A/N: Okay here we go three memories of Anya's from her past and her speedy race to help Stefan.
I don't own anything but please review anyway. =]
As I hung in the doorway watching her for a moment, Katarina was perched with her back to me staring out the window and judging by the sniffling noises I could hear she was crying. Only an hour prior she had been told of Klaus' plans for her, I twiddled the moonstone in my hand as continued to watch her. The rock moved smoothly between my fingertips. Her long dark hair fell in a large mess of curls similar to my own, except my own were much lighter with a slight reddish tinge to it, I called out to her and she turned round to face me her oval face sad and eyes brimming with yet more tears. I closed the door behind me and she rushed into my arms sobbing furiously. I stroked her back comfortingly, it was such a shame for the poor girl to be hunted as she was but I was here to protect her and as long as I walked this earth I would continue to do so, as I was bound to protect the Petrova Doppelganger. I pushed her back, smoothing the hair from her face as I whispered gentle words of comfort and watched her doe eyes quiver with emotion as I sat her on the bed. Taking her hands in my own I turned them over and placed the moonstone in them, she stared down at it in awe.
"Katarina it's time for you to leave, I went ahead and took this from the carriage, it shall reach the Manor any moment and they will realise it is missing. We must act quickly." I spoke in a low tone so only she would hear me, I had devised a plan that would keep her safe from harms way until I could find a way to take care of them, to stop the Master's plans. He was rumoured to be very vengeful and in his eyes everyone and everything is expendable, so there was no doubt when he heard of my deceit and Katarina's escape that he wouldn't just forgive and forget. He would go for blood, my blood. There would be an all out war and I doubted he would ever stop searching for Katarina.
"Now I want you wrapped the moonstone up and hide it on your person Katarina. I shall cause a diversion outside and I want you to slip into the woods. They will chase you Katarina but do not fear, I have given Trevor clear instructions on what to do, you shall make sure to run west in the woods to the cottage I showed you when I took you for our walks. Ask for help, ask to be let in, Rose should eventually give way and let you in." She nodded as she listened to me intently whispering things back under her breath as she committed them to memory. I hadn't told Rose of my plans or my true intentions for being here at all. She thought I was here for a new lease of life, I had told her what I was and she had been a good friend as she kept my secret as if it were her own. She would keep Katarina safe and probably plan to return her but as guilty as if felt about what I had planned, I would get Katarina to play Rose and use her selfishly. From in the top of my dress I removed a long jagged dagger and placed it in Katarina's icy white palm.
"Once in the cottage with Rose and Trevor, whom will no doubt follow you there, I wanted you to take this knife and try to kill yourself anyway possible." Her eyes became startled with fear, my hands fumbled about as I tried to calmer her down, with soothing actions. "Now, now there is no need to be scared. Once you have done that I am one hundred percent certain in the interests of self-preservation Rose will give you some of her blood to heal your wounds. After she has done that and left you alone again, I need you to take the rope I have placed in each room of that cottage and hang yourself. Remember how I showed you the way to tie a hangman's noose?" She nodded feebly as she continued to cry, she was usually very demanding but nothing scared Katarina more than the idea of losing her own life. We had been through this plan before, if she tried to kill herself any other way we risked the blood in her system healing her injuries instead of turning her. We had settled on her hanging herself as it was quick and mostly pain free.
"My dear sweet Katarina, after you have been turned you will need to feed on human blood as quickly as possible. I don't care how you do it but you must. Then you will wait for me for a period of one hour at the crossroads out of town and in the possibility I do not show up, I want you to run and never turn back. A boat is leaving in a week to the Americas and you will be on it do you-" The chattering of footsteps down the hall in this direction stopped our conversation, I held my finger up to my lips showing Katarina now was the time to be silent. They ran full pace past the room we occupied and down the stony corridor, meaning only one thing. The carriage had arrived. I had ran out of time and I couldn't waste any more of the precious time left going over the plan.
