ELEVEN
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
The blue Mini was quiet as Kaari followed the dirt trail, seeing only tree trunks and leaves, the ground littered with brown, red and orange. She was glad that it hadn't been too long since she'd been to the old Lockwood estate, especially as dusk closed in, quickening the reach of shadows beneath the leaves.
She stopped, listening, hearing only the sounds of the darkness. But, considering the likelihood that the kidnapper was Katherine, she doubted that she would know when they arrived. She opened the door, climbing out of the car and standing beside the hood. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a chill creep down her spine that had nothing to do with cold.
Someone was close, but still only the breeze whispered at her ear. She resisted the urge to turn, wanting to remain as strong as possible to confront the kidnapper. She hoped it was Katherine, hoped that karma really was a bitch when it came to dealing with the woman.
She also hoped that she had made the right decision, changing the destination. She was keeping Damon and Stefan safe, away from the woman who used and betrayed the Salvatore brothers. She couldn't let anyone else get hurt when it was obviously her they were attacking, her who they truly wanted to hurt.
She felt another chill sprint down her spine, and this time she turned. The chill was stronger, nearly rattling every bone in her body with the force of the icy feet that stomped down her vertebrae.
'I know you're here,' she called, keeping a steady voice even as she shook inside, 'please, just give me my brother back. He's only five, but he's so strong. He deserves his childhood, deserves to live the rest of his life.'
Only silence met her ears, the leaves rustling as if laughing at her fear. She turned slowly, searching the autumn colours, searching for any signs of movement that were not caused by the chuckling of the wind.
'Now, where did this strange notion come from? Did I ever say that I would kill the boy?' that voice asked, still familiar, but she couldn't place it.
'You said if I brought the Salvatores, there would be dire consequences.'
'Oh, you've read this all wrong. See, if you'd brought the Salvatores, then those loyal goody-two shoes would have died right before your eyes, which I'm guessing would be a very awful sight for you. But now you've made this all so much more work for me, because I have to go search for them. I can't have anyone alive to know who took the boy.'
She pursed her lips, keeping quiet. Obviously the kidnapper didn't know that Danika still lived, didn't know that the person they had sent had failed to finish the job. 'Who are you?' she asked, ignoring the screaming of her intuition, ignoring its desperate cries that begged her to turn away, to never see the face that emerged from behind the trees, a smile on their lips and her brother hanging limply over their shoulder.
If only she had listened to her intuition.
Elena found her way to Danika's room easily, flowers supported in the crook of her arm as she sent Stefan a quick message to say she'd arrived. She looked around, seeing the seat beside Danika's bed, figuring that Kaari had gone to get a coffee or a bite to eat, but as Elena sat her handbag on the chair she nearly startled at the sound of crinkling paper. She looked down, seeing the corner of the page and reached for it, curious. She opened it, startled further when she recognised the writing and saw who it was addressed to.
Her.
She read it quickly, her heart racing by the end of it as she looked outside, seeing only darkness through the windows. She grabbed her bag, still holding the note as she rushed to the nursing station.
'Excuse me,' she said, stopping the first person she saw, 'when did Kaari, Danika Ashworth's daughter, leave?'
The lady looked over her glasses. 'About half an hour ago. I figured she went to pick up her brother.'
'Thanks,' Elena said, glancing back to Danika's room before she plastered a smile over her lips. 'Take care of her. I'll call Kaari and see if she wants me to bring them back here before visiting hours end.'
She didn't wait for a reply, her phone already in hand to press Stefan's speed dial number as she rushed to the elevator, urging him to pick up and nearly sighing with relief when he did.
'She changed the meeting place,' she said, knowing that her boyfriend would understand, 'she's gone to the old Lockwood estate, but she hasn't given any specific details.' Elena felt so small as she walked into the darkness to her car, the heavy black weighing more on her than usual as she wondered if she would ever see her friend again. 'She didn't change the time. Hurry.'
Stefan stuffed his phone back into his pocket, not needing to see the pain in his brother's eyes to know that Damon had heard every word that Elena had said. Together they rushed back to the car in silence, sliding into the seats before Damon took off, forcing the car into gear, tires spewing leaves as they tore down the narrow driveway, heading away from the ruins of the old Salvatore estate.
'Why would she do this?' Damon asked, barely stopping himself from snapping the wheel with the strength of his grip. 'Why would she risk her life like this?'
