Thanks for your support guys :D
Continues where last chapter left off...
Through Thoughts Of My Own
Chapter 4 - Bad News and Confrontations
So please babe
So please don't judge me
and I won't judge you
'Cause it can get ugly
before it gets beautiful
please don't judge me
and I won't judge you
and if you love me
then let it be beautiful
let it be beautiful
[Chris Brown - Don't Judge Me]
"You were listening, weren't you?"
Damon gulped as he turned around slowly, his gaze fixed on the ground. Elena placed a hand on her hip as she breathed heavily in aggravation.
"Okay, easier question. Might I ask, are the rumors true?" Elena asked, her voice low. Damon frowned, shaking his head in frustration as he stepped toward his servant.
"You don't have the right to ask me" Damon growled, standing up straight. Elena blinked.
"Yes. But I know you are gentlemen enough to answer" she sighed bravely, staring at him with unblinking eyes.
Damon swallowed the lump in his throat knowing that Elena was right. There was something in him that didn't allow him to say no to her, so he turned at stared at her right in the eye.
"Why do you want to know?" he questioned, eyebrow raised.
"I want to be able to help" she whispered.
Elena assumed Damon would have spat in her face after hearing her reply, but he simply nodded, took a deep breath and stroked his hair.
"Katherine Pierce tricked me into believing she was unhappy and lonely. She told me how horrible her life was and I tried to make it better. I fell for her. None can blame me. I was simply being a man under her control- like many before me", Damon whispered.
Suddenly, Elena felt extremely guilty. She had pressured him into telling her about it and although he only said it in a small amount of detail, he still had the courage to tell her. Elena felt the tears well up in her eyes. He was so misunderstood. "Damon-"
"It's okay. You want to know? You can know" Damon said.
Damon walked slowly down the corridor of the Pierce Estate, having been let in my Beatrice Pierce, Katherine's mother. He had arrived at around noon, stating he was there to see Katherine as nothing more than a friend. For the past three months Damon and Katherine had been meeting secretly to continue with the affairs of their newly found relationship. Although Katherine was engaged to her lover, Tyler Lockwood, Damon seemed to have a connection with her that he lacked with any other. Katherine loved and understood him, and for that, he loved her too.
He continued down the floral walled hallways, stepping past the last door on the left and reaching the final door at the end of the hallway. He heard a small grunt from inside and peeked around the door.
Katherine was standing in front of her mirror, just across from the door, her hands under her hair and fiddling with the clasp of the necklace around her neck. Damon watched her as she grunted in annoyance when the clasp slipped from her hands. Damon observed her with greedy eyes.
"Damon, you know how rude it is to spy on a lady in her quarters" Katherine grinned, both rows of her perfect, white teeth on full display. Damon chuckled, stepping into room and staring at her angelic face in the reflection.
"I apologize Lady Katherine, I am only here to ask if you would like to accompany me on a walk through the gardens" Damon smiled.
Katherine didn't answer. "Since you are here, why don't you help me?" Katherine smirked, gesturing to the necklace in her hands. It was a beautiful necklace, the trimming was gold and inside was a large lapis lazuli stone. Around it were small pearls, the middle of the back engraved with a small floral pattern. Katherine was always one for extravagant things. Damon nodded and stepped behind her, sweeping her hair to one side of her neck with her hand. Damon gazed down at the bare skin of her neck before taking hold of the necklace and placing it around her neck. He took his time fastening the clasp whilst Katherine lent into his chest.
"I shall miss you so much when I am married to Master Lockwood" Katherine sighed, bending her neck so Damon could place a soft kiss on the thin skin there. A shiver shot down her spine when Damon kissed a short path up to her cheek, finishing with a peck on the side of her face. Damon pulled back slowly, a frown on his face at the thought of their marriage, brushing Katherine's hair evenly over each shoulder. Katherine smiled at him.
"Believe me when I say I love you Damon" Katherine sighed, brushing a hand across his cheek.
