Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or any of the characters, they belong to their rightful owners. This is wrote for non-profit purposes only.
From the second he left Mystic Falls, Klaus knew that he needed help. As he was now forced to live in Tyler's body he couldn't straight things out on his own. He needed a very powerful witch and allies. As for the latter, seeing that he couldn't make new hybrids, he was forced to rely on his family, on his siblings. He was not glad about it as he couldn't be sure of their loyalty, but after all, beggars can't be choosers. So, taking a leap of faith, he went in their search.
It didn't take long to find them; after all he knew some things about their habits. Their reunion almost made Klaus happy because he was flabbergasted to see their relief as they found out he was alive, well sort of. It was almost funny how the prospect of his death made his siblings more eager to forgive him.
"What do you plan to do now brother?" Elijah asked.
"The obvious thing. Fight and win. And I hoped we could do it together." Klaus responded.
"And who are our enemies Niklaus?"
"Do I have to spell out everything for you Elijah? The Salvatore's and that aggravating little witch."
"Well, excuse me, but I was under the impression that the witch saved your life." Elijah continued soberly.
"You're using the word 'save' rather loosely. Bloody hell, they trapped me under a spell to rot for eternity."
During this exchange, Rebekah couldn't take her eyes off of 'Tyler'. And finally she voiced her concerns.
"But, I was there, Nik, I saw you getting staked, I saw the flames. How can it be? Elijah, as much as I want to believe this, it could be a trick." Disbelieve and hope was written all over the blonde's face.
"All that you saw, my dear, was nothing else than witchie theatricals, you know how they always aim to put on a good show. You see sis, more than she wanted me dead she wanted her friends and her precious mother alive, so she put me for safeguard in this atrocious body, and imbued with some kind of ancient spell my body. Ta-dam!" Klaus explained.
"So, she did save you." Rebekah pointed out.
"Alright, if you guys want to be technical about it, yes, the righteous teenage witch did save me, but then she wanted to put me back to decompose. Don't you see? I was only a mean to an end for her." Klaus was exasperated.
"I think it's suffice to restore your body with the help of another witch and then to forget everything about Mystic Falls and their supernatural residents. They are not our enemies." Elijah insisted.
Rebekah nodded in agreement. She was glad to have her brother back and now that he no longer was able to create more hybrids she hoped to have her family back together after so many centuries. She simply didn't want to fight anymore; she didn't want to run no more.
Klaus was beyond infuriated.
"Are you all idiots? They are not our enemies? First of all they still have my body. They have the magic little stake that could kill us all. And I don't want to sound malicious or anything, but they won't use it on me seeing as I am after all their vampire ancestor. But you lot? You are not that safe. They have a witch that taped into black magic. You all now how fun those witches are. And let's not forget, Rebekah basically killed their sweet, precious Elena, which by the way now is a vampire. Do you honestly think that they don't seek revenge? I wonder how did you managed to stay alive for so long seeing how utterly naïve you are."
"She is a vampire?" Rebekah and Elijah said in unison but as the voice of the former was filled with annoyance, the voice of Elijah rang with sadness.
Kol, who until then sat aside, listening to all of them arguing, rose and approached them.
"It's settled then, we fight, we win." He said.
Rebekah and Elijah approved half-heartedly. Once again, after centuries they were a family, united, even if it was because of a war.
The voices were clearer, louder, they were invading her mind, affecting her life. Bonnie tried to ignore them, to not listen to their tempting offers. But she soon discovered that ignoring them made things worse. The dead witches began screaming in her head, they gave her hallucinations that freaked her out, unbearable nightmares. So, she began to listen, hoping that she will have the strength to resist them.
After a while she could distinguish between the voices, they were five witches. She found out that they lived in the time of the great massacre of witches; the same one from which she harvest her strength when she first attempted to kill Klaus. But they were not killed with the rest of them, since due to their black magic they were a lot powerful. They escaped. Not for long though; the town's people found them and ended their life in an excruciating way.
Bonnie realized fast enough that they sought revenge and that they planned to use her for it. But as long as she didn't use any more black magic, she was safe, they couldn't get her.
It was almost evening as we sat in a secluded, little bar outside the town. Damon insisted we go there after I feed. He praised the virtues of alcohol; he claimed that would do wonders for my control. I knew he was full of bullshit. He wanted a drink and he deserved one since he babysat me all day.
As we slowly drank our beverages I thought about Alaric. This was what they so often did, sit in comfortable silence and drink their troubles away. I was sad beyond belief for loosing Ric, but I couldn't imagine the loss Damon suffered. After all Ric was my guardian and I loved him, but he was Damon's best friend, Damon's only friend. Scratch that, I was his friend too. Actually, truth be told, for as much as I stretched during the last two years that I was his friend, I wasn't so sure anymore. I didn't think that 'friend' captured truly what we were for each other, the need we felt for one another, the understanding between us, the longing? But what word captured? What word defined us?
