PART 14
The ride home was awkward, to say the least. Everyone had been against taking their own vehicles, at the risk of getting caught. Katherine had suggested compelling a car off someone. But in the end it had been Caroline who found the solution when she suggested Tyler ask his coach if he could borrow the team's black Honda Pilot.
Katherine choose the middle. Hardly a surprise considering she loves to be the center of attention. She also liked the idea of being able to sit on the edge of the seat and prop her feet up on the other side. Elijah suggested that he drive, and no one had the inclination to argue with him. Damon sat to his right, his boots propped up on the dashboard. The three girls were in the back. It hadn't taken long for them to pass out against each other.
Katherine looked over the top of the seat at the trio. It was almost sickening how peaceful they looked. She huffed her annoyance and turned back around in her seat. Her attention shifted to the front of the vehicle. Elijah had not said a word since they left, and Damon was sitting in comfortable silence, staring ahead. She was bored again.
"Damon, she said, scooting forward in her seat. She draped her arms around the head rest, onto his shoulders, circling his neck. "I'm hungry," she purred into his ear. Elijah kept his eyes trained on the road, and it didn't appear that he was listening. Damon shrugged her off quickly and reached below him to his feet. He brought up the duffle he had been carrying the whole trip and began to dig through it. He threw a few stakes to the floor, and continued to search the bag until he brought out a few blood bags.
He tossed one over the seat to Katherine and she happily accepted it, propping her feet onto Damon's head rest. Damon ripped one open for himself and turned to Elijah. "You want one?" he asked their driver. "No thank you," Elijah stated, "I'm not hungry." Katherine stopped sipping on her blood bag, her attention fully on the conversation taking place in front of her.
Damon eyed the vampire beside him, "Don't you ever eat?" "You need to fix your appetite," Damon concluded. Elijah's hands gripped the steering wheel a little harder and his eyes strayed to look at Katherine in the rear-view mirror. She was lightly sipped at her meal and looking at him through her eye lashes. A small smile touched her lips and Elijah turned his attention back to the road.
Damon leaned forward and looked through the front window to the sky, "It's going to be light soon," he observed. Elijah nodded, mumbling a quiet, "Umhmm." Katherine focused on finishing the last of her blood, squeezing the plastic together in her fist as she got the last drops.
Katherine tossed the blood bag behind her, probably hitting one of the girls, and not caring. Damon eyed Elijah questioningly, "As in, the sun will be coming out to say hi, I'm here," he further emphasized. Elijah simply continued to look ahead of him. "You don't have your ring," Damon observed.
Katherine turned her attention to Elijah's hand, and she noticed for the first time that he didn't have his ring on. Katherine and Damon continued to look at Elijah before he turned his head quickly to look at their confused faces. "I'm all for living dangerously, but I don't want a flaming vampire to be my driver home," Damon concluded. It was then that Elijah burst out laughing. The action made Katherine jump slightly and she tried to remember if she'd ever heard him laugh. She had, only once she concluded.
Elijah's laughter continued until it died down to a light chuckle. "That's right," he started, "at that restaurant you said that we originals knew the secret of the "day ring," he finished in a sarcastic tone. Damon glared at him, more than a little confused. Elijah turned to the angry vampire, "Sunlight can't kill me," he revealed, "I won't catch on fire." Damon sat back in his seat with a humph, but Katherine leaned forward, waiting for the moment, and then it came. "Wait.." Damon said "…you were at the Internet cafe?" "That was you?" A small smile touched Elijah's features, and Damon had his answer. "How…where, how did you do that?" "What did you throw at us?" Damon inquired.
Elijah didn't take his eyes off the road as he reached forward into the ashtray and pulled out a quarter, he held it up before tossing it into Damon's lap, and placing his hand back on the steering wheel. Damon fished the coin out of his lap and held it in front of him, "You threw a quarter through that window?" "Several, ..in fact," Elijah replied. Damon looked at the coin in disbelief, and they both turned to look over there shoulder as Katherine burst out laughing.
Damon looked at her as if he'd never seen her before. Katherine's eyes caught Elijah's and she continued to laugh. She thought she saw him smile a little, but she was sure it had been a trick of the flashing lights passing by as he drove. This might have been the first time she'd genuinely laughed in centuries. In fact, she was sure it was.
Klaus slammed the door behind him. Compared to the carnage that was outside the warehouse, what was in front of him was relatively clean. He observed the scene before him, and his eyes fixed on the wooden crate. He walked over to the lid and his fingers traced the words he had etched there. He looked up as he heard the door open and shut behind him.
Stefan stood in the doorway with blood dripping down his chin, staining his shirt red. Klaus smiled a sinister smile. Not so useless after all, he thought. His attention turned to the concrete floor. He walked over to stand above a body. The head was torn clean away, thrown not to far to the side of the corpse.
Klaus walked over to the discarded body part, and noted that the vampire's hand lay close by as well. Terrified eyes stared up at him as he looked down on the head. Klaus picked it up and examined what was left. He could barely tell that it had once had a face. Bones were protruding from the skin all the way down to what was left of the neck.
Not far from it lay a dagger that he instantly recognized. He threw the head over his shoulder and walked to retrieve his blade. Blood stained both sides and the scent called to him. He moved the blade under his nostrils and inhaled a long breath. His eyes glazed over red. It was a scent he recognized. One that he had spent countless hours using to stain the floor of an apartment with.
"Stefan," Klaus started, standing to his feet. Stefan turned his attention to Klaus, "If you had been marked for death, said to be tortured for at least the next 250 years by someone you had betrayed...would you openly defy them?" Stefan gave him a confused look, his words not registering through the blood lust. Klaus's smirk widened and he licked the blade, groaning in ecstasy when he tasted Katerina's blood.
He walked over to the wooden crate again, flinging the lid several feet away to reveal an empty coffin. He was not surprised to see it empty. Anger clouded his senses and he turned to Stefan, throwing the dagger at him. He watched with glee as Stefan started to lick the dagger clean. His eyes flooding red as he savored the taste. Klaus moved to the exit, walking several steps before he turned around to address Stefan, "I have a job for you," he said with an evil smile.