Damon smiled, "I do".
"I believed her. I truly did. Not anymore though" Damon sighed, strolling to sit on the bench just outside the door of the stables. Elena joined him, perching beside him.
Elena turned to him and stroked a hand down his arm softly. "I am so sorry for what she did to you" she whispered, a small smile gracing her lips.
Damon looked to her then, his eyes gleaming. Suddenly, there was an urge in him to lean forward. An urge he couldn't and in some ways, didn't want to control. She was like a magnet, to him and to trouble. As he leaned in, slowly, Elena blinked, looking down to his lips. She didn't want to do this, knowing what trouble it would cause for her job here and for her family, but she couldn't turn away. Their eyes met then, their lips only inches apart when a sudden noise shocked Elena back to reality.
Madison neighed loudly, stopping her feet and bringing Elena out of her dream and back to the world around her. Elena pulled back immediately standing up and patting down her dress. Damon coughed nervously, standing too.
"I shall stay here and tend to the horses, please return to my quarters and tidy. Thank you, Elena" Damon said, glancing to the floor as he walked away.
Elena breathed out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Thank God, she thought, if that had happened, I would have been completely and utterly resistance free.
[...]
Elena arrived at Damon's room only a few minutes later to find Caroline perched on the end of the bed. Elena stepped in slowly, her tolerance out the window and her inner anger burning. She slammed her masters door watching as the bookcase shook from the force.
"What are you doing here?" Elena demanded, her fists clenched.
Her sister stood up slowly, unfolding her legs and walking towards her, her hips swaying dangerously. Caroline reached Elena and smirked.
"I expected both of you to return, together" she said, her full lips puckered.
Elena's breathing became heavy as she raised her hand. It descended on Caroline's cheek with a slap causing Caroline's head to snap to the left. Elena withdrew her aching hand, stepped around her sister who was cradling her cheek, and walked over to Damon's bed to begin straightening out the sheets.
Caroline gasped in shock, turned and faced her younger sister with eyes wide. Elena lifted Damon's pillow and straightened the bed, placing it back on top of the sheets without a single glance Caroline's way.
The blonde stormed towards Elena and batted the cup she held, out of her hands. Elena looked up at Caroline, her eyes dull and her face bored. "What, Caroline?" Elena breathed, tired and bored of her sisters stupidity.
Caroline scoffed, walking away from her sister to sit on one of the chairs in the middle of Damon's room. "I am not going to stop what I am doing until you understand what I am saying, 'Lena. I haven't seen you in three years and it is instinct to want to protect you, and all I see when I look at you, is a strange glint in your eye. The only other time I saw that was when you fell in love with Matt. Please, sister, do not fall for someone you cannot handle!"
Elena looked to her sister, thinking her explanation over. She appreciated her wanting to protect her younger sister but her way of protecting her was upsetting. Elena frowned at the blonde, tucking her hair behind her ear. She had been doing that a lot today, out of awkwardness and nervousness.
"I would say I forgive you, Caroline, but I do not. You want to protect me? Stay out of my life and understand me when I say I am not and will not fall for Damon Salvatore. Okay?" Elena growled, her eyes wide and her throat hitched as she fought back the urge to shed tears. Caroline nodded and stood up, her cheek now bright red.
"I am trying my best to be a good sister. He forced a woman's hand, made her cheat. If he can so easily make a woman cheat what makes you think he will not cheat on you, or worse, force you to do what you do not want to do?" Caroline demanded, her arms waving about.
Elena growled, walking over to the closet, pulling out Damon's used clothes from the pile in the bottom corner. "It is not what you think. He told me the truth, what really happened" Elena replied calmly. Caroline scoffed.
"Lies! Sister, lies!"
"No! Not lies, he tells me the truth! Believe it or not Caroline, he is a good man!" Elena yelled, dropping the laundry to the floor. Suddenly, the door to Damon's room opened and Joyce stepped in with a worried look on her face.