'I have a feeling she's trying to protect us,' Stefan said, resisting the urge to check that his seatbelt was securely fastened as Damon swerved around corners at speeds that would have scared rally drivers, 'as well as trying to protect her brother. She wouldn't take the chance of having us there, not when it could mean Sam's death.'
'It's still stupid,' Damon growled, grip on the steering wheel tightening to a dangerous degree. 'I said I – we – would get her brother back safe. I promised her that, and she told me that she trusted me.'
'If she didn't trust you, Damon, she never would have left that note for Elena to find.'
Damon nearly missed the gear change as the words trickled through his mind. He glanced to his brother, seeing the honesty in the dark gaze and actually feeling the sincerity, feeling as if he Stefan wasn't just trying to placate him. He looked to the road, forcing himself to focus on the turns as they hurtled towards the old Lockwood estate, forcing himself to feel the roar of the engine and the precise change of each gear as he pushed his car to its limits. Kaari probably believed that this night would be her last, that she would save her brother by sacrificing herself, that Damon and Stefan would only read that note after.
That, to Damon, it would be her final goodbye.
Not tonight, Damon decided, feeling the rush of the change, revelling in it as energy surged through him for the briefest second before it disappeared to lie within. Tonight would not be the last Kaari would see of him, even if she feared his and Stefan's presence would mean Sam's death. Tonight, he would earn her complete trust. Tonight, he would show her that she and her family would always be safe.
Tonight, she would know that he was hers for eternity.
'How far are we from the estate?' Stefan asked, reaching to steady himself on the dashboard for a moment, though his features remained stoic.
'Too far,' Damon said as the car roared along a blissful straight, 'but not for long.'
Kaari felt sweat break over her body, her skin clammy as she stared at him, feeling all of those suppressed fears and nightmares – ones she thought she would never have to relive – come crashing over her in a wave so powerful her knees nearly gave out. She reached to her stomach, feeling it churn as she met the dark gaze that had haunted her for over four years.
He smiled, the expression fake, wrong, a baring of teeth more than a look of happiness. 'Aren't you glad to see me?' he asked, opening his arms, seeming to attempt a softening of the harshness of his gaze, though he failed at it.
She glanced to her little brother, seeing the rise and fall of his back and knowing that he still lived, though for how long she didn't know, not when her future was looking beyond bleak.
'Not particularly,' she said, putting as much venom into the words as she could muster, still refusing to show him just how scared she was, 'but if you put my brother down and walk back the way you came, I'll certainly be happy to see you go.'
'Always quick with a comeback, even when you were young.'
'You never saw me when I was young,' she said, 'you weren't even around long enough to see me grow up, though I can't say I'm not filled with glee at that fact.'
He stopped trying to smile, the expression turning to a twisted bearing of teeth. 'Be careful. Your life hangs in my hands, and I know that you certainly don't want to see the end of it when you've finally found a man,' he said, 'though, I hope he's not like the last one. What was his name…Richard? He truly was an ass.'
So now they were going to start agreeing?
'What have you done to him?' she asked. 'Did you compel him?'
'Compel? That's not my area of expertise,' he said, some of the previous sick humour returning to his gaze. 'Besides, I didn't go anywhere near your ex. I hope you always wore protection, because that boy must be a walking STI with all the women he's screwed.'
'Every time, but trust me,' she said, clenching her fists at her side, glad that some of the fear was slowly being replaced by anger, knowing that at some stage she was going to make a break for her brother, 'after we broke up, I got tested anyway, just in case.'
'There's the smart girl I know,' he said, mock sincerity in his gaze, 'the one I used to take to school, who was defiant and strong but oh so fragile on the inside after the death of her father.'
'You know nothing about me.'
'And yet, I knew that if I threatened your precious little brother, you would lose the Salvatore tail and come running all by yourself, even though I never mentioned killing him,' he said. 'I can't believe you think I'm such a monster that I would kill my own son.'
'Knowing that you're the bastard that had him kidnapped, I certainly wouldn't put it out of your league of sickness,' she said.
He quirked a brow. 'You thought someone else would kidnap Sam?'
'There were a few options,' she said, 'but never you, not when you seemed to have such a complete lack of interest in your own offspring.'
'But that's exactly why I am so interested. Oh, I left when Danika kicked me out, but I was always coming back when he was old enough to understand, old enough to know the truth.' He removed Sam's stirring body from his shoulder, placing him on the ground before him. Sam rubbed his eyes and Kaari inched forward as he sat up, a cry ripping from his throat before he shot backwards, pushing himself across the leaves to Kaari's feet.
