly bored tone that belied the freezing glow reflected from his eyes in the window.
His old enemy's lips curled in a faint smile. "Everything will fall to darkness and destruction. The rules will change and the shadows will rise from their prison once again,"she announced darkly and without even a fascimile of pretense.
There was silence for a few moments except for the sound of the rain beating against the windows and roof overhead. A crash of thunder shook the palace, sounding much louder due to the pair's preternatural hearing.
Finally, the vampire lord voiced his thoughts on that dire prophecy.
"There will come a time when the humans will need an awakening from the reasonably peaceful existence we have allowed them to live for so long. My son will be the one to bring back our reign and usher in the new Dark Age. That is the only reason you were allowed to create that Book of yours;it will be the catalyst for his return and for his ascension of the throne."
The laugh that the female Shiraq let out this time was a scornful one, clearly dismissing his declaration as simple nonsense.
"You've finally done it, my Lord,"she quipped with a disdainful sneer, throwing up the black hood of her voluminous cloak. "You've finally become the callous and soulless monster I always thought you to be." She turned to leave, but couldn't resist getting in one final sentiment.
"If you refuse to prevent your son from fulfilling his bloody calling, I will be forced to have him and his mate killed-and you won't be around to stop me. Let's see him usher in this new Dark Age of yours then."
With that threat delivered, the witch vanished in a swirl of crimson smoke.
"Terror. It seems like such a simple, innocuous word, doesn't it?And yet, it instills the greatest form of fear known to man. Not only that, but it has the power to destroy..everything."
These last two years with Damon, I saw more of the world than I had ever seen in all of my 17 years as a human. We never got around to Russia, though, so this was going to be an interesting experience for me.
More than that, though, I was looking forward to this trip because I wanted to see what, if it came down to it, the Originals would do if Damon managed to use the spell that would turn him into a vampire even more powerful than they were.
Sitting in the backseat of the car that one of the four Originals, I didn't know which, had compelled for us with Damon next to me, I wondered if he knew what I was thinking. I was silent and unmoving because I didn't want any of the Originals getting into my head, so I was unable to voice these thoughts aloud-but my boyfriend has always had this odd little way of reading me.
He was watching me at the moment;I could feel it. I had my eyes closed, and was blocking out everything around me. I was lost inside my head, and for once, it wasn't completely empty.
It's a funny thing;as a vampire, I had turned my emotions off. I didn't feel for the pathetic humans of the world, I didn't feel remorse when I killed them or when I tore them to pieces while I fed. I didn't care that if Klaus managed to break his curse that a lot of them would inevitably die or that others would, too. But right then, there were a thousand thoughts running through my head;a thousand scenarios that I was considering as possibilities of how this would play out.
The summary of what I was thinking? I wanted to get this trip over with. I wanted Damon to have what he wanted. And most of all, I wanted our so-called ''friends'', the Originals, out of our lives.
"Jer?"Damon's voice broke into my thoughts, his hand falling onto my knee, one of his dark eyebrows raised in a silent question. I looked into his icy blue eyes and saw a flicker of what looked oddly like concern. "I'm fine,"I assured him in an undertone, shooting him a brief sideways glance to meet his gaze.
When he looked sceptical, I reached for him and squeezed his hand. "Not here,"I said out of the corner of my mouth, tossing a pointed look at our companions in the car. Apparently understanding my meaning, he nodded and released my hand, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
Apparently oblivious to our exchange, Elijah's archaic accent punctuated the heavy silence that had permeated the air since our departure from Damon and I's house.
"We're here,"he declared apathetically, jolting me out of my reverie. Damon didn't even react, other than to open his eyes and swivel his head around to gaze out the window. "Airport looks pretty empty,"he observed without emotion, casting a swift, searching glance over the the tall white building outside with an arched eyebrow and his arms folded across his chest.
"Private plane,"the brunette Original supplied curtly, "I rented the entire place out." "Now no more quibbling,"Klaus interrupted from the front seat, kicking his door open and coming to speak into Damon's window. "Let's go. The Book awaits."
I shrugged and followed him, Kol and the other two out of the car. "Damon,"I propmted, looking over my shoulder at my boyfriend. He rolled his eyes and did the same, getting to his feet and slamming the door shut after he exited the vehicle. "Let's do this,"he said flatly, brushing past us all and heading straight for the airport.
