Sorry for the long wait, but I'm back on track!
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Huge thank you goes to ThroughMySoul44 for her help on this chapter.
For minutes, time seemed to stop. Elena looked at the man, her mouth wide open, unable to think of anything to say. Her name…Elena Gilbert. She hadn't heard that in way too long. She had been Yana, Laura, 24197, Yvette, but never Elena, not in this place. It was as if that name had been erased from her soul. While her heart screamed for her to throw herself at his feet and tell him that yes, she was Elena Gilbert, her mind stopped her. She couldn't tell anyone her real name. She had become a number now.
The man kept staring at her as if in disbelief. "Elena?" He tried again.
Elena closed her eyes tightly, and after a few more moments of hesitation, she spoke. "No." After all, she wasn't completely lying. A lot of Elena Gilbert was gone.
"Yes," Klaus said, taking a few steps towards her.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Elena turned away from him and started to unzip her dress.
"Stop." Klaus told her, taking her hand, lightly, in his. The gentleness of his gesture made her freeze.
"Damon Salvatore sent me," He said after a while, and at that, Elena's eyes met his. Her face softened, as if all the coldness she had feigned disappeared at the sound of his name…as if Elena Gilbert returned.
"D-Damon?"
"Yes," Klaus insisted, taking a few steps towards her. "You can trust me, Elena."
"Where is he? Does he know I'm h-here?" She stammered.
"Elena, calm down," Klaus said, almost whispering. "Damon does not know I'm here."
"What?" Elena sat down on the bed and looked at him, clearly not trusting him. Klaus sighed and sat down.
"He's been looking everywhere for you," Klaus told her, swallowing thickly. "I was helping him…but I didn't know that you were here. It was a coincidence."
"Why would you even be here?" Elena gasped, a tear falling from her cheek. "You don't know what they do to us here. The things they make us do…"
Klaus bit his lip and said nothing. He shrugged off her comment easily. "I'll inform Damon about this. We can get you out, but it's not going to be easy. This place's like a fucking maze, and I'm sure that the pimps running this joint are not stupid. There are iron gates everywhere."
"I know," Elena said through tired eyes, "Just please…tell Damon to come here. I want to see him."
"I will," He promised her.
When Klaus left the brothel, it was around four in the morning. Elena remained immobile on the bed before she put her pyjamas on, thankful that she got the night off, for once. This news gave her hope, because she knew, in her heart, that Damon was going to do everything in his power to get her out of there. Despite his flaws, Damon cared about her. She knew that-it was a feeling. Even though he hadn't been the perfect gentleman towards her and he had done some things to her that hurt her, she knew that somehow there was a reason for his behaviour. She wasn't quite sure of how to explain it, but she trusted him even though he had done some things to her that she found confusing and misleading. Up to this day, she still couldn't understand why Damon had kidnapped her, why he acted possessive at times and caring in others, like when he had slept with her for the first time. She knew that he was selfless back then. Her mind flashed back to a few weeks before she was taken. They had started to build a life together…he had changed, for better. His change in demeanor used to scare her up until that point, but happiness had followed.
She fell asleep with a smile on her face. Somehow, she knew that she was going to be saved.
Damon woke up to the sound of his phone ringing loudly. He growled and his hands went to the nightstand where he struggled to find the phone with one eye open. When he finally found it, opened his mouth to offend whoever it was that woke him up at eight in the morning, which, for Damon, was way too early. Before he could even utter a single offense, Klaus's voice filled his ears, a voice full of excitement.
"Damon, it's me!" Klaus said quickly.
"What's wrong?" Damon sat up on the bed and straightened.
"I have to talk to you, urgently."
"Klaus, calm down. Tell me, what's going on?" Damon asked impatiently, the excitement in his friend's voice making him feel agitated.
"I found your girl," Klaus whispered in the phone, "I know where she is."
Damon remained frozen, the phone in his hands as if unable to comprehend what was being said. "What are you saying, Klaus?"
"I can't talk to you about this on the phone," Klaus said, "I'm coming to your house."