"We must leave now." I tugged on her hand and led her outside into the courtyard, I pointed over to the great wall and told her to hide there until I had distracted them all, she should slip away as soon as they turned to face me. I moved off in the direction of the carriage, all of the Manors' occupants had come outside just on the off chance they could catch a glimpse of the mysterious moonstone, a key factor in their Master's plans. I took in three deep breaths, well it was now or never, I stood facing the carriage as it pulled up, everyone fell silent and I reached my hand up, then with one small burst of white power and a swipe of the hand in the indicated direction I toppled the carriage over and it began to roll. Everyone turned to stare and some made a move to run, letting the power swell up slightly before blasting them all backwards with one great gust of wind. Everyone scrambled to get the carriages apparently contents safe, if only they knew I had compelled them to forget as I stole it only an hour ago and what they fought to protect was a rock from the pond in the garden. As people ran at me from all angles I glanced to the tree line, careful not to be caught looking, I saw the fast retreating form of Katarina as she raced to her freedom, completely unseen. I had done my job as her guardian, now it was time to fight for my own life.
The dream drifted away leaving me in some kind of black limbo, as I tried to force myself awake to no avail. Though my mind was conscious my body was not and I couldn't command it to move at all. So I let myself drift on this sea of darkness that was my own mind, recapping on what I had just seen. The first noticeable thing, that had completely blown my mind and fucked me side ways, was the fact Katarina- aka Katherine, of which I was now one hundred percent sure- was Elena's bloody double. Every single thing about them matched in terms of looks, they even had the same little sad face but their personalities were polar opposites. No wonder Elena had the Salvatore boys in such a tizzy, the girl they had both loved in 1864 had been reincarnated in the form of sweet little Elena Gilbert. I couldn't believe all the coincidences, not only was the girl I protected in 1864, Katherine Peirce reason for Damon's existence but I was the reason she had become a Vampire. So if I was Katherine's 'protector' during the 15th century did that mean I was suppose to find her again or to protect Elena her Doppelganger? After all in the dream, vision, whatever you want to call it, hadn't I referred to myself as guardian of the Petrova Doppelgangers? You know I didn't think it was possible for my life to be anymore of a mind fuck than it already was but yet again I had exceeded expectations. Apparently I haven't only lived once prior to my shiny new second life but my actual soul was older than that and I had lived in the 15th century as well. Wait, if Katherine lived in Mystic Falls during the same time as the tomb Vampires it would explain how that guy being tortured with Stefan knew of me. I mean I personally didn't know Katherine, to my own solid memories at least but I was sure she wouldn't have been the type to keep quiet about her bright and brilliant saviour, especially if she knew what I was. So that at least explained how he recognised me and narrowed down who had told him.
Pain began to singe my nerve endings, a loud sharp ringing noise bounced around my head, never ending only growing louder and higher in pitch as seconds crawled by. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even think of ways to describe or class it. It was like being burned in the earth's core but at the same time as if someone was trying to cryogenically freeze me. if I could move I knew my body was leap about as it tried to run from the pain, my heart would race so fast it made a cartoon style leap out of my chest. At the top of my lungs I cried out after Damon and for Rick, only stopping to whimper in agony in between. I lost track of how long the pain lasted this time, hours rolled pasted and I honestly had no idea what day it was anymore, as the pain continued to torment my body. Each time I would scream Damon's name with the most passion in the hope he was near by and would hear me but to no such luck. At least that's what I convinced myself of, that's why I called for him so fiercely. For the first time in what felt like a thousand years the pain began to ease but I was given no time to dwell with relief as I was pulled into another memory. This one however felt as if it was fresh, much more recent than the last. It felt so familiar as if I had seen it recently, an overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over me as déjà vu engulfed me.
As I lay in a dreamy haze of a deep relaxed sleep, the thumping sound of several sets of feet shuffling about woke me from dreaming about my latest celebrity crush. I groaned as I started through sleep covered eyes at the white wash of my ceiling. The feet continued to bombarded my ears with their rude thumping, I rolled over cursing as I pulled my duvet tighter around me, some people just didn't respect that I had to get up early to drive into uni in the morning. Nobody cared that if I didn't get a peaceful nights sleep I was going to kill someone. To be fair it was probably just my parents wrestling to get my little brother Calum back to bed, he was only four and like everyone else his age he had been plagued with excited insomnia. The world outside his room was much more appealing than going to sleep, even if it was just my parents sat watching TV that was far cooler than sleep. I leant up on my elbows and glanced to my left at the digital clock, exactly midnight, the witching hour how spooky. I laughed shaking my head as I settled back down in bed. Professor Cannon, my favourite English Lit lecturer had gone on this massive occult rant because told was the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year and apparently when all kind of evil would come creeping out of its hovel to reek havoc upon the innocent. It was all stupid anyway, honestly who believed in Witches and Vampires anyway? Not me.
