Previously in "Firsts"…
Damon blinked with shock as he wiped the champagne on his sleeve, listening as her sobs disappeared down the hall. He glanced down at the crystal in his hand, not noticing Stefan enter the room.
"Are you insane?"
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Damon's eyes narrowed with irritation as he glared at his little brother. Stefan had stormed into the room and his hazel eyes were wild.
"You cannot let Katherine out of that tomb. You can't! Have you even thought about how that will affect Elena? Have you even thought about what Katherine might do to someone who looks just like her? She doesn't like competition, Damon; it gets in the way of her damn games!"
"Why do you care so much?" Damon snapped as he inconspicuously pocketed the crystal. "The last time I checked, you were Blondie's boyfriend, not Elena's."
Stefan's eyes narrowed as he advanced on his brother. "Is it such a bad thing for me to feel compassion toward more than one person, Damon?"
"I do feel compassion, brother," Damon hissed through clenched teeth.
"For Katherine," Stefan hissed back, positively glaring. "She toyed with us, Damon! How can you still love her?"
"Because I always have!" Damon yelled, pushing Stefan away. "Unlike you!"
"You're not doing this," Stefan snarled. "I won't let you!"
"How're you going to stop me, Stefan? You're certainly not strong enough."
Damon sneered as he spoke and he made his way out of the room, Stefan following closely behind.
"How do you think you're going to get her out? You'd need a witch, Damon!"
Damon smirked slightly as he walked down the staircase. "I have a witch, Stefan," he remarked, and Stefan froze with shock.
"You what…?"
"Actually, I had two witches. One of them became a problem, and had to be exterminated."
Stefan narrowed his eyes further. "Who did you kill, Damon?"
Damon rolled his eyes. "That's no concern of yours, brother; none of this is. I plan on getting Katherine out, and then I'll be gone for good."
The smirk on Damon's lips sent a shiver down Stefan's spine, and his next words made Damon freeze in his path toward the door.
"What about Elena? Forget about what Katherine will do to her; she cares about you, Damon. At least, she did. Why would you throw that away for a woman who may not return your obsessive feelings?"
Damon clenched his fists. "Katherine does care about me…!"
"You're dodging my question, brother."
Whirling, Damon threw his hands up with exasperation. "What about her, Stefan? She's human; she'll forget about me in a few months and move on, just like they always do. It's not like I was her boyfriend!"
Stefan shook his head, walking straight up to Damon and staring into his eyes, searching desperately for any sign of the brother he used to know; of his brother's humanity.
"But will you forget about her?"
Damon stared his brother down threw cold blue eyes, swallowing a bit hard as an unrecognizable emotion flickered through them. He was brought back briefly to that night in Georgia; Elena singing, Elena crying, kissing Elena…
"Yes. I'll forget about her."
Without another word, Damon turned and blurred out the back door of the mansion, leaving Stefan standing in the door frame, the chill of the cool night sweeping over him. Running a hand through his brown hair, he shook his head and closed the door, heading off in search of Caroline.
Outside, Damon stopped running and leaned against a tree deep in the forest, putting a hand to his head. Damn Stefan. Damn him and his insightful inquisition. Of course, he was going to let Katherine out; he owed it to her. He… loved her.
But there was no way he'd be able to just forget Elena Gilbert.
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Jenna looked up from her book with confusion when she heard the door open. Elena couldn't be back yet; it had only been around two hours.
"Elena?" she asked, getting to her feet and walking out of the living room. Her eyes widened when she saw the tearful state her niece was in, and she rushed forward. "What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it," she croaked, shoving past Jenna and bolting for the stairs.
"Elena!" Jenna yelled, dashing after her just as she reached her room.
"Leave me alone!"
Jenna flinched when Elena slammed her door and she heard the lock slide into place, followed in suit by hysterical sobbing. Gritting her teeth, she stalked down the stairs and shook her head. "That bastard…"
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Collapsing on her bed, Elena curled up into a ball of emotional agony, sobbing heavily into her pillow. How could he have done this to her? She had cared about him, and she'd thought he cared about her…
But it's always been Katherine, that incessant voice in the back of her mind purred mockingly, you were just a toy; a meaningless practice object he used until he got the real thing.
