Hi ;)

Thank you all for your reviews on the last chapter, your feedback was the biggest yet. :) This one is longer than my usual updates are and I really tried hard to finish it until tonight, because I am going on holiday tomorrow to the place without internet connections. So that means that next chapter is going to be posted late, probably in more that fourteen days. I know it will be a long wait but it is going to be worth it, I promise.

Love,

AGirlThatDaresToDream

Chapter 10

The first thing she felt was softness all around her like she would be lying on a fluffy cloud, sunken in its warmth. It took her some time before she realized that her eyes were closed and that she would be able to see the light if she opened them, but she didn't want to. Not now when she felt so safe and comfortable, not being able to remember why she had missed these feelings so much. She didn't care, not until she began to acknowledge the pressure on her palm, and light pain in her abdomen, the sense of security leaving her quickly, making her restless. Something was wrong. Her eyes became aware of the aggressive light, shining through her eyelids, forcing her to blink just to be welcomed by the sight of a florescent light on the ceiling, before a soft voice cut the silence, startling her.

"Hey." She flinched, trying to back away from the speaker who seemed to be on her left side, only to be stopped by powerful stab of pain. She heard the sound of the chair drawing black lines on the floor, the pressure leaving her hand and before she even had time to cry out Damon's hands laid her back in her previous position, carefully. "It's me. Please don't move, I know it hurts and it isn't good for the wound. I will explain everything, just don't move…"

She glanced around, trying to figure out where she was and found herself in the same white room she knew so well, the only difference was that the bed was different, a stand with an infusion bags which weren't attached to her standing next to it. The memories came back to her after the words left his lips, last ones nothing else but a blur of shouting, pain and red liquid that tasted like metal.

"And drink this first." He started lifting her head up, bringing the glass which certainly wasn't filled with water, towards her lips. She panicked, turning away.

"What's this?" Her voice sounded strange, too raspy.

"Vervain. I know you don't understand what happened and have no reason to trust me anymore, but you have to drink this, OK? It will give you strength."

She let him help her to get the liquid in her, getting used to the taste, holding vampires graze as she took small, slow slips. She never drank this herb tea, yet. It was far too worthy, that one bottle that her family possessed being the only protection they had if the war would start again. How could it give her strength? Why wasn't she healed? He promised her that she would feel nothing and now his eyes were full of guilt. She sensed energy gathering inside her again, immediately, when the last drop fell in to her mouth. She really needed to know what caused him to break that promise.

"What happened?"

His eyes left her face and he stared into the distance. "Everything went as it should; the operation was successful and nothing strange happened until we tried to heal you up with vampire blood. It just didn't work, not even when we exceeded the dose that was suitable for your body weight and you started to wake up… So I tried to feed you my blood, but you just threw it up, like your body couldn't take it. The whole situation went wrong really quickly and as I tried to come up with a solution something happened that brought me to the point where I started to link facts together. You cannot be compelled and there is something strange in your blood, you couldn't keep mine down… So I thought that maybe vervein would help. You lost consciousness right after I injected it to you and, well, you were asleep ever since."

"How long?"

"Almost two days. Your body turned all of the energy it had into healing the wound. We sew it up, of course, but it is still healing slowly, a little quicker than human wounds do, thought."

She closed her eyes trying to slow down her thoughts enough to form another question. "So the thing in my blood was vervain? Does…"

He must have figured out what she wanted to know, stopping her. "Yes. You need it to survive. I have done some calculating and a glass a day should be enough for you to function normally."

They both seemed to get lost in their thoughts, as the room grew silent, Elena still dealing with all of the facts. Not being able to keep vampire blood down, like vampires couldn't keep vervain; they needed blood, she needed the herb… It looked like she was the complete opposite of them, and it scared her. If things were like this now, how would they be if they thought she was their natural enemy?

….

He stared at the girl, trying to imagine what she was thinking about. What would he think in a situation like that? He didn't know. But he owed her something. Something that would probably not mean much to her, but a whole lot to him. He needed to apologise to her, something he hasn't done since more than a hundred years ago, yet it felt like it was a thousand. It was one of his life rules only to say he is sorry when he really meant it, when he really felt remorse and that didn't happen often. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair, his sudden movement catching her attention and before he knew he was staring into her eyes, her gaze making it easier to do what he must, his lips started to move before he even knew, his voice quiet, but determined to show his emotion.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes scanned his face for a while, but it looks like they found what they were looking for as she took his hand in hers. "I know."

