Hi darlings! Again, a little bit sluggish because it's 2a.m. but I'm willing to stay up for y'all! This is a long chapter, and possibly a little delayed but there was a bit of drama during the last few days…a few of you may know about it. Regardless, it's fixed now and all is good in the Delena world.
I hope you enjoy this! :D I got some really lovely theories that I adored reading – a lot of you wanted Elena to torture Damon, you sadists! There is none of that, I'll let you down early. But I hope it satisfies your Delena craving!
As always, I love you so much. We're one off 200 follows, that's insane! Thank you so much for everything – y'all are the best readers a girl could dream of.
Enjoy!
(5000 words, you better enjoy. Or else.)
I opened my eyes and stared up at…wait. This wasn't my usual, cracked ceiling from home. This ceiling was smooth and newly painted.
What the hell?
I sat up, and found I was lying on a freshly made bed in…was this a man's shirt? Where was my dress that I always wore? I went to scrape my hand through my hair – hang on, why was it so soft? And straight and silky and what in God's name was going on?
I rolled off the bed and looked around. I was in a small bedroom – still bigger than my one in the Pail. It was furnished with clinical white sheets and furniture. There was a small wardrobe in the corner, and when I opened it, I found my usual old dress hanging alone on a hanger. Well, at least I had that.
I quickly slid out of the shirt – oh Lordy, I was completely naked underneath. There was a small cracked mirror on the inside of the wardrobe door and I took a moment to examine myself carefully. I looked…different. It looked like I had gained weight and now looked healthy as opposed to starving. My hair was shiny and glossy too actually and I touched it lightly, slightly freaked out by its softness. But my eyes…I looked practically dead, with bags and deep dark purple rings, contrasted starkly by my practically ghost white skin. Another thing that stood out on my pale skin were the…were they bite marks on my neck? There was a sizable painful lump on the back of my head too, like I had been attacked or something.
What on Earth was going on?
I quickly pulled on some underwear and the dress – it didn't fit as well as it had the last time I had worn it. The last thing I remembered was…going to bed in the Pail. Dad had been out at a LM meeting – at the time, I hadn't felt pleased about it. I didn't know why now though. After all, the LM was doing everything they could to make us safe again from those vampires. He had been planning a big raid on the government documents and I knew that there had been a lot of risk that he may have been caught.
I pulled open the door and peered out into the empty hallway lined with doors. There were distant voices coming from one door a little bit down so I shut my door quietly and tiptoed across the plushy carpet to where the sound was coming from. As I got closer, I realised with relief that it was my mother and father's voice – although it sounded like they were having a rather heated conversation.
"You did what to our daughter?" Mum was yelling, and Dad sighed audibly.
"I protected her sweetheart. Now she'll be waking up at any moment so if you could just get a grip and stop screeching, it'd be brilliant."
Done to me? What had he done to me?
"How dare you? All I've ever done is support you! And then you decide you want to separate me when it suits but as soon as you need a wife to make you look good, you sweep back in like you've done nothing wrong? Well I'm not going to take it anymore Grayson, I just won't."
"Now you listen to me, you little –"
It was at this point that I decided to knock sharply on the door. Immediately the conversation stopped and I heard footsteps before the door was opened gingerly and I found myself looking at my mother.
She was looking at me with…fear? That was weird.
"You ok?" I asked slowly and she nodded quickly, blinking and stepping back so I could walk into the pretty much identical to the other one room. The only difference was that it was bigger and with a double bed. My father stood at the window, looking at me with vague trepidation, the vein in his forehead still throbbing from their argument. Had I done something wrong? Was there a reason why everyone was acting like I was going to start screaming at any second?
"Good afternoon Elena." Dad said lightly and I nodded in response, perching at the edge of the bed.
"What are we doing here?" I asked, gesturing around and he seemed to consider his answer carefully before answering. "This is one of the LM's safehouses pumpkin. They moved us here. There's been a few…well, a lot happened while you were asleep."
"Like?" I prompted, raising an eyebrow.