"Yes," Damon replied, shooting up from the bed. "Hurry up!"
The hour Damon spent waiting felt like an eternity and when Klaus finally arrived, Damon invited him in without wasting a second. Klaus sat on the sofa while Damon poured him a drink impatiently.
"What's going on, Klaus? Where's Elena?"
Klaus took a deep breath. "Damon, sit down."
"Klaus, just spit it out!"
"I will, as soon you sit down," Klaus said again, drinking the scotch in a single gulp.
Damon sighed and sat down, his eyes locked with Klaus's. "What's wrong? Where's Elena?" If he were human, his heart would've started to pound feverishly.
"I've been hanging out with Dimitri," Klaus started, shifting uncomfortably. "You know him…He works for Wes."
Damon nodded his head, still a bit confused.
"I've been hanging out with him for a while…" Klaus said, as if he was trying to avoid the subject.
"Why are we talking about Dimitri?" Damon snapped. "Klaus, what are you hiding from me?"
Klaus took a deep breath, ignoring Damon's comments. "He took me to this brothel, I've never been there before and-"
Damon shook his head. "Brothel? What brothel, Klaus? What are you talking about?"
"It belongs to a certain vampire…Adam," Klaus continued. "I don't know him, I've never met him."
Damon stared at his friend like he was crazy. "I didn't think you were the brothel-type."
"I'm not," Klaus insisted. "Anyway. This brothel…In this brothel, last night, I m-met a girl-"
Damon's eyebrows narrowed as Klaus stammered, struggling to go through with the sentence. "Klaus?"
"I m-met E-Elena," He finally squeaked out.
Damon froze on the spot, his eyes looking at his friend's face as if he were expecting Klaus to laugh and tell him that it was all some sort of sick joke. However, Klaus's face remained serious and for a while, Damon thought that the entire world had collapsed on his shoulders.
"No," Damon shook his head repetitively like a mad man, "It has to be a mistake."
"It's not," Klaus insisted. "Her name is Elena Gilbert, Damon. Your Elena."
"No," Damon shook his head, "It can't be. Elena…She couldn't have been taken there." Wes couldn't have taken her there. There was no way she could ever survive living that kind of life…That abuse.
"But she was," Klaus put a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. "She was dancing with the rest of the girls. She didn't reveal much but I think these girls were forced into prostitution…some sort of illegal sexual slavery. None of the girls are there out of their own free will."
"Oh my God," Damon said, shooting up from the couch and pouring himself a drink. He drank the stuff like water.
"Damon…alcohol's not going to help."
"Just this one…" Damon mumbled, pouring himself another. "It can't be. Elena…She suffered so much. She was raped so many times, I-I can't…"
"Damon, calm down, you're panicking," Klaus tried to say.
"They forced her to become a prostitute!" Damon roared, "Is this where all of the guardians were taken, to brothels around the world?"
"Damon, you always knew that as soon as we handed the girls over-"
"But not brothels!" Damon yelled, "Not this kind of torture! Do you understand why I did not want to be a part of this? I-all those girls…"
"I didn't know they were being taken to brothels, either," Klaus admitted. "But that shouldn't concern us, Damon. You only want Elena…"
"What I want is to get her out of there and leave all this Guardian shit alone," Damon shouted. "I'm done, Klaus. I'm done hurting women, I'm done kidnapping, I'm done making them believe that I care for them as they let me fuck them, and I'm done with Wes. These are innocent people! We should've destroyed the Guardians, not the Guardians-to-be…they were normal people, people who might not even had one Guardian symptom. But no, we broke them anyway…and don't tell me that we did this as precaution. Wes wanted us to hurt innocent people. It was never about us trying to protect our race. The Guardians-to-be are still human, they're not dangerous."
"Maybe you're right," Klaus said, but then he sighed. "But I cannot blame Wes on this one. It's much easier to kill the Guardian when it's in its early stages, when it's still a Guardian-to-be…"
"Cut this crap, Klaus. You know that none of this makes sense. We should've focused on the real enemy, the Guardian, not some poor girl that does not even know why all of this happened to her. She didn't even have one Guardian symptom."