"What's going on?" she asked sheepishly. Caroline huffed.
"LEAVE!" she demanded, pointing to the door. Joyce quickly hurried out, closing the door behind her. Elena watched on shocked. Granted, Caroline had been here a long time and she was a higher class of servant but did she really have that much power over the weaker servants in the house. Elena dreaded to think.
"Leave, please" Elena whispered, her voice tired and her body aching. Caroline raised her eyebrows but slouched her shoulders in defeat.
"Only trying to be the big sister that I have't had the chance to be for the past 3 years", she sighed, walking to the door, "You may not believe me but I love you 'Lena" she smiled, closing Damon's door behind her.
Elena sniffed, closing her lids as tears began to shed from her chocolate brown eyes. Everything was so upside down. Why did it have to be?
After a while, Elena finished tidying Damon's room and decided to tidy her own. She exited her masters room through the 'forbidden door' which, come to think of it, no longer seemed quite as forbidden.
"Elena" a deep voice called from behind her. She turned quickly, her panic obvious. Damon was standing in the doorway of his own room, a small grin on his face. Elena smiled softly at him as she walked towards him slowly. Damon reached her and shifted uncomfortably, fiddling with his hands.
"Thanks for telling me" Elena whispered awkwardly, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. Damon nodded.
"Thank you for... um, tidying?" he asked. Elena giggled.
The brunette smirked, stepping around her master to pick up a small pile of letters on his table. "How was Madison?" she asked, returning to his side. Damon nodded, "Great" he laughed, taking the letters from her hands.
"And these are?" he asked, tearing them open with his nail.
Elena shrugged, watching as he pulled the letter out and began reading it over his shoulder. She, for some reason, frowned when she saw a letter from Giuseppe. Elena was a slow reader so hardly managed to read the first sentence before Damon folded it up abruptly and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Nothing" he said, opening another letter and reading through it. Elena nodded, turned to the door and left her master to do what he wanted, closing the door firmly behind her.
[...]
Later that night, Elena was laying on her bed, staring up at her ceiling when the 'no longer forbidden' door opened slowly and Damon poked his head around to look into the room. Elena quickly turned her head to the pillow and pretended to be asleep. She wasn't in the mood for chit-chat tonight. She heard Damon's heavy footsteps around her room, until he stopped somewhere around the door or desk. She heard the shuffling of papers and then his footsteps as he left the room, but not without staring at Elena's "sleeping" form for just a few second. When the door was closed, Elena sat up and tip-toed straight over to her desk.
She lifted up the two small envelopes, examining the intricate writing on the front. One was addressed to her while the other was addressed to the Gilbert sisters. Elena groaned, she would have to deliver this to both of them later. She placed that one down, retrieving the letter to herself. She tore it open slowly, examining everything. She gazed down at it and read it slowly. Damon's writing was beautiful.
Dearest Elena,
It seems too hard to say this in person as I have never been a very bold person when it comes to delivering bad news. I recently had a letter sent to me that explains a problem that occurred not long ago that concerns your family. I do not have the heart to say what I have been told and therefore have also given you the letter I received that was meant to give to you and your sisters. I ask that you all open it together as I am not sure you will be able to see them after reading it. Before you open it, I would like you to have an open mind and remember; there is still some hope left.
I apologize greatly for the news you have yet to read.
I shall see you tomorrow,
My regards,
Damon
Elena frowned. She stared down at the letter addressed to herself, Caroline and Bonnie. She slowly took it in her hands and broke the seal, pulling out the letter.
This chapter is very short but I have, once again, been very busy and I tried my best to write as much as I could because I honestly am starting to realize that posting as often as I do, although it is not every day, is becoming a struggle.
I may change the "schedule" for when I post, but if so, I will inform you before hand.
Hope it was okay and hope the suspense wont kill you ;)
Reviews are love xox