He hesitated again before replying. "Well we've…we've won Elena. Against the vampires. We won the rebellion. I did actually."
Hang on, how long had I been asleep? And why did he look so…worried? "That's amazing!" I beamed, standing up and hugging him before pulling away momentarily, worried. "Did anybody get hurt?"
He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak.
"Oh, people got hurt Elena." Mom interrupted from the corner and when I looked over, her eyes were glistening. "People got hurt but not in a way that can be fixed."
I stared at her, wondering where this bout of madness had come from. "What on earth are you talking about?" I asked, turning to face her. "Wounds heal. Bones are mended. There's nothing to worry about Mom. Everyone's going to be fine."
She shook her head, her eyes filling up with tears as turned on her heel and disappeared from the room. I stared after her until I felt a hand on my shoulder – Dad's, obviously.
"Come on. The rest of the guys are all waiting downstairs, and your help might be needed for a little while – serving drinks and all that."
Wait, what? He wanted to party, even though I had so many questions? Like why I had bite marks on my neck and why I had awoken in a man's shirt and why I had a swelling the size of a golf ball on the back of my head? But he was pushing me firmly forward and out of the room.
"It'll just be for a few hours." He promised as he led me down the long corridor.
A few hours. Well, I supposed my questions could wait until then, right?
It did not last a few hours.
As it turned out, there was a never ending stream of LM members all eager to congratulate Dad, who was apparently responsible for the whole victory? (Another question to add to the very long list.) I spent the rest of the day and night rushing in and out of the sitting room, bringing beer and wine and God only knows what else – I didn't have a clue where Mom was. I was starving but I wasn't able to find anything in the kitchen other than alcohol. I eventually resorted to taking a few slugs of an open bottle of champagne to numb the hunger pangs, shuddering as the bitter liquid slid down my throat.
"Elena! We need more of that clear stuff!" I heard someone – Dad – slur from the other room. Every time I had gone back in there, he had taken two glasses for himself, and drank them both and he was now completely out of his head drunk.
By clear stuff, I was guessing he meant vodka, so I lined up a few short glasses on a tray and poured in the ominous stuff quickly, before carefully balancing the tray in one hand and grabbing the glass bottle with the other. I cautiously made my way to the door, took a deep breath and stepped into the madness.
It stunk of sweat and alcohol and I hated it. The couches were lined with men in suits, except their ties were loosened and their shirts were half open. They were all leering at me, and while I knew I should be grateful to these men, I couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted. Why weren't they at home, with their families, as opposed to making lurid comments to a girl who could be their daughter?
I held the tray tiredly and a flock of them descended on it, downing the shots in a matter of seconds. I was about to turn away and flee back to the kitchen but then I felt a clammy hand on my shoulder.
"Just a second, sweet cheeks."
Oh great, another one. I turned around to see Alaric Saltzman smirking down at me. He was drunk too, and there was a wild glint in his eye as he stepped too close to me, his beer smelling breath wafting in my face as he barked out a laugh.
"It's really you!" He chuckled. "I guess our little trick worked then!"
I raised an eyebrow. Little trick? But he was laughing like a hyena and I rolled my eyes.
"Look, I really don't have time for this Alaric so if I could just go back –"
"But wait!" He interrupted abruptly. "Aren't you going to congratulate me on our victory against the leeches? Don't you think it's marvellous?" He turned to grin at a few of the other men, who were listening intently with smirks on their faces.
What kind of a stupid question was that? "Of course it's good." I said slowly, wondering if he wasn't drunk and was simply insane. "Why wouldn't it be?"
For some reason, this caused the rest of the men to cackle. This was all getting too weird. My eyes flicked to Dad, hoping for some kind of help or guidance or whatever. But he was smiling smugly along with the rest, his eyes glassy and unfocused. I turned back to Alaric and found the laughter was gone from his face. His eyes were narrowed as he glared at me.