There was a loud crash down the hall and I lay listening for a moment, thinking of evil had given me a little bit of a fright. I half smiled trying to convince myself it wasn't that bad, maybe Calum had tried to pee in Dad's closet again. It was amazing how much they did for both of us and how much they put up with; after all biologically we weren't even theirs. They adopted me nineteen years ago when I was just a baby and Calum was adopted as a baby four years ago, they had left a substantial age gap between us both so they could test the waters and see if they could actually handle me as a teenager. Clearly I had passed the test or rather they did, as now we were all one big happy family. There was another large crash, so I threw my duvet back as I decided I would go investigate and offer my assistance after all Calum and I were so close, he loved me the most I was sure of it. There was a strange metallic smell in the air as I moved down the long mauve corridor of our upstairs, the soft cream carpet comforting beneath my bare feet. As I rounded the corner into my parent's room my heart stopped.
The carpet beneath my feet was soaked with blood and the stench of open flesh burned my nose with its metallic perfume. I began to gag as my hand flew up to my mouth as sick slithered up my throat, I couldn't contain it and found myself buckling forward as I vomited everywhere. It's burned the skin in my throat as everything I had ever eaten was pulled up through my throat thick with acid. The bodies of my parents lay torn apart as if attack by some savage beast and I didn't dare look at the stone cold body of my brother. My mind was reeling, I didn't care for my own safety as whatever had done this was clearly still in the house but I couldn't do anything, I couldn't bring myself to run and leave them. I found myself crawling forward towards my mother's body; I curled up next to her hugging her close to me. She was still warm, her throat had been ripped apart and there was crescent bite marks all over her arms. I cried so much as I looked down at her fiery red hair was plastered to her blood stained face. I closed her emerald eyes because I couldn't take the pain of looking at her anymore. The only family I had was slaughtered as I had lay sleeping in my bed. My fathers jet black hair was poking out at me from over the top of the bed and I was sure that the same look of serene fear was looking out his chocolate eyes much like they had out of my mothers.
A gentle brush of wind on the back of my neck signalled to me that someone or something had entered the room. I didn't know how I knew that but something in the pit of my stomach told me. I straightened up my back and continued to wipe the blood from my mothers sun kissed face. There was a murmur of voices, too low for me to hear what they said but they were there all the same. My mind seemed to shut down and go into auto pilot as I accepted that I was about to die. My family was died, I would be orphaned again, what was the point? I doubted I would be able to get this image out of my head anyway, death would actually be nice. An icy cold ghostly touch brushed my neck, I found myself gagging again as a metal tinged breath was blown across my face as someone moved to hover at my ear. They played with my hair, and stroked my hair making me feel violated and nothing but a pet.
"It is time Anya, we can't wait any longer." The woman whispered and I felt both her hands wrap around my neck, she moved them in a swift and quick movement. After that all I seen was a never ending blackness.
If I had control of my body I think I would have cried because that last memory was haunting but not just that, it was from my human life. No wonder They had taken the memories from me, if that had been my first waking memory I don't think I would been able to cope. The only reason I was able to cope just now was because as horrible and tragic as that last memory was, I didn't remember anything about them, did we ever fight? Was I ever beaten? Were they funny? I still knew nothing of them just that we generally got along. So what was there for me too miss? Then there was the fact since I began my new life I have seen and felt people die so often, lost so many friends, that death has just become that kid at school that is always hanging about but you never quite know why. It was part of me now, the only reason I was as strong as I am is because of death and what it means; death has made me what I am today. So I couldn't bring myself to grieve, over the death of strangers to me but I cried anyway because I knew from that memory they were my world.
There was something else that troubled me though about that last memory and as I continued to be trapped in my own mind for the next few days it was something I kept going over and over. My family had been killed, ripped apart by a Vampire that much I was sure of but who? Could the others have known what I was meant to be back then? If they did they wouldn't have killed me to speed up the process and left me alone to wonder about the earth, to find the temple where I would then go onto learn how to fight them. No that was just stupid. I mean just random Vampires was a likely possibility, it isn't the first or last time they would have breezed through the country seen a house standing all alone and slaughtered all the people in it. No there was something familiar about the hand on my neck, that voice, I had heard it since I had woke up. I had met them, I knew the killers of my parents but at the same time I didn't nothing made any sense anymore. I couldn't trust anyone at the Temple anymore because if they had known the truth about my family why lie and say it was a fire? Could they have been involved?
