A/N: Oops, this is really long. D: and for some reason I just really enjoy writing kelena arguments :D
Elena shone a flashlight at the gravestone to inspect the writing; in large, embossed letters 'Giuseppe Salvatore' was spelt out. "Why wasn't your father buried in your family's tomb?"
"It wasn't built until well after he died." Stefan moved past Elena and grabbed two shovels. They had set up standing torches surrounding the grave so that they could see without having to be constantly holding a flashlight.
With the combination of the moonlight and the fire, it looked eerie and Elena felt uncomfortable being here under these circumstances. The glow of the fire lightly illuminated their surroundings and cast flickering shadows against the ground that made it look like something was constantly moving. Elena's gaze lingered in the distance within the forest; she knew Katherine was somewhere here, far enough that Stefan wouldn't notice her presence but close enough to know what was going on. Elena felt oddly at ease knowing that she was somewhere out here because if something were to happen, she knew that the older vampire wouldn't let her die due to some plan that she might have with Elena at some point. Elena didn't like the idea of being used somehow, but right now she was willing to take advantage of the vampire's security, even if she didn't like the vampire lingering.
Stefan noticed Elena's far off gaze. "Elena," he called. The human turned her attention to the vampire. "I can do this on my own." He held two shovels and a look of worry was evident in his features at getting her do to this.
"And I said I would help."
"I know, and I appreciate that-"
"This town is my home, Stefan. My friends and family are here. I don't want that tomb opened any more than you do."
Stefan nodded and silently passed her a shovel. Stefan sighed and moved in front of the gravestone and stood in silence for a moment. This was his father's grave that he was digging up and it wasn't easy on him, as Elena could see. He was tense and his face was somber. "I'm sorry that you have to do this," Elena said gently. Stefan nodded again in silence and he dug his shovel in the ground and began digging.
After about an hour, the two had made a large hole and Elena climbed out to rest and left Stefan to continue since he didn't need to rest as often as her. Elena pulled out the flashlight and shone it down into the grave to allow some more light for Stefan. She thought about what life decisions had brought her to this moment of digging up the grave of a 163 year old vampire's father in the middle of the night for a witch's book. Elena let out a laugh.
Stefan glanced up at her, "what?"
"Not many girls can say they've done this," she laughed.
Stefan smiled gently up at her and continued digging until he heard the sound of metal on wood. He paused and looked up at Elena who shone the flashlight into the hole and saw wood underneath a layer of dirt. After Stefan dusted the dirt off, he pried open the coffin and inside was a skeleton, grasping tightly on an old dusty book. The book was quite large and looked to be much older than the grave.
Stefan carefully pulled the book out of his dead father's hands. "Is that it?" Elena asked. Stefan closed the coffin and stood up in the grave and softly placed the book on the edge of the hole to inspect it. He unwrapped a cover of old parchment and ripped it open to reveal the smooth book within. It had a plain cover, strong bindings, and it really didn't look like anything special.
"Well, whaddya know," a voice called from the distance in the forest within the darkness. Elena shot up and shone the flashlight in the direction of the voice and saw Damon. "This is an interesting turn of events," Damon stated, clearly pissed off. He looked betrayed, upset, annoyed, frustrated, and hurt.
Stefan hopped out of the grave quickly and stood between Damon and Elena. "I can't let you bring her back. I'm sorry," Stefan's voice held no remorse. He knew this would happen.
"So am I," Damon responded. "For thinking for even a second, that I could trust you." His voice held so much hurt and betray that Elena felt a whole new level of guilt.
Stefan, however, was not convinced. "You are not capable of trust," he spat out. "The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself."
"Of course I was going to do it by myself because the only one I can count on is me!" He narrowed his eyes at Stefan. "You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan." Damon focused his gaze behind his brother at Elena and stepped forward, "but you," he stopped a few feet in front of his brother, "you had me fooled."
Elena felt terrible, she wanted to say something but nothing came out. She looked at the older Salvatore and saw the trust that he had in her, that he truly did trust her word and she betrayed him. She couldn't formulate any words and broke off eye contact, looking downward. She couldn't handle seeing the look in his eyes.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Damon asked. "Because if you try and destroy that, I will rip her heart out," he threatened. Elena felt a shiver go down her spine.
"You won't kill her," Stefan said, shaking his head.