"I'd keep an eye on this one, Grayson." He called to my father, his eyes never leaving my face. "She's still got a few tricks up her sleeve. I can tell." With that, he grabbed the half full vodka bottle from my hand and took a swig, before turning back to the crowd. The laughter and chatter and roaring gradually returned, getting louder in volume until I wasn't able to think straight. I quickly pushed through them all, not even bothering to try to be polite, until I finally reached the quiet coolness of the kitchen, sinking down against the counter to the floor. "They're just drunk." I told myself firmly, unable to shift the growing feeling of suspicion that something was really, really wrong.
It was at about five in the morning that the last of the LM trickled out of the house, but I didn't stay up to see it. Instead, I had crawled off to bed at maybe three? I just went back to the room I had woken up in. It had a bed and that was all I needed. I hadn't had a brilliant sleep though – I was plagued by dreams of vampires with hypnotising eyes that kept forcing me awake, panting. I just wasn't able to rid myself of the feeling in my gut that something had happened and I just couldn't remember it. It was like there was a big bundle of memories in my head but they were locked away in a box that I didn't have the key for. Eventually I was able to drift off for an hour or so, pushing all thoughts of vampires and humans and everything out of my mind for just a little while.
I was woken up by sharp knocks on the door. Groaning, I slid off the bed – I hadn't even stayed awake long enough to climb under the covers – and opened the door to find Jeremy standing outside, looking me up and down with…was that disgust?
Probably. Nothing would surprise me anymore.
He looked different though. Older maybe, with eyes that looked like they had seen a lot and a frowny downturned mouth. His chestnut hair was still in the same floppy style though and he was still had the same scrawny build that he had always hated – he used to spend hours lifting rocks, cans of food, anything he thought could make him more muscular.
"What do you want, Jer? I was asleep." I grumbled, rubbing my eyes and squinting at him in the bright light.
"Dad wants us all in the kitchen for a family meeting, so hurry up and get downstairs." He snapped before turning and walking away.
My brother had always been a charmer.
I was about to just go back into my room and freshen up a bit or something when suddenly something struck me. I leaned back out into the hallway and called after him.
"Jer, did something happen to me?" I asked and he froze.
Suspicions confirmed.
"Don't be stupid Elena. What could have happened to you?" He said after a moment, turning back to me.
I shrugged, giving him a reassuring smile. "Nothing. I guess I'm still half asleep. See you in a few."
I quietly shut the door of my room and leaned my forehead against the wood, my head pounding. So something had happened, I just couldn't remember it. But what? I mean, Dad wouldn't do something like that to me…would he?
I mean, I could always ask Dad himself. But I had a weird feeling that I shouldn't – not yet anyway. I heard Jeremy calling me again and I hurriedly began to search for something to wear.
I landed down in the kitchen five minutes later, with dishevelled hair and no shoes – I hadn't been able to find any. I was last to the family gathering, because Jeremy, Dad (looking wildly hungover, wincing every time someone made any noise) and Mom were sitting at the oak table in silence. There were bowls of fruit salad topped with whipped cream placed in front of each person, and a spare one in front of the empty chair – although it looked rather…old. I was pleased (I was pretty pleased to see food too, even if it was a bit dodgy looking. I was still ravenous from last night.) to see my mother, even if her eyes were rimmed with red, a sure sign that she'd been crying. Dad sighed at my appearance and gestured to the empty seat opposite her.
"Sit, Elena."
I examined the lot of them carefully as I lowered myself onto the cushioned seat. "Everything ok?" I asked lightly and Dad nodded, glancing at Mom before plastering a smile on his face.
"I've called this meeting to let you all know that, after the latest events of the rebellion, I will be taking up the position of Mystic Fall's governor. I knew it would be the best thing for the family."
Immediately Jeremy whooped and was up out of his seat, clapping Dad's shoulder. (He flinched with pain but smiled weakly up at my excited brother) I beamed at him, last night's events forgotten for a moment as I got up to hug him. Really, how could I have even thought that he would have done something to me? This was my father. Everything he did, he did for us. Plus, he had effectively won the rebellion singlehandedly - of course he deserved a night off with his friends. I had been moaning about nothing last night.