She had wanted to find out if Damon cared, and she had gotten her answer. It just hadn't been the answer she wanted.
Sitting up, she furiously yanked the golden, crow patterned locket from around her throat and tossed it across the room, watching with satisfaction as it burst open and the vervain scattered along her floor. How could she have been so stupid? So naïve…
Stefan was right, she thought, He really is nothing but a bastard… an evil, manipulative, undeserving bastard…
Her fingers quivering, she picked up her phone and dialed Bonnie's number. It felt like it had been days since she'd seen her best friend and, in reality, it had been. Bonnie hadn't been in school, but she had been too wrapped up in all of her Damon Drama to notice until now.
Of course, Bonnie didn't pick up. The phone rang at least fifteen times before Elena simply gave up, tossing the phone across the room with frustration and pent up anger, mostly at herself.
How could she have been so stupid?
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"What the hell is going on?"
"Less talk, little girl; I need your help."
Bonnie glared angrily as she attempted to tug her arm free from Damon Salvatore's vicelike grip.
"Let me go! What the hell is wrong with you?"
Damon rolled his eyes, tugging her in a flash behind the Grill where he had found her, making her cry out with shock.
"I know your secret, Bonnie, and you're going to help me with something."
Bonnie looked around wildly, screaming at the top of her lungs. "HELP…!"
Growling softly, Damon grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him, staring into her eyes. "Shut your damn mouth. Now."
Compelled, Bonnie did as she was told.
"Now, let me continue," smirking, Damon released her arms. "I know you're a witch, Bonnie, and you're going to help me with a spell that your ancestor cast, in order to help me get back something very important."
Bonnie's eyes went wide. "You… you know… how…?"
"You're a Bennett. It was obvious."
"My ancestor…? What spell?"
Lounging against the wall, Damon grinned. "Your ancestor, Emily Bennett, came to Mystic Falls in 1864 with a woman named Katherine Pierce; a woman who is currently locked in a tomb under Fell's Church." A frown pulling at his lips, Damon said more icily, "A woman I want back."
"What makes you so sure I can help you?" Bonnie asked, not fully processing what he was saying. "I only know a few spells, and I've only known that I was a witch since recently…"
"You're a Bennett," Damon said again, his tone growing more clipped with every moment that passed. "Ergo, you're powerful. You could do this with your eyes closed."
Bonnie frowned, taking a step closer to him. "What would you want with someone who's been trapped under a church for centuries? All that will be left is bones."
Damon snorted. "Oh, naïve little Bonnie… Don't tell me your Grammy didn't teach you about vampires…"
Bonnie froze with her eyes wide. "What?"
Blurring forward, Damon extended his fangs and pinned Bonnie to the wall by her neck, his tone menacing. "You're going to do this spell, or I'll tear out your jugular."
Screaming with terror, Bonnie felt the sharp fangs pierce the skin of her throat.
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Elena sighed heavily as she ran a hand through her hair, gazing at herself in her mirror. She had showered and gotten into a pair of her PJs, and was prepared to do nothing but sleep for the rest of the weekend. Sleep, and maybe cry. Maybe she'd even watch the Notebook. But that was just so she could have a valid reason to explain her constant tears to Jenna.
Sighing, she sat down on the edge of her bed and glanced over at the broken locket across the room. She had gotten past the angry stage, and now she just felt as broken as the necklace. Broken, useless, worthless; the whole bit. She should have known better.
"A love that consumes me," she quoted, scoffing. "Right. Thanks for failing to mention that you were going to toss me to the side for my doppelganger…"
Squeezing her eyes shut, Elena pulled back her blankets and crawled under the covers, flicking her light off and closing her eyes. She knew that Damon wasn't worth her tears.
But that didn't stop her from crying herself to sleep.
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"I can't do it," Bonnie croaked miserably as Damon towed her toward Fell's Church through the dark graveyard. "I'm not strong enough… I don't even know the spell…"
"Figure it out," Damon said, stepping over the ruined stone wall of the church and stomping roughly on a spot on the old floor until it collapsed beneath him and he landed gracefully, catlike, tugging Bonnie down with him. She screamed with terror and Damon, once again, rolled his eyes.