He continued to pour the scotch, but Klaus flashed in front of him and slapped the bottle away, sending it crashing to the floor.
"Damon, focus," Klaus urged him. "You're forgetting the most important part of this. Elena," He added quickly. "She's locked up in there and she asked for you. She needs you, Damon. And we have to figure out a way, together, to get her out of there."
"It can't be that difficult…" Damon straightened up, full of hope, but the look on his friend's face convinced him otherwise.
"The place is enormous, Damon. There are a lot of guards, a lot of vampires, and the place is iron barred. It's not easy getting one of their girls out."
"How did you get in, then?"
"Getting in is easy if you're a guest and you're paying. But they obviously recognise their own girls. No girl can get out unless they want her to."
Damon put his hands on his chin and started to pace around the room hastily. "The first thing I have to do is get in there. I have to talk to her…I have to spare her from another man."
"That's not going to be a problem," Klaus said. "Adam runs the brothel and I've never seen him with Wes. Wes doesn't have anything to do with the brothel so no one's going to keep you out. You'd get in like a normal customer. They work on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays."
"So the show is tonight."
"Yes," Klaus confirmed. "You can talk to her, Damon. You can tell her that we are trying to get her out but you cannot free her tonight. You'll put all of us at risk. We have to plan this out carefully."
"I know, the last thing I want to do is put Elena in danger."
"Then you cannot free her, not tonight," Klaus insisted. "You don't know the place but I do. She'll never make it out without a proper plan."
"I got it," Damon said through clenched teeth, "But I'm not leaving her there for too long, do you understand? I can't stand the thought of Elena suffering because of me."
Klaus nodded his head. "I understand, Damon. But keep Elena's safety in mind."
Chores started a bit early that day and by eight, the girls were ready, lined up like soldiers as the superiors checked that everything was clean. They were given breakfast early, so they couldn't wait to enjoy some free time now. Adam looked at the girls and nodded when he found everything to his liking.
"24197, stay here. I need to talk to you."
Elena froze on the spot and her roommate, the blonde bitch, looked at her and smirked before leaving.
Elena looked down as Adam walked towards her slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.
"Elena, I am a bit concerned by the amount of weight you've put on," He said casually. "Your roommate, whose number I have forgotten right now, informed me that you were eating cake during breakfast yesterday. Is this true, 24197?"
Elena froze.
"You will speak when I ask you to speak!" He barked.
"Yes, sir."
"And where did you get it? Did you steal it?" He continued to bark.
"N-no, s-sir…It was given to m-me," Elena stammered.
"What about today?" He continued to ask cruelly, "What have you eaten?"
"Two pieces of toast, sir, and a yoghurt."
Adam sighed. "I want you to be like the others, sweetheart. I can't afford to have any overweight girls."
Elena nodded her head slightly.
"Look at yourself," Adam turned Elena around and put his hands on her shoulders. "Do you think you are skinny enough for this job? Tell me, sweetheart."
His fingers started to draw patterns on her body.
"You're right, sir, I shouldn't have eaten that cake."
"And breakfast today," Adam added.
"Sir, I only ate what was given to me, just like the other girls."
"Speaking out of term again, I see," Adam smirked, amused.
"I'm sorry, sir-"
"You need to be put on a special diet," Adam continued. "I want you to lose weight."
"I really am sorry for eating this much, sir," Elena said robotically.
Adam smirked evilly. "Throw it up."
"Excuse me?" Elena asked, alarmed.
"You heard me. Throw it up."
"Sir, p-please…"
"Do you want a beating, 24197?" Adam gripped her hair, tight. "You have to come to my office today to clear my table of the cocaine. Don't make me give you another punishment."
"Sir, I beg you…"
"Throw it up, or I'll make you," Adam threatened.
Elena nodded her head, a tear escaping her eye. "You're right, sir. I shouldn't have eaten this much…" Elena said slavishly as she walked to the bathroom.
Damon, where are you? She thought, more tears threatening to fall. She couldn't do this.
Damon, help me. Help me before I lose myself.
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