She dropped to her knees, pulling him into her arms, clutching him to her chest and lifting him when she stood. She glared at him, feeling Sam cling to her. She turned, glad that she'd stayed close to her car. She was in the driver's seat in a second, Sam climbing onto the passenger seat as she turned the key and forced the car into reverse. He stared at them, that fake smile on his lips, one she blocked out as she turned around to weave her little car through the trees in reverse.
Sam cried out and she turned, nearly screaming herself as her stepfather jumped onto the bonnet of her car, the Mini nearly flipping at the sudden force. She slammed on the breaks, feeling the nudge of a tree behind her as she forced the car into gear and drove forward, Jared still on the bonnet. He laughed, fist going through the window, glass shattering as he reached for her neck.
She reached for Sam, dragging him against her side and holding tight before she slammed on the breaks. He rolled over the top but the car was still going too fast. She held Sam tighter, foot still on the breaks as they slammed into a tree, the impact enough to shake them but not injure.
She quickly checked her frightened brother for cuts from the glass. 'Come on,' she said, getting out of the car and drawing him into her arms, holding his little body tight as she took off for the trees, not bothering to even look at Jared's body as he tried to get up.
His laugh seemed to follow her as they hurtled through the trees. Sam was heavy in her arms as he clutched at her, her legs like cement as she ran, but she would not stop. She kept running, that laugh still following as well as the taunting words that were called after them.
'Remember, Kaari, I love to hunt.'
Her lungs burned, but she forced air into them when she saw a break in the trees. She ran for it. If she remembered correctly…
Yes!
She hurried down the steps to what she could only describe as a dungeon, knowing that, if they couldn't hide down there, the old chains could act as a weapon. They stopped in the opening at the base of the stairs, knowing that going down a corridor would be suicide as they dropped to crouch where they still had a few escape options. 'Are you okay?' she asked, kneeling to meet his gaze while she fussed over him, checking for any injuries.
'Fine,' he said even though he shook with fear, 'you?'
'I'm okay,' she said, kissing him on the forehead before she looked in the cells around them, finding a length of chain. She pulled at it to test the strength before she gripped it tight, hoping that it would be enough to fight her stepfather off. He was faster, stronger than before. As a cop – she hoped to hell he still wasn't one – he'd been strong, but this was different. He was frightening, superhuman.
Inhuman.
She swallowed the bile in her throat, wishing that she had a wooden stake because it seemed liked she would need one.
She tensed when she heard movement above, pushing Sam back as laughter rolled through the dungeon. 'You're feistier than you used to be,' he said, 'which, I might add, is something of a disappointment. If I'd known that one day I would get to truly chase you, let you fight and believe you had a chance against me before I tore down every inch of your strength, I would never have raised a hand at you all those years ago.'
She pursed her lips, knowing that he was trying to draw a response from her, but she would not give in, not when silence bought her time to think.
'You know, I wish I could have seen Danika's face when she had the life strangled out of her, or that I'd let my little assassin and kidnapper live. She was so very good at listening to what I told her to do, thinking that one day I might notice her. She would have given me all the details, but she was naïve, nearly biting Sam. I just couldn't let her live after that, even when she begged for another chance as I injected her with vervain, and, well, I'm sure you can guess the rest.'
Of course, she thought, he manipulated her just like he did mum.
He came into view at the top of the stairs, his clothes torn from glass and his roll over the car, but his smile still intact. In the dim light of the stars, she couldn't see any marks on him, only dirt as he advanced slowly, taunting.
'How did she get into the house?' Kaari asked, still holding the chain tight, her grip steady. 'Damon compelled them so no one would be let in.'
He smirked. 'Danika couldn't bare the thought of you being jailed for a drug conviction, so my friend convinced dear Danika that it was imperative that she go inside to discuss your bail.'
'In other words, she lied. No wonder you got along so well.'
'Love like the love your mother has for you is far stronger than a compulsion, especially when my friend can do just as good a compulsion as Damon Salvatore,' he said as he reached to bottom step. 'It was easy to grab Sam and run after that, but as I said, she was just too tempted to kill him for his blood, so I killed her. He needs to know the truth, and she nearly ended his life before he could learn.'
'What truth?'
He smiled. 'He's a monster, just like me.'
She tightened her grip on the chain. 'He's nothing like you, no matter how much of your blood runs through his veins,' she said, jaw tight with clenched teeth, 'he'll never be anything like you.'
