Chapter 19

Damon

Once they all returned to the house, Elena took a long soak in the tub, went to bed, and went straight off to sleep. Bonnie and Jeremy left to be alone at Bonnie's house. Before they left Bonnie told Damon, "Elena has been through a lot. Don't be concerned if she sleeps most of the day tomorrow."

Damon nodded, "Thanks, I'll just sleep down here."

Bonnie smiled, "Damon, you can sleep wherever you like, Elena isn't going to notice." More seriously, Bonnie added, "The magic used today was beyond me, it was beyond Emily. It goes back to the source used to create vampires in the first place. This has been a very big deal, Damon. I want you to know that."

"Yes, we need to talk about that. I'm pretty sure more was done today than simply protecting ourselves from our own selfishness."

"Of course, we'll talk. I'll explain as much as I can. It will be made clear at the appropriate time. There is much that is still uncertain. I'll see you tomorrow." Bonnie waved as she and Jeremy left.

"Witches," Damon muttered to himself. "They are always holding something back."

Damon poured a bourbon and water and sat down with a book to read. At least, he held a book pretending to read as he consider the past few days, and especially today. From the moment he had first met Elena he had felt as though his life had been taken over by forces beyond his comprehension. His independent spirit resented the idea, but in reality he had never been happier. He reflected back on the past 169 years of his life, before and after he had been turned. All he had done was drift along, gratifying his own desires and reacting to events out of his control. Since Elena, there had been purpose, even if it wasn't a purpose of his choosing.

Damon laughed to himself, he wasn't much for flowery language but the metaphor of a swamp verses a mountain stream was too tempting to resist. He was certainly in a mountain stream now, with water that was pure and a current that was swift. There was probably a waterfall somewhere ahead, but that would be okay too. Being carried along with Elena made everything good.

Damon fully appreciated the irony. He had been so angry with Stefan for chasing after Elena when he had first arrived at Mystic Falls. That was easily the most deliberately selfish thing Stefan had ever done. Damon had been confused about why he cared so much what Stefan did. Looking back, he realized even as he was trying to rescue Katherine from the tomb, all that mattered to him was Elena's happiness. He knew that Elena would not be able to remain human and be with a vampire. However, to deliberately turn her into one was unthinkable. Who would have guessed that she would be this wonderful, even as a vampire? If Damon had had his way, Stefan and him would have left Mystic Falls, leaving Elena alone as a human and he would be out of her life, and she out of his. By defying him, Stefan had brought about the happiest period of Damon's life.

Damon wondered briefly where Stefan was, and then shrugged his shoulders. He had been looking for indications that Stefan had gone berserk as the slicer again, but there had been no hint of that. He guessed Stefan was out in the woods somewhere doing what he liked to do best, brood and hunt bunnies.

With that little moment of malice towards his kid brother out of the way, Damon finished off his drink and went to bed. As Bonnie predicted, Elena never stirred. The moon shined through the window and highlighted her face. He remembered how she had looked when he had drunk all of her blood and shuddered. Even though he had been compelled to do so, to have rendered such beauty to a dried and shriveled hag was a crime against nature. Part of him wanted to get Elena to erase the image from his mind, but somehow he thought doing that would be unworthy of her. It would be like trying to forget her willingness to sacrifice herself for others. Damon kissed her good night and was quickly asleep as well.

His alarm went off at 7 the next morning. Damon quickly reached and silenced it, but he didn't need to worry. Elena was still fast asleep. Damon got out of bed. He needed to take care of Nate's body before the day became warm. In the division of labor that had evolved between Elena and him, the cleanup afterwards had fallen to him. It wasn't as grisly a task as one would think. Most of the cleanup didn't involve the body but dealt with the consequences of their victims actions. Many times there were families that had no idea what had happened to their loved one. As heartbreaking as the news was, being told was better than not knowing. Damon was actually looking forward to today. Telling Rhonda that she no longer had anything to fear should be welcome news.

At first, Elena had been involved with the cleanup as well, but she discovered that dealing with the sorrow of the families and loved ones was more than she could bear. Because of the way she brought herself to know her victims at their end, when she encountered his victims, she found herself feeling the guilt he should have felt as a consequence of his actions. At first, she believed this should be part of the process, but soon concluded it was not something she could continue to bear and it accomplished nothing. Now, Damon handled all of that and she looked forward to his relating how what she had done had eased the suffering of others.

Damon had put Nate in a body bag and in the trunk of his car last night. He had also looked up Rhonda Justice on the internet and had her address and directions. He was counting on her being at home. If not, he would have to go ahead and dispose of Nate's body and then inform her another way that Nate was out of her life.