For what I presumed was days my mind went round and round in circles trying to make sense of everything I had seen, I could feel that I was hungry and thirsty but I couldn't wake myself up. I took turns of screaming for Damon and for Rick, it was stupid I now realised because I was trapped in my own mind, though I could hear myself scream and shout no-one else could. The outside world, the physical one can't hear my cries of pain and desperation as I was literally going out of my mind, I had gone insane. What normal person gets trapped in their own head? I began to wallow in self pity again because it hit me again that not even Damon could rescue me now, even though he hadn't been invited in I knew he would find a way somehow to get me help even if it was as simple as sending in Elena to get me but nothing could be done because no-one knew I was trapped. I mean I had heard the phone ring several times and the numerous voicemails left for me from Rick but this wouldn't be the first time I had jetted off without a word. I was always wondering off whenever I stayed with him after the third time it happened he stopped checking up on me as I always showed up eventually, so he wasn't going to come to the house and break the door down anytime soon. As for Stefan he and Damon had been to the door a good few times, they could sense that I was in the house but they just guessed I didn't want to see anyone so eventually they stopped coming. A new sharper bout of pain hit me signalling that after days of silence another memory was being sent my way, for me to sulk over.
As I lay there face first down in the warm, rich soil of the woods, as it contoured itself to cushion my face and body as Elijah pinned me to the floor with the help of two others. The panicked breaths next to me were from Trevor he had come back out to help me when he and Rose heard they were after me but the idiot had only got himself captured as well. Though I couldn't exactly talk now could I? They had me as well but that was because Elijah knew what I was, he had clearly figured it out because as he came at me he signalled for one of his men to kill his comrade, causing me to be hit with a wave of pain right before Elijah tackled me. The only one of us not captured was Rose and I knew her to be so kind of heart and confident that she would help Trevor escape but me, well we had already discussed that. As great friends as we were, I had made her promise me as soon as I knew this could be an outcome that if anything happened to save herself and Trevor first. I told her I wasn't of this world and that if anything them killing me would be a good thing, I would be grateful. They would be sending me home back to where I belonged. Something that I knew was coming soon as they continued to hold me in a tight grip. Elijah bent forward, shoving his knee into my back causing me to bit my lip as I winced with pain at the pressure being placed on my spine.
"He is on his way you know, the Grand Master of the Manor." He taunted in my ear lobe and I wanted nothing more than to lean back and head butt him in the face. Teach him not to be so smarmy. Well at least I had protected Katarina, Trevor had told me she tricked Rose into turning her before running away, so I was now free to die peacefully. Free to return back to the plane I belonged on, it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen and I longed to go back. So drift in the air as I flew, to smile down at everyone as I meandered about free to do as I wished. Back to my original form instead of this borrowed one. I looked up and debating breaking free but I already knew that if I tried anything Elijah had people ready to stake Trevor and to kill innocent farmers that they had ripped from homes nearby, worst of all he knew I wouldn't kill anyone. It went against what I was and who I was at a person, hm perhaps if I ever end up here again back on earth I will make sure that they fix that. I put in a request that I am able to kill, that the guilt didn't kill me and I was a strong enough person to be able to handle it.
Great black boots appeared in front of my face, they were muddy slightly from the owners run over here. Elijah pulled me up into a slumped standing position, holding me tightly to his chest and I found myself gazing at his Master in surprise. This was the first time we had ever met and I didn't even know his name. He was far much younger than I had suspected, in my mind he was an older gentleman with long wired white hair down to his waist, with crooked fingers like spider legs, long and gangly. Instead however he looked very young and beautiful, with soft golden hair, a strong body he looked like Hercules the son of Zeus. He looked inviting and devilishly charming. He moved towards me with a gentle and lustful smile, extending his hand towards me despite the fact mine were bound behind my back.
"Ah Il mio angelo.." he shook his head began to twirl a piece of my hair in his fingers. He stared at me with vibrant glass blue eyes. "At last we meet, let me introduce myself. I am Klaus, Master of this home."
