Chapter 7: The Garden Rules
Blair was on her way out for brunch with Serena only her very blonde friend just had to forget her phone and come back for it. She waited by the lobby anxiously. Lately she didn't feel right being alone. Too many irrelevant people knew her. Two of which she didn't want to see anymore for the rest of her un-life. But that morning she had a feeling something was going to come banging on her door again. For help, again.
She was right, of course, because there striding like she owned the place into the lobby of Serena's penthouse was Elena. His Elena. She wanted to snap her neck right on the spot. The very scent of her was annoying her, let alone her involvement with Damon. Her Damon.
"What are you doing here, Elena?" Blair said, "Didn't I say I want nothing to do with your petty fight with Klaus?"
Elena stared at her unflinching. What the hell did she think she was doing? Was she not afraid of her vampire superiorness?
"I'm sorry, Blair," Elena said in a different, less annoying voice, "let me introduce myself. I'm Katherine."
"Katherine?" Blair looked at her, confused.
"Yes, and I do apologize for the trouble Damon has given you, but if you don't help us then we might just, I don't know, kill your witch?"
As if on cue, the elevator doors open to reveal a passed out Serena being assisted by a shorter blonde. Blair's eyes darted to the concierge who stood idly behind his counter as if nothing was happening. The guards, too, were standing by. She panicked.
"Is this some sort of joke?" Blair accused.
"I already compelled everyone to let us be. Don't worry. They'll snap out of it once you agree to help us find and kill Klaus. Or do you still let him toy around with your heart after all these years that he's left you alone to rot?"
Blair's eyes went from the blonde carrying her best friend who had a not so convincing fierce look on her face to Serena who looked helpless and actually heavy for once. She had no choice. If blondie wasn't going to kill Serena surely this Katherine person will.
"Let Serena go. It's me that you want."
Katherine smirked and nodded at Caroline who dumped Serena back into the elevator and pressed the up button. Blair clutched on her clutch for life.
"That was easier than I hoped it would." In a blink of an eye Katherine had syringe injecting vervain through Blair's blood, paralyzing and knocking her out.
Caroline was suddenly beside her, studying to unconscious girl lying in front of them as Katherine dialed a number on her phone. She was beautiful, Caroline noted, no wonder people were clamoring over her. She was Klaus' first Katherine said. And the rest was history.
"We've got her." Katherine said, a smile spreading across her face. She was pleased with herself. She didn't even have to lift a finger for this Blair to give in.
"How is she?" Damon said on the other line, trying to hide his concern with sarcasm.
"Oh you know, unconscious, as planned. You were right. The witch was the perfect bait. How did you know?"
"We all have our soft spots Katherine."
"Of course, Damon. Even you."
She heard him sigh through the phone. Of course he would never admit to it, as she didn't either. But it was true. They all had soft spots. The strongest ones just tend to do a better job at hiding theirs.
"I'll see you later, Katherine."
x x x
Blair woke up with a throbbing nerve in her head and her wrists and ankles bound to a chair. She tried moving her hands to rip them off but the little movement she made caused her pain. She tried to speak but her throat was dry. It felt like she hasn't eaten in days. She tried to open her eyes but all there was was darkness. She had been blindfolded.
She heard voices. It wasn't very far but she found it hard to hear. The other voice was of a girl. Elena's? No. It was different. It was from that girl with her face. And the other, as much as she wanted not to know whose it was, was Damon's. He was behind this?
"Where are you going?" Damon asked Katherine.
"Somewhere." She hummed. Her voice was definitely not Elena's. It was less annoying and more husky and sultry. Seductive, if you may. The thought of her seducing Damon only made the throbbing in Blair's head hurt more, but then she remembered it was she who pushed him away and disowned him. She had no say in anything.
"Is the blind fold necessary?"
"Yes, Damon. We don't want her to compel Mrs. Hendrickson here, would we? We don't know what she's capable off."
"I know what she's capable of!" Damon let slip. "Absolutely nothing. You've got her high on vervain. She can't even move."
"Ah Damon. This is why I put Alaric on Blair duty. Tell me what's going on with you? Have you already developed a crush on Klaus' favorite pet?"
Pet? Did she just call her a pet? Did she not know who she was referring to? Of course not. Blair sighed. It was the only thing she can do. That and listen.
"No," he simply said.
"Why not? She has brown eyes and brown hair. I see a pattern starting to form here, Damon." Her voice was more irritating than ever. What did she mean by that?
"Oh Katherine. Are you jealous?"