Mom said nothing, which we all pretended not to notice.
"That's amazing Dad! Well done." Jeremy said happily as we sat back down.
"I know, I know. The militia decided it's what would be best for the town and of course, I wasn't going to refuse! We'll be moving into a new house next week, and my duties start officially tomorrow!"
"What happened to the last governor though?" I asked curiously, beginning to pick at the fruit salad.
It was like my words had cast a spell or something. I looked up to find that all chipper conversation ceased and total silence had fallen over the table as Mom and Jeremy watched me nervously. Dad was glaring at me suspiciously with narrowed eyes, his fist clenched and a vein throbbing in his forehead.
"He was a vampire Elena. He'll die with the rest of them. Why do you ask?"
Die? I didn't realise they were going to just kill the vampires – why on Earth would they do that? I mean, the phrase of an eye for an eye came to mind. But by the looks of Dad's stony expression, it wasn't the time to question his actions. Plus, what was with that reaction? It had just been a question, for God's sake. He hardly thought I was on the vampires' side, right? But judging by the looks being exchanged at the table, that was seemingly exactly what he was thinking.
"I was just wondering." I said lightly and Mom and Jeremy exhaled with relief. Dad's expression softened too and he continued.
"That's another thing I needed to talk to you about. The former governor has now been officially charged with his crimes to the humans of Mystic Fall and is therefore due to be publically…punished, shall we say, today at three o' clock in the town square. Seeing as I'm the governor and you are the governor's family, it is your duty to come and be seen to be at it by the public to show loyalty and union, so I'll expect to see you in the crowd. Understood?"
We all nodded obediently and he smiled at us proudly, picking up his spoon to begin eating the fruit salad. We all followed suit and there was quiet for a few minutes as we nibbled the stale breakfast. The fruit was too soft and the cream too sweet, but we all understood the importance of having any food at all – we were from the Pail, and food didn't go to waste.
Dad's phone beeped and he checked it quickly as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin, frowning. "Look, I have to run. There's been a…well, our prisoner isn't co-operating. I'd better go and check it out, but I'll send a car for you at half two so you can be in the square on time. There are appropriate outfits in the bathroom for each of you, and I expect you to wear them."
He ruffled Jeremy's hair, kissed me on the top of my head and simply sighed at Mom before pulling on his suit jacket and striding out of the kitchen. There was another few moments of silence after he left – none of us knew how to act without a leader. Finally, Mom stood up wearily and began to collect the empty bowls, crashing them down with rather extreme force, her lips pressed together in a thin line. She dropped them in the sink with a clatter – thankfully none of them broke, I was pretty sure that this house and all of its extras were on loan – and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door after her with a loud bang.
Jeremy and I stared at each other for a second before he got up and followed, although not banging the door with such vengeance. I was left on my own with no real idea of where I was meant to be or what I was meant to be doing. Eventually, I got up to wash the dishes that had been abandoned in the sink but I was only able to make that job last fifteen minutes. My eyes flicked to the clock – it was half ten. Another four hours to go. Giving up, I decided to follow the others and left the kitchen to go up to my bedroom. Maybe I would be able to get a few extra hours sleep, if nothing else.
I sat in the fancy black car's backseat, gazing out the tinted windows. It was just coming up to three o' clock, but the driver continued to assure us that we would arrive on time. The netting on my fancy dress itched and I shifted to make myself more comfortable. The dress was pretty – a circle style dress, pure white pattered with navy blue flowers. My waist was defined by a black belt and my arms were covered with a blue cardigan. Father had apparently insisted that I wear short white gloves, so I had those on as well, and shiny black heels. My hair was twisted into a neat bun out of my face, (another of Dad's orders) adorned with a clip on dark blue hat, with netting covering part of my face. When I had looked in the mirror back in the safe house, I hadn't really known what to think. I looked lovely – like a grown up lady, who knew what she wanted and exactly how she was going to get it. The trouble was, I didn't feel like that. I just felt like Elena, the twenty year old who just wanted to wear her old dress and no shoes. I felt uncomfortable in this fancy dress, like I was pretending to be someone I wasn't.