I sat up bolt right in my bed, breathing heavily, I was free from my own mind. I tried to stand up but I moved too quickly and found that my jelly legs couldn't support me and I tumbled to the floor. I laughed loudly as I patted myself down to check I was unharmed. I had obviously seen all I needed to for now, or all that I could handle for now. I laughed loud and gleefully as the fact I was back and safe hit me. I fumbled about looking for my phone, I pulled it down off of my bed and check the date. Frick today was the, well afternoon by now, of Miss Mystic Falls. I needed to find Damon and tell him that I knew about Katherine and Elena, to see if he knew who Klaus was. I had far too many missed calls from both brothers and Rick to even count so I cleared them all away and raced to the shower, I had a party to go too. I was so glad I was free, I felt like running through the town screaming 'I'm free!' at the top of my lungs.
Once I had showered and dried my hair so it fell down in its natural curls. I didn't have time to register what I was doing because I was too excited to finally be able to get to go anywhere and too see Damon, and all my others friend too of course. My dress was just above knee height, it was a strapless dress that was a rich cream colour that tinted peach in certain lights and a black lace covered the dress with a delicate swirl pattern up the bodice of much darker lace. There was a heap of different layers in the skirt that caused it too fan out. I pulled my hair back into a French bun and after slipping on my black paten heels, I all but floored it to the car and then to the party. But as I neared the party I could sense something wasn't quite right, something had gone wrong.
I parked the car up just down form the Lockwoods home and found myself wandering off into the woods towards a strange feeling was beginning to pull me there. Something wasn't right and I subconsciously moved in the direction my heart seemed to indicate. My stomach growled angrily because I had planned to eat at the party but it seemed to know I was walking in the opposite direction of the overly grand buffet. I pushed the hunger to the back of my mind and continued to move through the trees towards the weird feeling of, well I couldn't quite describe it, it is the feeling I imagine Obi Wan Kenobi had when he sensed Anakin was about to turn to the dark side. Someone good was about to do something bad, something very bad and whoever was they were important to me, as otherwise I doubted I would be out here. Being pulled towards them. Something in me clicked, Stefan. I began to race full pace towards where I hoped he would be, praying I wasn't too late. I found him locked in an embrace with a blonde girl, leaning up against his car right outside the party. Leaving my shield down I was assaulted by his feeling of desperation and hunger. He was just holding her face, talking to her but I knew what happened next.
"What's stopping you?" The blonde girl asked Stefan as I snuck closer ready to grab him, her voice was lifeless and I knew he had compelled her. What the hell had being going on as I was mia? Seriously, Stefan was acting like a sociopath. I couldn't help but feel guilty, if I had been just ignored his accusations the other night and taken away his pain and hunger, I could have prevented all of this because it was clear in my absence he hadn't stopped feeding on human blood.
The pair had continued talking whilst I got closer and closer to them, Stefan brushed her hair aside and dipped down to bite her neck. I chose that moment to make my move, his teeth brushed agonizingly close to her skin for him as I grabbed his suit jacket and launched him a good distance backwards into some trees. He slumped down against them dazed and confused. I took my window of opportunity and began to compel Amber. I instructed her she had come outside for a walk to clear her head, she had seen Stefan and I talking by his car, there was a clear argument she had noted, one she would tell Elena or perhaps Stefan's brother of but it looked intense so she went back inside to change into her dress. She did as she was told and went straight back inside where she would hopefully tell Elena or Damon of what she had seen causing of them to come outside as back up for me.
Wind brushed against my neck signalling a very anger Stefan's leap towards me I turned round in perfect time, my hand wrapped around his throat and I slammed him into the ground. I climbed on top of him, not caring how bad it looked to anyone who came outside, from down here we were hidden by the cars anyway and I would be able to sense if anyone headed in out direction. His face was dark with veins that had appeared around his eyes, fangs protruding downwards from his mouth as he snapped and growled up at me. In an effort to mock him and hopefully came him down I hissed at him angrily. Surprisingly it had worked as well, Stefan's face retuned slowly to normal as he looked up at me.
"Anya?" he asked me completely bewildered, voice tight with hunger but thick with guilt. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving you from yourself, clearly in my absence you didn't stop feeding on the human stuff Stefan. But its okay I am here to help you now." I smiled brightly down at him, though he seemed to be more relaxed I didn't have any intentions of moving or letting up on my death grip that had him all but staked to the ground.
