Damon sat alone at the bar in the diner with a shot glass in front of him. It was still pretty early in the day for him to be drinking. Ok very early, and people were giving him weird looks. He wasn't sure if it was because of the alcohol or because of how irresistibly handsome he was but he didn't care. He downed the glass in front of him and set it on the table and the waitress came around with a bottle to refill his glass.
"A bit early to be drinking isn't it?" she asked him pouring the yellowish liquid into the small glass.
"Save it for someone who cares." Damon told her and downed another glass.
"Suit yourself." She said refilling the glass and walked away leaving him alone with his thoughts. Why was all this happening? he asked himself this was all supposed to end. I mean couldn't they all be happy just once!? All he wanted to do is settle down with Elena and take a break from this saving the world business. It looked like the universe wasn't going to let him do that. The universe that told him he and Elena couldn't be together.
"Well you were wrong." he said aloud to no one imparticular and got up from his seat. He walked out onto the street and made his way up the sidewalk parallel with the road. The difference between him and most people was that he knew how to control himself when most people couldn't. Every time he fed he should be like Stefan he should lose himself so much that he forgot everything and tore his prey apart. But he didn't. He was able to control himself, in his weakest moments he was able to find that one thing that kept him tethered to his humanity and his consciousness to keep him from killing. The same was true for alcohol, some people simply didn't have a tolerance. While others didn't know how to control themselves. But Damon did, he was able to stay sober even when he was drunk. It was only when he lost sight of his tether that he truly lost himself. No, alcohol was a medicine it was like morphine to numb the pain. Pain that was felt in a day to day basis. The alcohol was his switch to stop the pain, a switch that he could use and control at will.
He continued walking up the street and found himself passing the alley which led to the diner in front of which the woman was killed. The alley looked cold and deserted now unlike last night where it was crowded and full of people. He narrowed his eyes and found that he could see a glimpse of yellow tape blocking off the crime scene. In a split second decision he began walking towards the yellow tape and the place where the woman was found. As he approached he found that everything was much more visible in the daylight and he could now notice tiny details that were overlooked before. The pool of blood had been cleaned up and the body had been moved, but the street's rain gutters still held traces of the red liquid. Damon froze the gears in his mind churning there was so much blood the night before. Too much. The puncture wounds on the woman's body were the trademark of a vampire but the enormous amount of blood left was uncharacteristic of a starved creature of the night. A blood thirsty vampire would have been too hungry to want to spill a single drop. So why was there so much blood left?
Damon wasn't able to finish his thought since he was quickly hit in the back of the head with a hard object. He felt his knees grow weak and his vision go black as he sunk to the ground. Hands grabbed him to slow his fall and a hand was placed over his mouth to prevent a gasp of surprise. His vision faded and he fell unconscious.
"Really Elena, I don't think this is a good idea." Alaric told Elena as she dragged him and Jeremy into the different shops to see what they were.
"Come on Rick. You haven't really been outside much since we got here. Your teaching career can wait you need to get out and live a little." she told him.
"I think I've already lived too much." he muttered inaudibly and kept walking.
"What's wrong, you haven't been yourself lately." Elena asked.
"Oh it's nothing." he lied. "Come on lets just... see what's in these shops." he told her as a cover up and walked into the closest store. Elena and Jeremy followed him and they found themselves inside what appeared to be a pawn shop filled with the most random objects. The shop seemed deserted and eerily quiet. Dust still lay on most of the things signifying that not many people had touched them. The wood of a floorboard creaked behind her and Elena turned around to face a thin pale old man with a long thin nose.
"May I help you?" He asked staring intently at Elena with mild curiosity.
"Um, we were just looking."
The man nodded. "Come to me if you are looking for anything imparticular. My name is Mr. Gould." he introduced himself.
"Elena." she said and she noticed Mr. Gould's eyes widen a fraction. "Elena Gilbert."
"Ah, Mrs. Gilbert. Yes, ask me if you need anything. Anything at all." he told her.
The day went by quickly as Stefan and Caroline walked around trying to find more information about the people in the town. It was obvious to all of them that something strange was going on judging by what Damon and Elena had described. They walked down Main Street thinking as to where that kind of information would be stored. Pretty soon they came up upon a tall building. As they looked up they saw a giant clock at the top of the tower slowly ticking. The sign in front of them at the base of the building read "Library".
"You don't think..." Caroline asked not finishing her sentence and Stefan nodded.
"Maybe." he answered pushing open the door of the library.
The room inside was dark illuminated only by the windows that were mostly boarded up on the sides. The entire place looked empty. Filled with dusty books on bookshelves the library looked uninhabited. Caroline began to walk up the aisles checking the titles on the books.
"These all look like..."
"Fairytales." A voice said in the back of the room. Caroline squinted to see who it was and relaxed when she recognized Bonnie walking out of the shadows.
"They're all fairytales." Bonnie commented she walked down the same aisle as Caroline and read the names on the books. "Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast... these are all stories I read as a child."
"But this library has to have something other than fairytales right?" Caroline asked looking from Bonnie to Stefan.
"Isn't it strange to you that there is no one else here. I mean shouldn't there be a librarian or something?" Stefan asked. Bonnie and Caroline looked at each other and nodded.
"Well there's no one here to kick us out. Let's see what else is in here."
Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie spent the entire day searching the rest of the library for clues only stopping when the lighting in the room changed from yellow to a dull red signifying the sunset.
"I think we should head back." Caroline called after the 4th hour.
"Yeah there's nothing here." Stefan said.
"You guys go on i'll stay a little while longer." Bonnie said and Stefan and Caroline left and headed towards the diner. Halfway there Caroline felt her phone buzz. She looked at it and saw that it was a text from Klaus instructing her to meet him at a certain restaurant in an hour and a half. She rolled her eyes and walked into the diner. She and Stefan parted ways as they went upstairs into their individual rooms.
Caroline walked immediately to the closet where she had already hung up most of her clothes. To her dismay she realized that most of her elegant dresses were back in Mystic Falls. Uggh she sighed frustrated and walked over to her bed. She froze as she saw a delicate box laying on top of the sheets. It was wrapped carefully in blue wrapping paper with a silver bow on top. She walked up to it hesitantly and slid the lid off the rather large box. Inside was another dress similar but different from the one he had given her before.
"Seriously!" She exclaimed to no one imparticular as she held up the dress and laid it against herself to see how it looked. Even she couldn't deny, the dress was beautiful. She felt her heart melting a little at the sweet gesture but then replaced that thought with disgust. She was afraid of what she felt when she looked at Klaus. He was rude, cruel and even a little evil and she shouldn't be anywhere near him but part of her couldn't help but remember the moments when Klaus took down that wall of arrogance and gave her the slightest glimpse at the person behind it. That person that she saw wasn't mean or cruel he was simply a person who was lost and longed for companionship.
Part of her was even more afraid to admit that she saw that side of him for the fear that she was wrong. The other part couldn't help but relate with the mutual loneliness and the urge to find something more. She sighed and carefully put on the dress, it was knee length with a baby blue hue. Which sparkly translucent fabric covered the dress with artistic elegance and the sweetheart neckline was covered with silver sparkles. Walking over to her closet she found silver heeled shoes that matched the dress and put them on. She walked over to the mirror and surprised herself when she saw her reflection. It was beautiful and matched her eyes perfectly. She mentally reminded herself that she wasn't going to be bought with a dress and that if Klaus really was different than he appeared, he would have to prove it.