"Me? Why would I be jealous? I was your first after all."
Blair wanted to scream, but she couldn't. She also wanted to roll her eyes, but it hurt. She wanted to break her neck. But she couldn't. She was trapped in darkness. She made a decision to not acknowledge being part of Damon's life. She had to live with that. But until when? Until when was she going to hide from him?
"And we all know first loves never die," she could hear Damon smiling.
"Not in this case." Katherine said. "I'll be back before you know it."
The door opened and then closed. The air was still until she felt a presence in front of her. She didn't need her eyes to know it was him. He stood in front of her. She wasn't sure how far but she sensed not too distant.
"Help," she tried saying, but her voice was low and barely audible, cracking because it was unused. She tried clearing her throat and moving her fingers just so he'd notice she was trying to communicate with him.
"Damon," she said, her voice still rough, but clearer than it was the first time she tried speaking. "Help me."
He said nothing at first, but after a while she felt him move closer, right in front of her. She wanted to reach out to him, but she was restrained. It angered her.
"Let me go," she whispered. Her head hung low as she tried to move her hands more.
He still didn't answer. Instead, he watched her. Her lips were cracked and dry. Her skin had lost its glow. Her cheeks had sunken, her bones protruded.
"Help me," she said again. He was sure she heard what he and Katherine talked about. She had to. He didn't want to feel sorry for her hearing it either.
"I heard you the first time, Waldorf." He said coldly.
"Get me out," she said slowly, pulling weakly on her manacles.
"I can't. If I do, Ric's got permission to skewer me."
"Please, Damon."
"No, Blair."
"Just the blindfold then?" Her voice was turning back to normal, if you could call it that. She still couldn't raise her voice above the average.
He stayed silent again, pondering over her request. He did find it ridiculous that Blair was blindfolded, but Katherine did have a point too. She might compel their hostess—or worse—compel him. Despite his inner debate and the caution he had to take, he slowly reached up to her face and to the back of her head, pulling off the dark handkerchief Katherine just happened to have.
Her eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the light. She tilted her head up to find that Damon was right in front of her, sitting on a backwards-facing chair. Somehow she regretted asking him to take off what separated her eyes from his.
"Thank you," she said, but immediately remembered her ring. When she looked at her hand it was gone. She panicked.
"Are you looking for this?" Damon held up the ruby ring, sensing her alarm, and then put it back into his pocket. "I'll hold on to it for now."
"Give it back!"
"Behave or else I'll have to blindfold you again."
"I'm sure you'd like that," she snapped, no longer restrained by the dryness of her throat.
"I'm sure you'd like that, Miss Waldorf."
"What do you people want from me? I've told you a million times, I'm not going to help you find and destroy Klaus."
"Of course Blair. We understand the depth of your situation. In one hand you have the douche who turned you into a monster, and on the other hand you have… oh wait. You don't have anything on the other hand. My bad." He smirked. He was being arrogant and obnoxious, like a child who wanted to pull out the guilt card.
"You will never understand what he did for me, Damon. None of you will. All you know is this monster who likes playing with his pets," Blair said. She wanted him to be jealous. She wanted him to know about Klaus. She wanted him to want her again, despite the fact that she practically shoved him away and changed the locks of her heart for him. She wanted him to fight for her.
"Nik was a human, just like everybody else. You know what they say. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? I've witnessed as he was hurt by people he once loved. It's what makes him the man he is today."
"Man? He's not a man. He's a monster."
Blair paused. Of course he was. So was she, so was Damon, and Katherine, and this Caroline, and a lot more people she's met.
"And so are you! And so are the rest of us. The only difference is some of us don't let our monster egos take over our lives."
"Are you suggesting that you have been this innocent angel that everyone, even that witch of yours, thinks you are? Well you're not."
"Serena knows exactly who I am and who I was, Damon. And she stuck around."
"You should get pointers on sticking around from her then!" He yelled, getting up from his chair. He buried his face in his hands and rubbed it of his frustration.
"What are you talking about?" Blair asked, in spite of herself.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! Why can't you just admit it?" So much for not being her toy. Why was she blessed with this power to provoke and to taunt without doing anything? It was unfair.
"Admit what, Damon? What do you want me to admi—"
"Admit that you loved me!" he shouted, then lowered his voice as he sat back on the chair. "That you were that girl from Harvard who had me wrapped around your little gloved finger. That you were that girl who played with me. The very first one who turned the tables on me." The very first one to break my heart.
"I don't know what—" she started again, but she was stopped by a groggy Alaric who still had one eye closed and a stake in hand.