If I was going to make the clothes choices, I would have picked a deep blue tea dress.
But I hadn't got to make the dress choices, and I told myself firmly to stop being an idiot. They were just clothes for crying out loud! I could slide back into my usual stuff whenever we got home. Besides, Mom and Jeremy were all dressed up too, Mom in a dusty pink dress that came to her knees and Jeremy in a sharp grey suit. (He looked incredibly smug.) They both looked like perfect versions of themselves as well.
I think I was beginning to realise what Dad had intended the outfits for - to paint a portrait of a family that didn't really exist so that the cracks under the surface were hidden.
The driver must have thought that we were a crazy family. We sat in silence the whole way.
Finally, on the dot of three, we pulled up in the centre of the town square. I stepped out of the car and stared around in awe – I had never been in the Shire. I had only gazed at it from the border of the Pail but it was even more beautiful inside. I didn't get much time to dwell on it however, because I was being pushed through the milling crowd to the front, where a wooden stage had been set up. There was a pretty big group of people here, all people I recognised from the Pail – although none of them looked very happy to be there. I smiled at some of them and they glared back, much to my confusion. After the fourth time this happened, I decided that it would be probably best to turn and keep my eyes front, on the stage. As I examined it like it was the most interesting thing I had ever seen, I realised that I had no idea what 'punishment' consisted of. Really, I couldn't think of anything at all.
My thoughts were answered when I noticed a sturdy metal frame, maybe two metres wide at the back of the stage. It had chains all over it, but the two that caught my eye were the ones hanging from the left and right corner of the top of the frame, mainly because they had things that looked rather like complicated bear traps hanging from them. Why on Earth would that thing be…up…there…
A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I glanced around desperately. This was why nobody looked too thrilled to be here.
They were going to torture him. And we were going to have to watch.
Now, don't get me wrong. I wanted the humans to be victorious and the vampires out of Mystic Falls – I wanted that with 100% of my being. What I didn't want however, was to watch pain be inflicted on them cruelly, turning us into the monsters. When Dad had said that they would all die earlier, I had assumed that it wouldn't be too violent or painful. But this, this looked like something out of a medieval dungeon, designed to make whoever was in its spiked clutches be tortured in the slowest, most painful way possible.
When I looked to my right, Mom was nowhere to be seen. Only Jeremy stood beside me, looking at the stage with a rather bloodthirsty look in his eye. I worried about my brother.
I was beginning to find breathing a bit of an issue, but I didn't have to worry about it for too long because Dad appeared on stage, looking dapper in a different suit to the one he had been wearing this morning. Actually, that had been the suit that he had worn yesterday now that I thought of it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming!" He boomed, smiling down at us all. "It is my great honour to introduce myself as your new governor of Mystic Falls."
There was a bit a ripple of surprise as the crowd digested this and I frowned to myself. Surely the rest of the Pail had voted for Dad? I mean…he had hardly just elected himself…right?
"We are here today to get our repayment, if you will, from the former governor of Mystic Falls. Now of course, none of you have probably heard of him – because he left us to starve in the Pail, only dipping in and out whenever he needed a new person to leech off of."
There was a few woops from single members in the crowd – when I looked around, I recognised them as LM members – but apart from that, everyone was quiet.
"He committed horrendous crimes against us as a people and that, my friends, is the reason that we are gathered here today." His pale grey eyes swept over us, as though daring us to disagree. Nobody did, of course.
"And so, my victorious community, we present to you the once governor of Mystic Falls, and the now punished leader of the defeated vampires - Damon Salvatore."
That name. It was familiar. Really familiar.
Then they pulled a man – a vampire – out on stage and I felt a massive plunge in my stomach.