He laughed, reaching to strip the torn shirt from his body, that sickening smile still on his lips. He glanced at the stairs, standing, waiting. 'You should be very excited for what I'm about to show you,' he said, 'after all, it will be the last thing you ever see.'
Damon slammed on the breaks, flinging himself from his car and sprinting to the wreak of the blue Mini he recognised too well. He looked inside, seeing nothing but glass. He knew she was bleeding without seeing the metallic red on the seats. He knew the sweet scent.
'She was here recently,' he said, looking to Stefan, 'very recently.'
He watched as his younger brother paced around a section of indented leaves, crouching to feel the damp ground, inhaling a scent that Damon couldn't pick up, not when the intoxicating smell of roses and honey was filling his senses.
'Someone else was here,' Stefan said, 'someone we don't know.'
'So it's not Katherine?' Damon asked, not knowing if he was relieved or more frightened.
Stefan shook his head. 'No, it's someone else. Something else.'
'You don't think–'
Their heads whipped around when they heard a cry, a roar of pain and, somehow, exultation. They glanced to the sky and then to each other before they followed the howl, trees a blur of movement around them. Damon cursed, wondering why he hadn't seen it, why he had never thought that it was possible. Yes, they were supposed to be extinct, but it was always possible that a line or two remained. But that still didn't explain the attacks on Kaari, the vampires unless…
Well, there had been stranger truces, right?
Kaari nearly dropped the chain as her stepfather went to his knees, his whole body shaking. Still he smiled, even as every muscle rippled and bones seemed to break beneath his skin, shifting before her eyes.
Changing.
She stepped back, careful to keep herself between Sam and what remained of Jared as he continued to morph from man to beast, his eyes an eerie glowing amber that sent chills sprinting down Kaari's spine until she nearly froze with the fear that rocketed through her.
'Sweetie,' she said quietly, only continuing when she felt Sam grip the back of her shirt, 'when I tell you, I want you to run for the stairs, okay?'
'Not leaving you.'
'Please, Sam, you have to run,' she said. 'Mum needs you.'
'She needs you too.'
She dared a quick glance to him. 'I'll be fine,' she promised even as she knew the words were lies, even when the look in his eyes said he knew it too. 'When I tell you to, okay?'
He nodded slowly, tears in his eyes as he stared up at her. She pushed him back a little further, readying her chain, hoping to hell that it would be enough as her stepfather – stepwerewolf? – stalked forward. He growled, the sound ripping through his throat, telling her that nothing of the man, the human, who had stood before her remained. This was an animal, one that had every intention of killing her as she stood between it and what it wanted.
He leapt and she lashed out with the chair, swinging it like a whip. It slammed into Jared's snout, his head thrown to the side, but the pain seemed to last only a moment before he shot towards her again. She kept swinging the chain, circling it over her head before she sent it sailing towards his face, knocking him back a foot for every two he stepped forward. She could not hold him back, and she knew it, but if she could just get Sam out, maybe she could take the bastard with her.
She wrapped the chain around both hands as he took that final leap forward, stepping to the side as he sailed past. She slammed a fist into his ribs, sending him crashing into the wall.
'Run!' she screamed, watching as Sam ran for the stairs. She stepped in front of Jared, feeling the shakes of fear in her hands and hoping the adrenaline would get her through the next few attacks.
Jared's eyes followed Sam, the glowing amber narrowing when she stepped in front of his gaze, wrapping the chain around her hands again. 'I hope you know how much I've wanted to hurt you for what you did to mum,' she said, not even knowing if he could understand. 'I'm done letting you haunt my dreams. I'm done letting you make me feel weak,' she said, testing the links again, 'not when Damon makes me feel so strong. Not when I know that one day he might actually mean it when he tells me he loves me, that he might actually feel it when I tell him I love him.'
He tilted his head, and at that moment she knew that he must have understood her, because if a wolf could smile, he was: you love him?
'With all my heart.'
Somehow he smirked.
He shot forward and again she stepped to the side, but this time he anticipated, using the wall to change course. He flew straight towards her, slamming into her chest. Her vision blurred when she hit the stone floor, blackness following for a moment when her head slammed down, her lungs starved for air as the impact forced her breath from her body.
She fought blind, dust in her eyes as she brought a fist up, coming into contact with only air as claws dug at her skin. She heard a growl, and brought her arms up, hoping to hold him off even though she knew the attempts were futile, but she heard a yelp.