"You've been gone all week, we came to see you but you…what ?" he seemed to babble away to himself and I signed out of boredom as I began to devise a plan. If I just compelled him, just a little, I could get him to go back to the house, where I could take away him hunger but that would only work if all the blood was from his system because otherwise it would only be a temporary fix, maybe if I locked him away and forced him to detox before hand. There had to be cellar in the Boarding House, perhaps I could get hold of some vervain too, just to make sure he stayed down. It was a pretty poor plan but it was the only one I had. I looked down ensuring I could see straight into Stefan's eyes, he ceased his guilty rant about how he never meant to hurt Amber- I was going guess that she was the blonde I had seen only moments before.
"Right, here is how we are going to work this-" my pupils retracted in and out causing Stefan to fall under my very unique brand of compulsion. "You are going to go straight home, where you will wait for me in the living room. You will not move, you will not speak to anyone until I tell you otherwise. You will do exactly as you have been told." I growled forcibly at the end before clambering off of him and standing up. He murmured back a groggy agreement before running off home, I dusted myself off and skipped up the steps of the Lockwood's home. I would grab something quickly to eat and then head back to the Boarding House to deal with Stefan. As I wolfed down the buffet food as if I had never seen food in my life, I felt a familiar presence at my shoulder and I smiled.
"Hello Damon." I murmured through a mouthful of a mini sandwich as my hand moved to cover up my disgusting action. I quickly swallowed before turning to face him smiling. He looked taken back at my appearance, my face scrunched up into a frown; make a girl feel bad why don't you. I mean the look of surprise as he looked me over was shocking, I was no Elena or Katherine for that matter but I wasn't exactly the ugliest girl on the shelf, jeez. "Miss me?" I smiled up at him and he seemed to snap back from his accusing thought no doubt.
"You could say that. Where have you been Anya?" He asked with a very serious and sombre tone, you would think someone had died honestly. If anyone should sound sad and all doom and gloom it was me. After all I had just spent the last few days trapped in the darkest corner of my own mind, only to see very cryptic memories that didn't help me out at all.
"I got caught up with family stuff, which I should probably be getting back too you know." I made a move to leave, a clock on the wall behind Damon had caught my eye, I had already forced Stefan to wait for me for fifteen minutes. I didn't want to have him sat there all night on the naughty step like a child. Despite how bad he had been, it was just a bit cruel. As went to step past Damon but he only blocked me with ease, drawing the attention of people near us.
"You don't get out that easily, you and I are going to dance and pretend to the lovely people watching us that we are the charming couple they all seem to think we are, and you are going to tell me what's going on." He spoke with gritted teeth but to anyone looking at us he had the brightest smile on his face, I let out a deep breath as he led me to the dance floor where we began to dance slowly to some mushy love song.
"So people think we are couple, eh?" I teased as we danced earning a laugh from Damon, as he twirled me outwards and then back in where his hand rested on the small of my back. He held me quickly close as we swayed to the music.
"Yes, it would appear so and the lengths you will go to, to avoid answering my questions are outstanding." Well he did have me there as he did his little eyebrow dance again and continued to force me to dance. He moved with such elegance and grace, showing his true age, Damon had been born in the era of formal dances. He had been doing this all his life and was a true expert at it.
"Please, don't. Okay I would tell you if I could but I can't. Anyway its not like you have been very honest with me now is it?" I accused up at him, as he faced down at me, to all those watching we looked as if we were on the verge of a kiss and not an argument. He looked at me with a quirked eyebrow indicating confusion. "How about the fact Elena looks exactly like Katherine? You left that one out now didn't you." I smugly smiled at him as I answered his unspoken question as to what he had been lying about.
"How do you know about that?" he smiled but growled down the question at me, we had stopped dancing now and his grip on my hand had become painful. I was beginning to see red and well that just wouldn't end well, I pushed him backwards and due to the very public setting he was forced to oblige.
"That isn't important, what is though, is that I am leaving now and you won't be following me." the last part was spoken with my compelling eyes and I exited the room swiftly as Damon stared after me, unable to follow.