He laid her hand back on the bed after he broke their eye contact and stood up. "Ok… Then I will just… leave you to rest and brought you another painkiller in a couple of hours." He headed toward the door, but stopped when he felt her catch his hand in hers again turning around. He understood what she wanted as soon as he saw her expression and sat back at the chair on her bed side, not completely facing her as they sat in silence. Who would he be if he would take the only comfort she could have away from her? He brought their hands loser to his chest, slowly drawing small circles at the back of her palm with his thumb as she started to talk, her voice distant.

"I think I was six then. We were sitting in front of a TV which was on mute; mum, dad and me doing nothing really, just cuddling and listening to the sound of wood cracking in our fireplace. I was almost asleep, my head on my mother's chest while dad wrapped arms around both of us…" She paused for a moment, letting out a shaky breath she was holding. "And I was able to hear their hearts beating, and they voices discussing plans for the next day quietly. It just felt like… like I was safe, careless, just lying there…" She stopped talking, and Damon knew that she was remembering that moment that was secret to her, while he wondered how many times since she was here she escaped in it, continuing with his slow movements and never cutting the silence that wasn't caused by the fear and tension, but was full of peace.

The music was playing so laud that his ears were hurting, stiffening all other sounds that he would normally hear at this part of the day, causing him to notice that his alarm clock was ringing after it already fell from the shelf, the glass breaking and the clocks hand stopping at four a clock in the afternoon. He took his headphones off, picking the broken device and examining the damage. Today will be the second time he will meet Alaric to talk about the plan… In exactly half an hour. He will have to hurry.

He stuffed his phone in the bag, not bothering to put his drawing notebook and pencils out of it. They were as important to him as Elena's diary was to her; the only difference was that he was expressing his feelings and plans with lines and not with words. It would just feel wrong to keep this stuff at home, especially when he didn't know what exactly they would talk about tonight, only hoping they will start making a plan as soon as possible.

He walked down the stairs quickly, noticing Jenna in the kitchen, ignoring her when she asked him where he was going, slamming the front door behind him. He was still angry at her, even though he knew that she was trying her best to protect him and wasn't angry at her any more for her behaviour when the vampire came. He knew that the guilt will force him to talk to her soon. Although he didn't plan on telling her that he will try to save his sister, Mr. Saltzman and he agreed at this completely. She would only try to convince him not to get caught in illegal situations and would also be in danger if they wouldn't succeed. Sure, he will have to tell her once, but not today.

He found himself enjoying the sun, while he was heading toward the teacher's house, feeling its beams caressing his face, remembering how Elena used to stop in the middle of the road, smiling at the shining star, with her eyes closed and her arms high above her head. He tried to get rid of the memory as soon as thoughts of how she should be feeling know, probably not even being able to see the weather outside entered his mind. He needed to get her out.

He twitched at the sound of the car starting, the man he was supposed to meet with rolling the glass pane down, motioning to join him in the vehicle. He did so, surprised, putting the sit belt on as they already left the street.

"Mr. Saltzman?" No response. "Where are we going?" He tried not to sound like he was scared.

"First: Its Alaric or Rick from now on, I will let you decide on this one… And second: I can't tell you exactly… Some other members of the group want to talk to you before they except you in the rescuing as their opinion are still mixed. But you have nothing to worry about," he said probably noticing Jeremy's tension at the thought of driving into unknown, to talk to unknown people and smiled at him. "They won't bite."

….

They were driving for what Jeremy thought was almost an hour, but the clock said otherwise as the car shook from the holes in the forest macadam. They left pavement roads long ago, Alaric explaining that they have to make sure he won't remember the path to their meeting place. He was growing more nervous and tense every minute, not even trying to calm himself, knowing that it wouldn't work in the situation he was in so his heart beat was way too fast and his palms sweaty as the car stopped in front of wooden holiday cottage.

"We are here." Alaric put the car key into his pocket before tapping boy's shoulder and getting out of the car. He motioned for the boy to knock, the door opening before he could prepare himself and suddenly around thirty years old woman, with a long, messy, sandy blond hair and grey eyes was looking at them, but only addressed Alaric.

"You are late again, Ric. We've been waiting." She said, trying to mimic an angry voice and hide a huge grin that was fighting to stay on her lips.