She forced her stinging eyes open, tightening her grip on the chain and watching as Jared's eyes bulged. The chain had tangled around his head when they had fallen, and she was going to make full use of the opportunity, gritting her teeth, pulling tighter and raising her arms, paws batting at the chain as a choked growl ripped from his throat.
The chain was ripped from her hands, the weight of Jared's straining body pulled from her arms and slammed into the stone wall beside her so hard that she thought she heard bones snap. She was pulled away, only able to watch as Damon brought the flailing wolf to eyelevel, his free hand a blur as he used the chain to tangle Jared's limbs until he was immobile.
He looked to her, hand wrapped around the wolf's neck, and despite the blood in his eyes, his features softened. He seemed to gulp, as if searching for words before he said, 'I love you too.'
She tried to speak but he turned to Jared, a growl ripping from his throat, the blood in his eyes and the veins that ran beneath them flaring as his fangs seemed to sharpen. He snapped Jared's wrist, arm, revelling in the howls that ripped from the wolf's throat as he broke one leg and then the other before dropping the broken body to the floor.
He wouldn't be moving, not when there were so many chains to use and oh so many bones to keep breaking. Oh, the delightful hours of torture ahead…
'Damon!' Kaari called, his head whipping to the side. He looked at her through the haze of his anger. 'Leave him.'
He bared his fangs, looking to the body on the ground that begged to be broken before he turned his gaze to her. He'd never passed up on an opportunity to torture something, except this time, he knew he had no other choice. He would always choose Kaari.
Always.
He went to her, leaving Stefan to deal with the broken wolf that would soon be broken further. He knelt, pulling her into his arms, feeling like he could take his first breath in over a century when she clung to him, her fingernails biting into his scalp as she wrapped her arms around his neck and weaved her fingers through his hair. He inhaled her scent, breathing roses and honey as he pulled her onto his lap and held on for dear life. The change faded, the anger giving way to a relief as he held her safe in his arms.
'I thought I'd lost you,' he said, amazed when he felt his voice strain at the words.
'I'm sorry,' she said, and he could feel her tears fall onto his shoulder to soak his shirt. 'I had to get my brother back. I couldn't risk him being killed because I was too scared to go without you.'
'What if he'd killed you anyway?'
'He didn't get to though,' she said, 'it was a stupid decision, but I'm glad I made it, because at least I would have gotten to see Sam one last time, and hopefully take the bastard with me.'
He pulled back. 'But you would have left me?' he said, nearly reaching to his chest as it ached.
She reached up, cupping his cheeks, thumbs gently wiping the tears that rolled down his skin. He closed his eyes for a moment, unprepared for the effect it had on him as he shook with the first tears he'd allowed himself to shed for 145 years. They burned on his cheek, but with a tender caress she took away each of them until he opened his eyes, holding her gaze.
'I never wanted to, but I had to try to save Sam,' she said, voice a whisper.
He nodded, glancing to his younger brother and watching as he bundled the near unconscious wolf over his shoulder. 'I know,' he said, because he would have done the same. He met her gaze again. 'Promise me that next time, and I hope to god there is never a next time, you'll at least let me come with you.'
'I promise.'
He stood, taking her with him, ignoring her protests as he carried her. Still her arms wrapped around his neck, her head resting on his chest as it seemed to inflate with pride. Even when she was more afraid than he'd ever seen her, she'd still fought with everything she had and then some against a man that had haunted her for far too long.
No more.
They emerged into the moonlight and he allowed her to stand only so she could run to her brother. He watched her as she went to her knees, pulling the strongest kid he'd ever known into her arms and holding him tight as she gushed words of love and worry over his ears. He had been standing by the entrance to the dungeon, looking frightened but determined, as if he couldn't muster the strength to walk away from his sister even when he feared for his life, even when he had been kidnapped and held by a man he had never truly known who claimed to be his father.
Kaari and Sam were stronger than either of them knew.
She stood hand in hand with Sam, and as Damon went to her side, her arm wrapping around his waist before her hand tucked possessively into the back pocket of his jeans, he knew that, for as long as she could stand to have him, he would be okay. And as she looked up at him, a light in her eyes that sparked the flame of his silent heart and long gone soul, he smiled.
For the first time in 145 years, eternity sounded good.
THE END
I hope you've enjoyed my Vampire Diaries fanficiton,
The Ultimate Captivation
I loved writing this fanfiction, and I really do hope that it was as fun to read as it was to write.
Please, if you have a moment, leave me a comment. It's great to hear from readers.
I hope that you'll look out for my future fanfictions.
~ Ryuk In Person ~