"A penny for your thoughts. No, I can do better, a scotch for your thoughts." He said playfully.
"I don't drink scotch, Damon."
"You should. It's the best. You should go outside of your comfort zone, try new drinks, new hobbies, I would say new men but I think we're not there yet."
"There?" I whispered while turning red. Do vampires turn red? Apparently so.
"In a place where I can make inappropriately jokes without it being awkward as hell. And judging by the color of your cheeks, I say I was right. We are not there yet."
He sounded so amused, so fine with all of it. How come he was so at ease? Making jokes, being so casual. I wasn't. I still thought about our kisses, about our skins touching. His mere presence still made my stomach to flutter. And why did it bother me that he seemed to cope so well?
"Maybe I will be there Damon when I will fucking understand why just sitting next to you makes me feel so damn alive." I blurted out without thinking. Frustrations out in the open are a dangerous thing.
I kid you not, he chocked on his precious scotch. He gasped for air.
"What are you talking about? Elena, I was willing to let go of that last kiss seeing as you were, let's say, not quite yourself with the blood and everything. But now? Look around, there's no blood."
I said absolutely nothing, all the while cursing myself for not keeping my mouth shout to begin with.
He started to get anxious, no, in fact he was seriously pissed. Well, only a few minutes before I resented him for being so relaxed around me. Problem solved. A trillion of other problems appeared but at least that one was solved.
"Spill Elena. You made your choice, actually you reinforced your choice. I was ok with it. I wanted to leave, to give you space. You didn't want that. I stayed. Then you kiss me. I gave you a break. Then you're saying things like 'staying next to me makes you feel alive'. Do you honestly don't see why I might be confused, why I might need an explanation?" He talked in short sentences, each one louder than the previous.
"I….Damon, I don't know."
"What don't you know Elena? Two weeks ago you knew very well, you choose Stefan."
"That was a lifetime ago, Damon, and you know it."
"So? You're saying you've changed your mind?" for crying out loud there was so much hope in his voice that I wanted to stake myself.
"No, I'm not saying that."
"I think is best if I take you home, now." he said void of any kind of emotion.
"Please, Damon, let me try to explain. I honestly don't know anything anymore. I know that I chose Stefan for a reason, but this doesn't mean that all the reasons for which I would have chose you disappeared. And to add to that, ever since I turned I can't stop thinking about you, I long for your touch, I seek your presence, and when I don't see you for half of day I feel like I'm going insane with impatience. It's crazy; it's like a side effect or something."
"So I'm a side effect? You sure know how to burst a man's ego."
"No, no, I'm not saying that. I'm only saying that before my desires for you were tamed. And I don't know what's real anymore. Maybe it's an adaptation period."
"Oh, so much better. I can see you don't have your words with you tonight, my dear. So I will say it for you. Correct me if I'm wrong. You're feeling things for me, most of them sexually, and you're hopping that they are all due to your recent change in life status – from alive to undead; that way you could continue to have your pure, untainted by lust, love with Stefan. Am I right?" He was so brutal that my heart ache, but I knew I deserved it.
I was unable to respond, mainly because it was true - I hoped that all this feelings were because of my recent transformation. But I knew that my desires for him were so much more than physical attraction, only that I didn't yet quite understand what exactly.
"I see I'm right, your silence is proof enough. Well, I don't want to be the bringer of bad news sweetheart, but, tonight I'm forced to be. First of all, even though I enjoyed my glorious days as a sex toy, I don't ever plan to be yours. Secondly you can blame many things on vampirism, hurting people being one of them, but you can't believe that it creates feelings where they are not. Or maybe, you can, if you want to live in a fantasy world and don't feel guilt for what your heart or body wants." He finished his rant.
He could have slapped me and it would have hurt less, be less humiliating. As it was I felt devastated. I began to cry even though I knew it wasn't fair to him. But I couldn't stop the tears from falling in a cascade.
Through shaking sobs I managed to say after I grabbed his hand, all the while looking in his eyes.
"Don't hate me Damon, please. I hate myself enough for making you suffer. Don't hate me. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I need you. Oh, God, how much I need you. Please, promise me, you'll forgive me and you'll still be my friend."
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed me gently on my forehead.
"I don't and will never hate you Elena. I now and forever will love you. Of that you can be sure. As for the forgiving part, it was about time I would have what to forgive you for. For a while there it seemed you were the only one offering forgiveness. So, you see, give and you shall receive."
I smiled through the tears. Was there a time when I thought that Damon had nothing human in him? I must have been blind.
Author Note: Thanks for reading; I appreciate the kind reviews I received and I hope you will keep telling me your thoughts on the story; how can I improve it and if you have any advice or complaints.