Chapter 9- Oh dear.
When we had arrived at Stefan and Caroline's house, Stefan was the only one there. The house had been ransacked, everything turned over, glass shattered. Caroline was nowhere to be found. Leave it to Caroline to get kidnapped, again. I thought to myself. Now I'm probably going to have to figure out a way to get myself in there to have Stefan save her. Great.
"Don't even think about it, Elena." Damon said, before I could open my mouth. "You're not using yourself as bait. Not again." Stefan scoffed. "Why not? They were going to grab her too." I nodded "Yeah, except I was smart enough not to open the box, let alone throw the pendant around my neck. It's probably a 'calling card' or something." Stefan got in my face. "Just because you turned your emotions off doesn't mean you can be a bitch, Elena. Caroline is one of your best friends." I laughed. "Best friends ASK before going after an ex. It's part of that stupid Girl Code Caroline's always going on about." I moved closer to Stefan, our faces inches apart. "Maybe if she had some morals, she wouldn't be in this mess." His hand moved back, then came across my face. He slapped me! I growled, my lips curled back, showing my teeth. My eyes changed to black, and the veins beneath them began to grow black as well. Within seconds, I had Stefan pinned to the ground, my teeth inches from his neck when Damon ripped me away from him. He wrapped both of his arms around me tightly, ensuring I was unable to move. "Stefan, I think it's best that you get this place cleaned up, maybe you'll find some clues. I'm going to take this one home, see if I can't get her under control before we go looking for Caroline." Stefan got up off the ground, brushing himself off. "She better be under control by then, otherwise I can't promise she'll be coming back alive." I growled again. " You wish, you wimpy little vampire, I can take you anyday!" I shouted, before Damon clamped his hand down over my mouth. " Don't make me vervain you, Elena."
"This is nowhere near home." I said, sitting in the passengers seat of Damon's car, my wrists wrapped in vervain soaked rope. "I know. We're not going home. I'm taking you somewhere else." His eyes moved from the road to the ropes around my wrist. "The next stop, I promise I'll take those off. I just didn't want you ripping my head off. What was that back there?" He asked, trying to pry. " I don't know. Instinct I guess? He slapped me. You can't tell me that if someone punches you in the face, you stay as cool as a cucumber." He laughed. " No, I certainly don't. I also don't go around attacking my friends." I scoffed. " He's not my friend. Friends don't pull what they pulled." Damon rolled his eyes. "Best thing for you to do Elena, is to get back at him by moving on. Find that someone else that can make you happy. That person whos going to stay by your side, no matter what. Someone who's always there for you. You find that person, and you're truly happy, and that's the best revenge you could ever get on him for breaking your heart."
I stayed silent the rest of the ride. We stopped for gas, and Damon took the ropes off like he'd promised. We grabbed a few snacks, and found some old bum behind the gas station to satiate our cravings, wiping his memory, and giving him enough money to rent a room and clean himself up. We had been driving for hours, nothing but the sound of the radio. Once we stopped, I looked around, noticing nothing but trees surrounding us. "Where are we?" I asked him, but he was already grabbing everything out of the trunk. " We're going on a little camping trip. Just a couple of days." I rolled my eyes. " You're trying to get me to turn my emotions back on, aren't you? You let them get into your head!" I went to run, but when I did, I was stopped by running into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, and I tried to get out of his hold. " I'm alot stronger than you, Elena. You could do this all day, I won't get tired." I looked up at him, squinting my eyes. " You're not going to get me to turn my emotions back on. Not out here, not anywhere. If you think bringing me out into the woods was a good idea, you were sadly mistaken my-" There was a sharp pain in my neck, and then I saw nothing but black.
