Woah new update within a few days of the last one! Is this a rare event or what? :D But I got such an overwhelmingly lovely response to the last chapter that I couldn't not update soon. Plus, it would have been mean to leave y'all with such a cliff hanger for too long. This is the chapter that contains the thing I was telling you about a little while ago, the thing that will make you hate me forever. I'm weirdly excited to put this chapter up – it's kind of the most action-y one I've written. (So far. Don't worry, we'll be seeing more of badass Elena soon.) I really do hope you enjoy it though. The next chapter probably won't be so speedy because there will be a lot to write in that chapter but hopefully I can be speedy. I have exams soon you see, so I have to study and all of that jazz, but I can't these days because I just start daydreaming about this!
In case I forget at the bottom, I just want to thank you for all of the delightfully sweet, funny and charming reviews. I have people telling me that they love this fanfic, that it's their favourite fanfic, heck, I even got a review from a Stelena lover who said that they love this story! If you do write, you'll know how heartwarming any sort of kind response is and I can't thank you enough. (Literally as I type this, I got one from swagatamalfoy saying they love this story and agh thank you so much! Plus, a Harry Potter fan – ten points to you my friend.)
Secondly, I was wondering if any of you had any sort of ideas for the next one. Don't get me wrong, we have a good while to go before YQTLF is finished but I love to get new ideas and play with them in my head. If you think of any, don't be afraid to drop me a review or a PM – I will read and consider each and every one, I promise! :D
Anyway, enough from me. I'll let you get on and – enjoy!
"Hello Elena." Father said calmly. "Fancy seeing you here."
My heart stopped entirely for a moment. Was he dead? But then he groaned, turning slightly and I was relieved for only a moment when I saw he had stakes jammed into about seven different places on his body, not to mention the dagger in his back. I tried to push past them to get to him but of course, Alaric gripped my by the shoulders and threw me back, knocking me to the floor.
"What the hell are you doing here? What did you do to him?" I screeched at the two men as I scrambled up, not even caring about the attire I was in. Father seemed to though, raising an eyebrow at me.
"I warned you that we were coming Elena. Your birthday?"
I stared at him. Did he think that that stupid little threat in the government building had been a warning? My birthday wasn't for months! Had he gone so crazy that he had forgotten when his own daughter had been born?
"Don't you remember? I used to have to work on the railway when it was your birthday so we began to celebrate it in the winter."
My mind flashed back to a few foggy memories of all of us gathering in the kitchen, with maybe a rock bun Mom had saved for for weeks with an already melted down candle stuck in the middle of it in front of me as we celebrated…my birthday. But had he really thought that I would remember?
"That was years ago!" I cried, and he shrugged.
"You should have worked it out. Maybe then you wouldn't have let that leech fuck you on the night we were coming."
I knew it would be a waste of breath explaining that I had actual feelings for this man – not a leech –so I didn't bother. Instead, I looked at them like they were mad. Well, they were.
"What are you doing here? How are you here?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"We're here to kill the governor of Mystic Falls so the rightful leaders – humans – can rule. And getting out of that shack they call a prison was simple – all we needed was a little vervain gas in the air vents and the leeches were dropping like flies."
Oh my giddy aunt, he had gone completely insane. I wasn't sure how he had escaped from prison or got the 'vervain gas' – Alaric had helped him, no doubt. Speaking of the grimy, messy haired lunatic, he was stepping towards me, practically snarling at me.
"I think that your daughter may have decided whose side she's on before the war has even begun." He hissed to Dad, his eyes raking over my messy bed hair, Damon's shirt and...His eyes settled on the two bite marks at the side of my neck. In fact, they might have been both sides after last night. Oops.
Dad glowered at me, muttering something about traitors under his breath before he turned to Damon, smirking down at his twitching form.
"Vervained stakes." He laughed triumphantly, pressing one down harder and causing Damon to moan in pain and me to flinch. He looked up at me, his eyes gleaming with wild excitement. "The dagger's just for show."
"Did you not think this through?" I asked desperately, clutching at any straws now. "You have one vampire staked and a few gassed with vervain – big deal! What about the hundreds of others, who could literally rip your head off in an instant?"
Alaric laughed, his voice cruel. "They're all in the same state as him, sunshine. We put vervain in the water system excluding this house so there would be no...suspicions, which means that they either drank it themselves or the humans that they drank from had vervain in their system, meaning that they're easy to take care of."
Take care of? What the hell were they planning?
Oh no.
Stefan and Caroline.
Without thinking, I shoved past Alaric and out of the room, sprinting down to Stefan and Caroline's door. I threw it open, and…the beds were empty and completely unslept in. Oh God. How long had they been gone? Yesterday when we came home, I had just assumed they were asleep. How had I been such an idiot? I turned to see Alaric standing at the doorframe.
"What have you done to my friends?" I hissed and he laughed.