"What's going on here? It's three in the morning, Damon. And why is she not blind folded? What if Mrs. Hendrickson comes down for a snack?"
"Mrs. Hendrickson was compelled not to come down here."
"Just keep it down."
"No problem. I'm done here anyway," he glared at her, walking outside, handing Alaric the handkerchief. Alaric walked over to her and blindfolded her again.
"How long have I been here?" She asked.
"A day." He said nonchalantly.
"When are you going to let me go?"
"When we're through with you."
"And when is that?"
"Soon, hopefully."
She heard him headed for the door, tapping his stake on his other hand casually.
"Alaric," she called.
"What?"
"How much of that did you hear?"
"I won't tell if you two don't want me to."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because Damon's my friend, Blair. I've learned to keep my mouth shut over time."
x x x
Klaus had called Stefan and asked him to follow him to the Hamptons. Stefan had no idea why. He was just given a home address and a car. It was easy enough. But what could Klaus really be doing at the Hamptons? It wasn't summer. It was never mentioned before, ever. And it was mostly a small vacation town. Nothing special. Not to him anyway.
He got there just a few minutes after eight in the evening. He parked the car in front of a big white house. Amagansett, Klaus' instructions said. Maybe it was another new purchase, or somebody's summer house he just wanted to acquire. When an old woman opened the door after he rang the doorbell, he became speculating.
"Hi, I'm Stefan Salvatore. Klaus' friend."
"Of course you are. Come in." She said. "Klaus is right down the hall."
"Thank you."
Stefan followed the woman's instructions and Klaus was, indeed, down the hall in a lavish living area. Not alone though. He was on the couch watching as a blonde girl, not more older looking than Stefan was, was rummaging through a suitcase, going over piece per piece of clothing.
"Ah Stefan! I'm glad you made it. But a little too early for Rebekah here, I suppose."
"Where'd you get her?" He asked. The blonde on the floor was instantly right in front of him, eyeing him from head to toe.
"So you're Stefan Salvatore," she said in the same accent as Klaus'. She was wearing a white dress, from the twenties, Stefan noticed, a blood stain covered the center of it though. Immediately, the puzzle seemed to have solved itself.
"I'm Rebekah. Nik's sister. Pleasure, I'm sure." They were definitely related.
"Certainly," he said back, not knowing what to say exactly. Aside from Elijah and Klaus, he has never seen or met an original. And to meet this girl version of them seemed to have hushed him.
"What's wrong with him, Nik? He's too polite." She asked her brother over her shoulder.
"That's just how Stefan is, sister. You'll learn to love him in time."
"So did you call for a family meeting?" Stefan asked Klaus. Rebekah went back to rummaging into the suitcase.
"No, Stefan, I called because I need you to fetch Blair."
Stefan stared at Klaus, stunned. "You made me go all the way up here for that?"
"No. Not only that. Rebekah wants to come and I couldn't let her wander off. She knows nothing of this new world. Would you please be ever so kind as to taking my sister to her?"
"Alright."
"First I need to get decent things to wear. And everything here is too long!" Rebekah complained.
Klaus was just about to laugh when felt his phone ringing and immediately excused himself to answer it seeing as it was coming from Blair's phone. He let it ring one more time before he anxiously answered it.
"Darling, I was right when I told you long ago that you have the abilities of a psychic." He smiled to himself.
There was a brief pause before the person on the other end sighed. Much to his surprise and disappointment, the sigh wasn't Blair's. He knew her sigh. She had that signature span of air that only she could let out of her mouth in one go.
"Is this Klaus?" The voice said, shaky, nervous, probably knew who he was and what he was capable of.
"Where's Blair?" He demanded.
"She's missing. Someone took her. A vampire."
"Which vampire?"
"I don't know. But one of them was a blonde girl,"
"And who might this be?"
Another pause. He felt her hesitation as she disclosed her identity. And it brought him much amusement when she did.
"Serena. Serena van der Woodsen. I apologize, I just don't know who else to call."
"It's alright, Serena. Thank you for that information. You have been quite helpful."
"Are you going to look for her—?"
"No, petal, not right now. She will be fine though, I promise."
N/A: I couldn't resist. I just had to have Rebekah somewhere. I hope you stay tuned! Also, I have found yet another song for our beloved Blamon playlists.
The Garden Rules by Snow Patrol:
"You leave me with a kiss.
On my quickly heating cheek.
Oh you'll never know how much I love you so.
Oh you will never know how much I love you."
XOXO.