When I woke up, we were in a crypt, dimly lit by candles. Damon had been over in the corner reading. I tried to get up, but the chains keeping my wrists a foot away from the floor stopped me. " Wow. Chains. That's new." I said. Damon chuckled. " There she is, the little spitfire. Nice nap?" He asked, tossing me a small bottle with enough blood in it to help me feel a little better. I took it all in one sip. "Not exactly. Why don't we get this over with, hmm? I'm sure you've got some good shots to throw at me this time." He laughed. " You're the one making this difficult. You just don't want to switch it back on, do you?" I shook my head. " Why would I want to? If I did, there'd be too much pain. I'd be a mess for weeks. Probably try to stake myself. And then what? You blame yourselves because I was unhappy? Please."
Days had passed, maybe even weeks. I still hadn't cracked. Damon had gone back to get a few 'trigger items' to try and help me flip my emotions back on. I notice something different about my finger this time- No daylight ring. That jerk took my daylight ring! I thought to myself. A few hours of nothing but staring at the walls goes by, before Damon walks back into my 'cell'. "Here, I thought you might want a change of clothes, A blanket, brought you a few pictures, too." He set the box of things down and slid them over to me. Inside the box was a bottle of blood, and my daylight rind. "Couldn't risk you getting out and taking off on me." He said with a chuckle. I pulled the pictures out, one by one. There were some of Bonnie and I on our trips, some of Damon and I when we finished up the first half of the garden out back. There was one in particular that struck me, and it took absolutely no time at all for anger to come flying back. The picture in my hand was the day Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie and I had graduated from Mystic Falls High School. Stefan and I were still together, and in this picture, you could see the love in our eyes. It was a beautiful picture. I couldn't look at it anymore, and I threw the frame at the wall with as much force as I could, watching the glass shatter into a million pieces. Damon's eyes were wide, as he walked into the cell, closing the door behind him.
"I don't think that's the best idea for her right now, Stefan. We've hauled her up out here for months now. She needs a break, but you and Caroline coming up here for dinner isn't going to make things any better. She already told you that she doesn't want to see or speak to either one of you right now. I'd let her be. She may have only had her emotions off for a couple months, but it's still crushing her. I don't want to overwhelm her and have her shut them off again, alright? Just let me do what I'm here to do, and all will be fine by June. I promise." It had been weeks after Damon broke me out of my trance, and I'd refused to leave the Lake house. I stood in the doorway as Damon hung up the phone. " You know, giving them false hope about my attendance to their wedding, is just as bad as tying me up in a cell, in the middle of the woods, for 3 months." He handed me a mug filled with coffee. " I said I was sorry, Elena. It was for your own good." I rolled my eyes. " I know, I know." He made his own cup of coffee, throwing a little burbon into it. " So what's on the agenda for today?" I sighed. " I don't know. I was thinking maybe I should get out of the house for a few hours, maybe take a hike up the mountain." He smiled. "Well then let's go." "Wait, I didn't say you could come with me..." He smiled, even wider this time. " I don't need your permission to go hiking in the woods."
I changed quickly, meeting Damon by the front door of the Lake house. Sometime in the last few weeks, we'd ended up back at the lake house. Must've been during one of my crying fits. I wasted no time in heading up towards the hiking trail, leaving Damon to catch up. I reached the top of the mountain in no time, using my vamp speed to get up there. I sat on a large rock, looking over the horizon. Damon came up behind me not too long after I had sat down, dropping a bag down onto the grass. " Wow." He said, as he sat on the rock beside me. All I could do was nod. "It's beautiful up here." I said, and I could feel his eyes on me. " I meant the sunset, Damon." He chuckled, wrapping his left arm around me, hugging me. "Glad to see you out of the house today, Elena." He said, smiling. I looked over at him, smiling back. " Listen, I know I haven't been your favorite person to be around the last few months ..." He laughed again. " Elena, you'll always be my favorite person." I smiled wider. " ... I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I should be out there helping Stefan find Caroling, instead I've been hauled up here, because I can't get over Stefan. You're right, I need to move on with my life. I need someone who makes me truly happy ..." I turned and looked him in the eyes. He held my face in his hands for a few moments, before letting go, looking back out to the sunset.