"We've taken care of them. They're with the others. But right now sweetheart, we're more concerned about you. Your dad may be ready to put this down to the main bloodsucker, but I see right through you, you little slut. Sleeping with that vampire, was that your way of getting back at us? Well, it was the worst move you ever made, let me assure you of that."
Without even hesitating, I slapped him hard across the face. "You don't know anything." I hissed at him through gritted teeth. He raised his head, eyes flashing with white hot fury.
"I'd learn to respect those who have control over you girl." He snarled at me, grabbing my wrist and twisting it painfully behind my back. I flashed back to the whole ordeal in the Pail, when I had been confronted by Alaric Saltzman and I remembered thinking that without an army and vervained stakes, Alaric Saltzman was a coward, someone not worth worrying about.
The problem was that now he had both stakes and an army. Which meant he was very much someone to worry about.
Father appeared at the bottom of the stairs, shaking his head in disgust at me before glancing at Alaric. "Put her in the car. I'll have the boys come and deal with our little problem upstairs."
Fear racked through me. "You can't kill him!" I screeched, struggling desperately to get out of this idiot's tight grip. They laughed and he twisted my wrist further, causing me to gasp in pain.
"You needn't worry about him anymore darling. It's not like you'll remember him in a few hours."
I snorted at this comment. Of course I would remember Damon – I was hardly going to forget him after everything that had happened.
But it was as Alaric shoved me, forcing me to walk forward, that I realised what they meant.
They were going to do something to make me forget.
Oh God no.
And there was absolutely no way I would be able to stop them. My vervain necklace which protected me from this kind of nonsense was somewhere in the house. I had never got it back after Damon had taken it from me that first day.
I immediately froze, despite his pushing and looked straight at Dad, meeting his raised eyebrow full on.
"You're going to mess with my mind." I said, knowing that it wasn't a question. When he didn't answer, I wrenched my wrist free of Alaric's tight grip and stalked up to him until I was just a few inches away from the man I was forced to call my father.
"Elena, it's for your own good." He hissed, taking a step back.
"Getting rid of my memories so you can mould me into the person you want me to be is for my own good?" I cried, continuing to move towards him. His eyes were darting to behind me now but I wasn't going to give Alaric the satisfaction of thinking that I considered him enough of a threat to turn around. Instead, I kept my eyes locked on my father's pale grey ones.
"You can try all you want to erase my memory. You can compel me, you can torture me, you can do whatever. And you know what? It might even work for a little while. But you won't ever be able to keep me away from him. You won't ever be able to stop me from choosing good over bad. And you won't ever be able to turn me into the daughter that you want. You can claim all you want that he played tricks with my mind, but it was you who made a deal to send me here. Not him. And to tell you the truth, Grayson – it was the best decision you ever made."
I was quite proud of that speech actually. But I didn't get much time to feel triumphant or even hear his response. (Maybe that was for the best. It would have contained a lot of swearing. At me.) Because a second after the last word had left my mouth, I felt something hard and metal connect with the back of my head – the butt of a gun. Damn Alaric Saltzman. After that, all I could see was the ground rushing towards me.
And then everything went black.
I woke up with an awful headache, on a cold concrete floor. Groggily, I sat up, wincing and peered around through squinted eyes. I was in….was this a prison cell? I couldn't really focus properly on anything – my vision was too blurry. Everything that had happened rushed back to me and I lightly felt the back of my head where I had been hit. A huge tender lump was throbbing there and I sighed, rubbing my forehead wearily. Where on earth was Damon? Was he even still alive? The idea that he mightn't be was too painful to entertain, so I pushed it to the back of my mind quickly.
"Elena."
I spun around – bad idea. My head was spinning for a good few moments until I could finally work out who it was.
It was Dad.
He was on the other side of the locked bars of the cell – probably a wise choice so that I didn't lunge at him. He was sitting on the single plank of wood attached to the wall that was acting as a bench. He looked solemn and serious; wearing a stupid suit that I was sure had cost the same amount that would have fed the family for a month.
"What am I doing here?" I asked hoarsely, standing up shakily. "Dad, why am I in a cell?"
He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I never wanted this for you, you know. I always knew that you would be the one who would follow in my footsteps. But then you didn't."
I stared at him for a moment before shaking my head. "I was never that girl Dad. I never will be that daughter. And as soon as you realised that, you abandoned me."
He stood up angrily, glaring at me. "I didn't abandon you! I did everything I could to support you, to support all of you!"
"You stopped supporting us the moment that stupid Liberation Militia saw that you were idiotic enough to be enticed into their little cult."
His features contorted into a snarl and he glowered at me. "That 'cult' is working for the good of Mystic Falls and you should be proud to have a father who's the leader of such an important rebellion." He spat and I couldn't hold back my bark of a laugh.