I gave Stefan a small smile as he sat waiting on the doorstep of his own home frozen until I told him otherwise, I kicked off my heels and sat down next to him. I had ran all the way here after I had left Damon stuck in the house. I put my arm around Stefan and pulled him into a hug, as I rubbed soothing circles on his back, my mothering nature taking over. He began to weep slightly with guilt and pain at what he was becoming. At letting himself lose to his inner Vampire. I reached behind me and opened the door before getting Stefan up onto his feet, slipping my arm around his waist I led him inside and down to where he told me the cellar was. There was a dusty bed inside it and I asked him to go sit on it. Once we were both inside the dingy cell, I lit the lanterns with a burst of fir from y hands, a little trick Mark had taught me before turning my attention to the door. Using the same power I had on the lock at Miss Pearl's house so many days ago, I locked us both in. I joined a distraught Stefan on the grotty bed and hugged him to me once more, as I stoked his hair murmuring words of comfort.
I don't know how long we sat like that, as he told me what he had done in the past week whilst I had been gone, how bad he felt. He told me the reason today he had lost it was all down to Damon, he had caught him telling Elena that Stefan was still drinking human blood, he was just so mad because Elena wasn't suppose to find out ever. The thunderous feet of Damon entering the house echoed down to both of us, as he moved through the house calling for Stefan. I continued to sooth Stefan as he grew agitated that he Damon had brought Elena with him and Stefan would lose it and hurt her, he wouldn't of course he loved her too much but even if he lost it, there was no way he would be able to get past me and out that door. I kicked the dirt covered ground with my bare feet as I soothed Stefan once more.
"Damon." I spoke it at normal volume, where as for the past few hours I had used a much softer, angelic tone when talking Stefan down from his ledge. I heard Damon pause above us so I spoke again with more force in my voice and this time he appeared within the blink of an eye at the door. "I need you to go get me some vervain, Stefan needs it. Where is Elena?" I rubbed Stefan's back as he leaned forward head in his hands.
"I told her to wait at home until I called her. You shouldn't be in there with him." Damon growled, he could sense the pain his brother was and the danger I would be in if I was human like he thought I was. I shook my head and hugged onto Stefan's back like a mother protecting her cub from danger.
"Damon, trust me. He wont hurt me, I don't smell nice enough." I joked and Stefan laughed weakly his back vibrating from it.
"You think this is funny?" Damon screamed and slammed his hand against the door that separated us. I only frowned at him in response and ignored is fiery gaze as it burned at the top of my head. It hurt that he was so mad at me, that he didn't trust me, even if he was concerned for my safety. He dropped a vervain dart through the small window that he looked though; it rolled across the floor to rest at Stefan's feet. He picked it up and played with it in his hands, just staring at it in a fearful wonder. I moved off his back to allow him to sit up, he looked at the dart then up at my face. I reached up and rubbed his cheek affectionately.
"Its going to be okay, just trust me, this will help and I promise you, I wont let you feel any pain because as long as you hold my hand-" I reached out and took the dart from him, swapping it into my right hand, and holding his hand with my left to show I what I was meaning. "You won't feel a thing, not even scratch or a pinch. As long as you hold me hand, you will just fell sleepy, I promise." He nodded and held my hand tighter closing his eyes and exposing his neck to me.
"Do it." He spoke through gritted teeth and I plunged the dart into his neck, it was a very poetic place for him to ask for it to be placed after all it is the same place he planned to drain Amber from. I channelled his pain into me and I began to fell his pain as the vervain spread out in blood stream, I fought off the scream that longed to howl out into the cell. Stefan's eyes drifted open sleepily and he looked at me confused. "Have you done it." I nodded because I knew if I spoke I would cry out, I got the pain of having the acidic vervain take over his body where as he just felt sleepy. Stefan nodded and shifted to lie back, I stood up with quivering legs as I moved with him so he could lie back, I took up residence on the floor as Stefan fell into a peaceful sleep unaware of any pain that he should be in. I heard the lock being pulled apart, Damon had been watching the whole time making of the exchange what he could, he came into the room slowly. My vision was blurred by tears by I gave him a painful smile regardless. Damon closed the door behind him and I raised my free hand to shut the lock as I leaned against the cool wall, Damon sat beside me putting an arm around me hugging me to him, he placed a kiss on the top of my forehead and whispered a gentle.
"Thank you." That night I fell asleep in the arms of Damon as a war of Stefan's pain and hunger ravaged my body.
A/N: Hey please review, next comes Anya's confession to Stefan and an explanation of sorts.