"Nice to see you too, Lynn." The man smiled, as she pulled him into a quick hug. "And I have an excusable reason this time, don't you think?" She grew serious after the words left his lips and she scanned Jeremy from head to toes, her voice hardening before lighting up again. "We will see… Come, Ethan really wants to finish this thing before it gets dark." They followed her trough the hall, the adults still talking, giving the boy a chance to look around. The interior of the house was as beautiful as the outside, every object reminding him at the beauty of nature. His observing ended soon, thought, as they heard the sound of claws scratching the floor and were soon welcomed by a big, smiling lump of white fur. Alaric patted Samoyed's head as the dog welcomed him, before turning to the woman again, sending her a "seriously, again?" look.

"What? Kay has to work today. I couldn't just leave him at home alone." The roll of his eyes was the only respond she got, before they walked into the lounge that was joined with a dining room. Two men were sitting at the table, talking seriously, but stood up instantly when they saw them enter, roughly hugging Alaric as he tapped their backs. They both looked older, one of them had a dark skin and short, black hair wearing glasses, while the others skin was white, his brown greying hair a prove that he is the oldest man in the room..

"It's good to see you, man." The brown haired one said, before looking at Jeremy. "And I see that you succeeded." He walked towards the nervous boy, offering him his hand. "You must be Grayson Gilbert's son. I' am Ethan…" he pointed towards the other guy after the handshake. "This is Jonas Martin…" The man with glasses nodded towards him. "And I see you already met Lynn. Why don't we just go sit on the couch and get something to drink? It will be more comfortable to talk."

….

"How old are you young Gilbert?" Ethan's raspy voice cut the silence that grew in the room while they were slipping their drinks.

"Fifteen." Jeremy answered; not sure what turn in their future talk this number will cause, but relaxed when the men only raised his eyebrows.

"And already determined to save your sister from the vampires. Want to renew your old family tradition, huh?" The boy looked at him confused, he couldn't mean his parents. They always put too much energy trying to protect them from the monsters. They would never risk their safety fighting a secret battle. "Your great grandpa was one of the best vampire fighters in town at his time and he was thirteen when he started practicing." He smiled as he saw Jeremy's more and more confused face. "No I am no that old. I own one of his diaries, very interesting one I must say; it shines a light on man's hidden truths…" He seemed to get lost, remembering what he read, but the boy didn't let him continue.

"I am not starting the family tradition again. I just want Elena back."

Ethan scanned his face before nodding. "I know. Tell me than… Do you have any information about her or her abilities that could help us get her out?"

"I don't know anything about her abilities, if she has them they must have manifested after the accident." His words were almost unintelligible, because he talked with such speed, reviled that they were at the start of making of a rescue plan. "I only heard the rumours…"

"Which ones?" A man with the glasses talked to him for the first time, curious.

The boy took a deep breath. "About her being some kind of a saviour, some say sent from God, others created by nature."

"And do you believe them?" Jonas asked him.

"I didn't think about them much, I don't really care if they are true or not. I guess I will see when we get her back."

"You seem very sure that we will succeed." The woman eyed him, his words reminding him that his sister could already be dead. But he refused to believe that.

"Well as far as I know she was fine two weeks ago that is if the vampire told the truth of course…"

"What?" Both Jonas's and Ethan's voices interrupted him, but Alaric was first to collect himself. "A vampire came to talk to you? At your home? What did he want to know?"

"Well, yes. One afternoon he just came, started ordering me and my aunt around our own house, asking all kinds of questions about Elena, saying that he needed this information for the research, took our blood and left. I somehow managed to force out of him that she was OK."

"Why did he need your blood sample? And as far as I know that kind of a questioning isn't usual either." Jonas stated.

"Well at least we know one thing now; it is not much but anyway. Looks like the vampire that is the head of girl's research owns a daylight ring, it's a pretty rare thing this days, usually only the most important ones has it." Ethan said. "As for the other things… We really should ask Rose to help us out. Then we could start planning…"

"Hey, hey, hey, hold your horses." Lynn jumped in. "You seemed to forget that all this today was organized to figure out if the kid can join us and figure out if he is trustworthy. If he chickens out and tell on us we are all dead. Let's just decide about this first. "

"I don't think there is much left to decide, Lynn. He already knows who we are and that we are going to try to break into the CRS." Alaric pointed out. "He was in the minute we contacted him."

"Maybe, but still he is fifteen, for God's sake and…"

Jeremy didn't waist a second, interrupting her. "If you are trying to say that you don't want to ruin my life or endanger me, you have nothing to worry about. It has been like this since the second they took Elena. Nothing is in your hands." Four pairs of eyes fixated on his face as he spoke, before exchanging glances, telling each other what they think without a word. There was a minute of silence before Ethan spoke, offering him his hand.

"Then we agree. Welcome to the club, kid."

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