He was muscular and God like, with raven black hair and perfect cheekbones, but he looked…he looked like he was dying. His skin was ashy white, there were dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks were hollow. His shirt was torn open and I could see multiple stab wounds on his body, with dried trickles of blood on his chest. He was weak – they must have poisoned him with vervain or something, as they had to drag him onto the platform with his arms bound behind his back. I regarded all of these with horror, before I made the mistake of glancing at his eyes.
I had to freeze completely. Bright and intensely blue, lined with coal black eyelashes. He seemed to be searching for someone in the crowd and suddenly, his eyes landed on mine.
I let out a sharp gasp as a sudden rush of memories hit me.
I kept looking at the ground until I felt a cool finger gently tilting my head up until I was forced to look him in the eye. "First timer, huh?" He murmured, making my heart thump, although I wasn't exactly sure if it was because of fear. I nodded silently and he released me. "Well, I'm Damon Salvatore. You're Elena Gilbert, if I'm correct?" Another nod from me. He regarded me quietly before gesturing into the house. "You'd better come in then. The sooner we can get your first time over with, the better."
"Tilt your head back darling." He purred silkily and I felt obliged to do as he asked, tilting so my neck was exposed. "There's a good girl. This might feel like a little pinch but then it'll be over…" As he came closer, my heart began to beat faster and I felt him put a hand on my back to steady me. "You're ok, I've got you." He murmured in my ear and I shivered as I felt his sharp teeth graze down my neck before finally settling on a spot. Then he bit down.
"You've got fire in you Ms. Gilbert."
"You're a fighter Ms. Gilbert."
"Just remember that if I didn't tell you anything, it was only to make you feel safer."
"You're gorgeous."
And then suddenly, a hazy memory, fainter than the rest. We were in bed together and he was moving above me when he suddenly leaned down to press his lips to mine.
"I love you."
My breathing was coming in short pants now, and I couldn't really think straight. I had met this man – Damon – before. I had…fallen in love with him? But surely I couldn't have…not a vampire! It felt like there were massive holes in my memory and I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut and try to forget about the whole thing, but I couldn't because his eyes were holding mine, even as he was being dragged to that awful metal thing. Just before the bear traps were locked in place – Oh God, around his wrists – he smiled sadly and mouthed something at me.
Had he just said…firecracker?
I had to get out of here. Something was massively wrong and I suddenly had no doubts that the LM was the reason I couldn't remember it. Whatever it was, I was going to find out – but there were certainly no clues here. The only thing I had was…that shirt.
I turned away and began to push through the crowd just as they gasped in horror and I heard his loud moan of pain as they snapped the spiked things around his wrists. I winced but that didn't stop me from breaking into a sprint as soon as I could. I heard a few people calling after me – Jeremy mainly – but I didn't stop, or even slow down. I knew I couldn't really trust anyone at this stage.
I finally skidded to a stop in front of the black car we had arrived in. It was empty – the driver must have been in the crowd. I swore to myself –there was no way I could get home on foot without someone catching me. But I didn't know how to drive obviously so there was no way that I could get away.
I was stuck.
I was going to turn away from the car before I had an idea. I examined the car carefully. I mean really, how hard could it be? It was just a wheel and a few pedals…right?
It turned out I was incredibly wrong.
After a completely terrifying (I nearly crashed 3 times) journey, I finally made it to the stupid safehouse. I hopped out of the car and fumbled with the key Mom had given me, missing the lock a few times before I finally got it open. I shut the door after me, heart pounding, and ran up the stairs to my room. Bursting inside, I made a beeline for the wardrobe and yanked it open, my eyes settling instantly on what I wanted.
The shirt.
I tore it off the hanger and began to search it for clues, trying to ignore how delicious it smelled.
"Come on, you must have a clue somewhere." I muttered angrily, about to give up when I suddenly heard the most joyous sound in the world.
The crinkle of paper.
I finally found the little hidden pocket on the left side of the jacket and pulled out the tiny square of paper. When I opened it out carefully, I realised with a start that it was a letter. To me.
I glanced behind to make sure that nobody was bursting in the door but I was alone in the house. Taking a shaky breath, I turned back to the letter and began to read.
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Until next time my darlings,
x