"The 'good' of Mystic Falls? Dad, you're deranged! You believe some stupid lie that you've been fed by them. When have the vampires actually done any harm? And don't give me that bullshit about them forcing us to live in the Pail because it was the humans who decided to move and not integrate with them and you know it."
This little snippet of information had been given to me by Damon while we were lying together after our little rendez vous in his bed. The thought made my heart ache a little bit actually, so I tried to focus on Dad who wasn't denying it and was in fact looking a little stunned.
"You told us that it was their fault for as long as I can remember. And it was a lie. You put so much work into defeating a lie. They're good people Dad. They're caring and they're loving and they're willing to talk with us." When he didn't interrupt me, I was stupid enough to feel a flicker of hope in the bottom of my stomach so I continued. "You can stop this. You can stop all of this and you can make everything right. For once in all of the time I've been alive, do the right thing."
I really thought for a moment that he was going to do it. But then he shook his head and began to make his way out of sight of the cell. "We're going to fix you Elena. Once you forget them all, you'll be the daughter you should have been. I should never have agreed to that deal but I didn't ever have a choice. But it's…it'll be put right now." He muttered, before disappearing completely. I heard footsteps as he made his way upstairs and my heart sank. I had lost him completely and in a few minutes, I would have lost myself.
I had to think of something quickly.
I was still wearing Damon's shirt and I began to search through the pockets hurriedly for something, anything that I could use. And then I found it. On the inside pocket, just concealed was…a small notebook and a pen. And instantly I knew what I could do.
Oh, God bless you Damon Salvatore.
I quickly began to write with my messy, scrawling handwriting. Much to my joy, the words came flowing without many stops – although it was hard to put what I wanted to say into words. I could practically feel the seconds ticking by as I scribbled desperately; sweat beginning to bead on my forehead. It was when I heard the footsteps coming back down the stone steps that I signed my name quickly and slipped it back into the pocket I had found it. This plan would either work or it wouldn't – there would be no middle ground, no half working.
Dad reappeared into view, followed by Alaric who was pulling a small red headed girl by the arm. She had blotchy cheeks and her eyes were red – she'd been crying.
"This, Elena, is Bonnie, and she's being so lovely as to help us today." Alaric told me, grinning cruelly as he yanked the poor girl to in front of the bars. "She's going to assist us in making you forget all about those…leeches." He unlocked the bars and pulled them open just enough to shove her in, causing her to stumble into me. I caught her gingerly, putting my hands on her dainty shoulders to steady her.
"Oh I wouldn't be getting too close to her sweetheart." Alaric leered as he locked the door again. "She's a vampire, and the only reason she's still alive is because she promised to compel you for us."
Immediately I let go of this little woman, taking a step back. She looked up at me with large brown eyes, her face tired. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, her voice cracking. "But they…they have my Matt and I just…I can't let anything happen to him. They tortured him in front of me and I just…I'm so sorry."
Although I wasn't able to force myself to smile reassuringly, I did drop the hostile stance. After all, this Bonnie girl seemed to be like me – just wanting to protect the one she loved.
"Get on with it please ginger, we don't have all day." Alaric said snappily and I glared at him before turning back to her before pulling her in for a hug, quickly beginning to speak into her ear.
"You need to do something for me though, ok?" I said urgently, lowering my voice so only she would be able to hear. Her nod was almost unnoticeable but I smiled when I felt it and continued. "You need to tell Damon Salvatore to not give up, no matter what. Got it?" Again, a barely noticeable nod but still a nod nonetheless. When I pulled away, she was tearing up again but she brushed them away almost angrily before glancing around at the two men.
"As we discussed, ginger." Dad snapped, not looking at me. Bonnie nodded, blinking before turning around and smiling sadly at me before her pupils expanded then contracted and instantly I was frozen, my mind turning blank.
"You will forget all about the last month of your life. Any memories you have of any vampires you met and made relationships with will be gone, and you will have no recollection of ever being in the Shire. You will want to be loyal to the human leaders and under no circumstances will you attempt to run away from them. Understood?"
I nodded without hesitation and she smiled slightly before lowering her voice so only I could hear. "But when you find your love again, you'll be free of all of these binds. The memories may come back to you over time but they will come back. I promise." I went to nod again but she shook her head slightly, smiling. "Don't want to let them know." She whispered before raising her voice to normal level. "Now you're going to sleep for a little while. An hour. And when you wake up, everything I've said will be enforced."
Her pupils contracted and I blinked, my eyelids becoming heavy. The last image I got before they shut completely was Alaric opening the cell door and pulling her out roughly. I heard her scream but after that, I don't know what happened because my mind went blank and I fell into a deep sleep.
AGH I HOPE THAT WAS OK AND YOU ENJOYED IT.
I don't think anyone predicted the being forced to forget Damon thing. ACTUALLY could you leave predictions for what you think will happen? :D I love reading those so so much!
Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I'll see you soon my darlings,
X
(*Insert usual begging for reviews, follows, favourites, anything really.)