He arrived at Lynchburg and found Rhonda's home in less than two hours. Seeing a car in the driveway he was hopeful that she was home. Damon backed the car up into the driveway and then went to the front door to ring the bell. The woman who answered looked like someone who had given up on life. Her brown hair hung limply around her shoulders and although it was clean, it was obvious that she had not really given any attention to it or any other aspect of her appearance. The wasted look of her face and arms told the story of someone worn down with stress. She obviously had not eaten or slept properly for days or weeks.

"Are you Rhonda Justice?" asked Damon.

The woman looked around apprehensively. "There is no one by that name here, please go away," she replied, her voice trembling in fear. She began to close the door in Damon's face, but he blocked it with his foot.

This time, using his ability to compel, he asked "Are you Rhonda Justice?"

Unwillingly, the woman nodded her head. "What do you want? I'm not supposed to see anyone. He will hurt my brother if he finds out. Please go away."

"Is your brother here now?"

Again the woman nodded. She was becoming increasingly frightened as she found herself being forced to answer Damon's questions.

Again using his compulsion, Damon instructed Rhonda, "Follow me to the car. There is something you need to know."

As Rhonda followed Damon, she tried one last time to get him to leave. "You don't know what you are doing. You are going to cause my brother to be harmed. There's no telling what he will do to me."

When Damon got to the car he opened the trunk and unzipped the bag enough to reveal Nate's face. "Is this the man you're afraid of?"

When Rhonda saw Nate, obviously dead, she gave out a convulsive sob and collapsed on the ground crying hysterically. "Is he dead? Is he really dead?" she kept asking herself over and over.

Damon sat down on the ground next to her and held her in his arms and repeated softly every time she asked, "Yes he is, he can never hurt anyone again."

Eventually, Rhonda regained some control and asked Damon, "Can I look at him again? I need to be sure."

Damon nodded, "Do whatever you need to. I'm sorry to bring him here like this, but I thought it best if you saw him yourself to be absolutely certain."

As Rhonda stared down at the body, she nodded. "If you had just told me, I never would have believed you. May I touch him?"

Damon hesitated, and asked "You just want to touch him to be sure he's dead? It would be better if you don't do anything else."

Rhonda looked at him questioning and then understood, "Oh, you're afraid I'll attack him in a rage or something. No, I'm under control now."

Damon nodded, "Go ahead, as I said, do what you need to. How about your brother, does he need to see him?"

Rhonda hesitantly touched Nate's face with her finger and nodded her head in satisfaction. "How did he die? Did you kill him? Did you make him pay?"

"How he died is not important, but no, we didn't try to make him pay. That responsibility is not ours. We are just concerned with stopping him from hurting others."

"I would have made him pay."

"Of course you would have. It's better though if you let that part go. What about your brother?"

Rhonda thought for a second, "Is it possible for you to wait? I'll go talk to him."

"Don't be long, but yes I can wait."

Rhonda was back soon and said, "Danny is fine. He doesn't need to come out. He is autistic, so he doesn't relate with things like this."

"Very well, Rhonda, I can help you regain a normal life if you let me help you."

Rhonda laughed bitterly, "I don't even know what normal means. Just by bringing him here has helped, how can you help anymore?"

"Here, just relax," replied Damon.

Damon then began to work with Rhonda's memories. Elena and he had learned much about how to help victims at this point. At first he had been like a sledge hammer, eliminating memories arbitrarily. They had learned that this left too many unanswered questions. What Rhonda needed was emotional distance and perspective. So instead of eliminating her memories, Damon made them more distant, vaguer, as though it had happened in a movie, rather than to her. When Damon finished and drove away, it was as if Rhonda had become a different person. With the stress gone, she appeared years younger. She smiled as she waved good bye and then went inside.

Damon drove to the service station where Nate had left his truck. There was only the attendant present. Using compulsion Damon got the man to help dump Nate in the woods nearby. Then he compelled the attendant to wait a week before calling the police about an abandoned vehicle. Of course after all that, he made sure the attendant would not remember him, or the fact that Nate had rendezvoused with Michael the day before. Having covered everything, Damon returned home feeling that the day had gone very well.

Note from the author:

I have to take a several week sabbatical from posting any additional chapters. Life tends to get in the way sometimes and I have some commitments that I've been neglecting. I am writing now to assure any readers who are interested that I will post additional chapters and will finish the story. In fact I have the conclusion in draft now, so I will be coming back. I also have some decisions to make about how the story will progress from here. I have to decide what to do with several of the characters and have an OC in the works to introduce. The published chapters have taken the Vampire Diary story through the summer. Caroline and Katherine will be starting college soon and Jeremy is finishing high school.