"Don't be such a baby," he grumbled, turning around in the darkness and grinning with almost boyish excitement as he saw the writing on the wall; the door to the tomb. The door to Katherine; the door to his happiness…
"I have to open that?" Bonnie asked breathlessly, knowing then and there that this would inevitably be the death of her, one way or another. "I can't possibly…!"
"Try!" Damon shouted, snatching her hand up and dropping the amber crystal into her palm, pointing to the door. "Now; use your witchy juju and that thing to get her out."
"I don't know how!"
Damon glared, grabbing her neck and yanking her to him, staring down into her frightened eyes. "You're lying," he muttered icily, and she squirmed in his grip. "You do know; you just won't do it."
Bonnie's eyes turned just as icy as his at that, and she glared back up at him. "How stupid do you really think I am? I've spent the past week and a half with my Grams!"
"And what did the Queen Witch teach you?" Damon asked, tightening his grip.
"About my ancestors," Bonnie wheezed, maintaining her glare. "About Emily. About what she did."
"Then you know how to undo it."
"But I won't."
"Why?" Damon yelled, tossing her to the ground. "You do the spell, I get Katherine and I let you live. You don't, I kill you. I don't know about you, Bonnie, but I don't really see another option here."
Rubbing her neck, Bonnie shook her head. "I won't do it because Emily put those vampires in there for a reason. To protect people like me from them. Why in hell would I jeopardise what's worked for the past century and a half?"
"Because if you don't let out one of the vampires in there, nothing is going to protect you from the one out here."
Bonnie's resolve slipped a bit as she realized it was true; Grams had only told her about vampires, and told her there were spells that could protect her. The thing was, she hadn't gotten around to actually teaching them to her yet. Either she opened that tomb, or she died.
But, if you open that tomb, many others will die at your expense, a velvety voice said in the back of her mind, and Bonnie couldn't place who it was that was speaking. But she knew the voice was right.
"If I let Katherine out, you two will probably massacre all of Mystic Falls. Why in hell would I help you do that?"
"Once again; if you don't help me, I can kill all of them on my own just as easily as I can kill you."
The sadistic grin on Damon's lips made Bonnie realize he was entirely serious. He would murder them all and not feel a drop of guilt. People, monsters like Damon Salvatore didn't feel guilty. Glaring, Bonnie slowly got to her feet. "Promise to leave town as soon as she's out. Promise me that, and I'll do it."
Damon smirked with satisfaction and lounged against one of the dusty walls, nodding. "I give you my word, Witchy; give me my vampire, and you have two of them out of your hair for good. It's two for the price of one."
Bonnie didn't laugh at his joke, and placed the crystal in the palm of her hand, standing in the moonlight so that it cast glittering patterns on the door, and she hesitantly began to murmur the words Grams had taught her a few days ago.
"Maledicite solis qui custodit vos intus, confringe maledictio, quæ ligat muros hos. Monstra dimittere lunam errare eos libera me magno pretio o. Pigeat, nascetur CORUSCO, et sanguis volare, sed non erit qui sentiunt fortiores I. Quibus fractis medetur sum qui percussit muros recepit nocturna animalia misit tenebras. Back ad libertatem est. Ad diem malum, moenia surgunt!"
Watching with a lifted eyebrow, Damon scowled when nothing happened. "It's not working, Bonnie…"
"I'm trying!" she yelled, squeezing her eyes shut with frustration. She wasn't ready for this level of magic. She hadn't practiced enough. Why the hell couldn't he see that?
"Try harder."
Shaking with anger, Bonnie slowly repeated the words, and somehow the emotion seemed to fuel the power, for the symbol on the door began to glow a fiery red, then an orange, then a blazing bright yellow, and flames erupted around her as the door slowly slid open.
"Pigeat, nascetur CORUSCO, et sanguis volare, sed non erit qui sentiunt fortiores I. Quibus fractis medetur sum qui percussit muros recepit nocturna animalia misit tenebras. Back ad libertatem est. Ad diem malum, moenia surgunt!"
Smirking with satisfaction, Damon started forward. "Keep it up, Witchy; we're almost done here."
Yes, we are, Bonnie thought as he entered the tomb, and she attempted to stop chanting. But she couldn't. She wasn't used to this kind of magic, and she knew now that she never should have attempted it. It was taking her over; operating on its own. As much as she wanted to stop and slam that stone door shut behind Damon, she couldn't.
Within the tomb, Damon pulled a small flashlight and a bag of blood from his inner suit jacket pocket, flicking the light on and shining it around as he walked deeper.
"Oh Miss Katherine," he said with a grin, shining the light over the numerous mummy like creatures surrounding him. "I brought you something to drink…"
Damon continued to search, certain that she must have been put in fairly deep in the tomb, frowning when he still didn't find her. Had he missed her? He looked over the bodies again; nope. Once more; still nothing. Yet another time, just to be sure; no sign of the curly brown hair he had spent the past hundred years of his life missing.
"Katherine…?"
No response.
Katherine Pierce wasn't here. No matter how many bodies he pushed over in search of her, Katherine was nowhere in sight.
Katherine wasn't in the tomb.
Immediately, Damon's memory flashed back to a conversation he'd had a few weeks ago.
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"You're just wasting your time, baby cakes; Katherine ain't in that tomb."
"What the hell makes you think that?" he hissed at Bree. Damon had stalked into the bar early that morning before he and Elena had headed home, determined to find out what she was keeping from him. He hadn't very much liked her answer.
"A few weeks ago? A woman came into my bar. I thought; gosh, she looks familiar. Real pretty thing; brown eyes, long, wavy brown hair, and a great rack. I couldn't place where I'd seen her before."
"Don't be stupid," Damon said with a roll of his eyes. "You've never even seen Katherine before. How would you know it was her?"
"Oh, honey pie," Bree said with a harsh laugh. "You really ought to keep a better watch on your old photos. That one from Katherine's funeral that went missing after we hooked up? The one you spent years looking for?"
Reaching behind the bar, Bree pulled out an old, faded piece of paper. "Here's how I knew it was her."
Damon snatched the brittle paper away from the witch so quickly that it tore it half, making him exhale a horrified, short breath. He was staring at the upper half of Katherine's head, from the eyes up, with the date of her birth (rumored birth) and her death marked on it.
"You bitch," Damon croaked, glaring as he clenched his fists and let the paper float to the ground. "Why the hell did you take it?"
Bree shrugged. "I figured if you needed to look for something missing, you might stay a little longer. I'd get a bit more sex. Of course, that didn't work for long." She narrowed her eyes. "I was stupid then. I'm not now. Don't even try to compel me; I put vervain in every damn thing I drink."
Hissing furiously as his fangs extended, Damon grabbed Bree's neck and pinned her down against the bar. "Katherine is in that tomb," he snarled, tightening his strangle hold on her. "And, when I get her out, we're going to have a great little buffet of everyone you've ever loved."
With that, he thrust his hand into her chest and squeezed her heart roughly before yanking it from her body, watching the light fade from her eyes.
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"She's not here…"
Damon looked around frantically, unable to believe his eyes. "No. No, no, no…"
She wouldn't do this to him. Katherine wouldn't lead him on. She wouldn't have allowed him to chase her for years like this. She loved him, and he loved her, and they had to be together…
"No… no, you have to be here… You were supposed to be here…"
Tossing a body to the side with such force that its head snapped off, Damon gave an agonized howl of rage.
"SHE'S NOT HERE!"
Tossing the back of blood and his flashlight aside, Damon blurred out of the tomb at top speed and grabbed the still chanting Bonnie, tossing her against the wall, causing her to pass out from exhaustion, not to mention whacking her head against the rock.
"See this, Emily?" he yelled, his voice echoing through the night as he grabbed Bonnie and tossed her across the room again at top speed. "Do you see this, you dead fucking lying bitch? Remember when I promised to protect your damn bloodline? Huh? Do you? In exchange for Katherine? Well, Emily…"
Rushing forward, Damon grabbed Bonnie's limp body and tossed her over his shoulder.
"Deal's off!"