Suddenly Elena was being grabbed from behind, a strong arm around her neck and the other holding her right arm in place. "I can do one better," Damon said hastily and brought his wrist up to his mouth and ripped open a wound in his arm and forced it to Elena's mouth, making her drink his blood. "Give me the book, Stefan. Or I'm snapping her neck, and you and I will have a vampire girlfriend."
Shit, shit, shit, shit, what the fuck, shit. Katherine was perched on a tree branch some ways away from the scene. She was leaning forward, gripping the branch so tightly she was surprised it didn't snap under her hand. What the fuck is Damon thinking? I need her human, Katherine thought. She was ready to speed down there, break both of their necks and take Elena out of there but she couldn't risk exposure.
"Let her go first," Katherine heard Stefan say. Yes, let the human go, Damon.
"The book," Damon replied.
"I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me."
Katherine was furious. These two were supposed to protect her, not be the direct cause of her destruction. Now that she knew how stupid these two Salvatores were, she put it on her to-do list to keep this human, human.
"The problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it back." Damon said angrily.
Damon had Elena held tightly against him, she couldn't move her head and she couldn't struggle out of his grip. Katherine had a Birdseye view of the situation and even though the figures were small, she could see every expression, and every movement, no matter how subtle. And the movement that she just noticed caused something to stir within her. Elena's eyes were darting frantically in the forest around her, searching, pleading, before always resting back on Stefan before he noticed, and then she'd repeat. Elena was looking for Katherine. Waiting for her to help her.
Katherine clenched her jaw tightly and tightened her grip on the branch, which came apart in her hand. Stefan's head darted upwards quickly at the sound but moved back to focus on what was happening in front him.
Stupid little doppelganger, don't rely on me.
"You just did the one thing that insures that I will," she heard Stefan say. She turned her attention back to the three. Stefan was moving cautiously forward with the book and Damon edged forward with Elena still held tightly to him. She had given up struggling against the vampire's grip. Stefan gently tossed the book down in front of his brother, and eyed him, waiting for him to let Elena go.
Katherine edged forward, she saw Damon look at Elena, debating for a moment whether to let her go or not. Damon eventually lightened his grip and let go of her completely, allowing her to move. He gently nudged her forward and Katherine could make out a look of slight regret on his face, as if doing that was the last thing he wished to do to the human. Elena moved like a frightened kitten, as if she wasn't sure whether or not if she rushed forward, Damon would grab her again. Elena eventually lunged forward and flew into Stefan's arms and he held her tightly to him, protecting her. Katherine's features relaxed and she let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding.
Stefan and Elena left hastily and Damon stood for a moment before picking up the grimoire from the ground. Katherine remembered Damon as the brother who loved too much, where she didn't love him enough. He was always the type to love with everything he had or not at all and Katherine never did like that. But tonight, if something had happened to Elena and she either died or got turned, Katherine would have lost her ability to finally be free and never have to live a life of running and it would have been her own fault. Damon's desperation for her had almost caused her to lose her chance.
Elena stood alone in her room, mindlessly checking her phone while Stefan went to grab her some Advil. The vampire blood Damon forced down her throat had given her a headache, but at the same time, it made her feel more energetic and less unstable from the recent events. She had convinced Stefan that she was fine but he insisted on staying for a while to make sure she was all right.
She sighed and placed her phone on her dresser and began to shrug out of her jacket. "What the fuck was that?" a voice came from behind her.
Elena turned, startled by the voice and jerked her arms unintentionally and her black jacket tore at the shoulder blades. Annoyed, Elena threw her jacket on the floor and shot Katherine an irritated look. Elena placed a finger to her lips, and then to her ear, then pointed to the floor while mouthing Stefan.
Katherine sighed silently, and pushed the girl into the bathroom, closed the door, locked it, and turned on the shower. Elena pulled herself away from Katherine and turned on her, "you're an idiot for coming here right now with Stefan here." Elena was frustrated for multiple reasons: one, Katherine was stupid and burst in her house without knowledge of who was around; two, Stefan wouldn't stop babying her; and three, because Katherine never showed up to help her when she needed it.
Katherine growled, "Damon got the book."
"Oh really?" Elena said sarcastically. "I guess I didn't notice between having blood forcibly shoved down my throat and almost having my head snapped. But you would know that, wouldn't you? Because you were there, you were watching it happen and did nothing."
"Of course not," Katherine spat back. "I wouldn't risk exposure for your sake." Elena felt like she was slapped. She didn't know why, she didn't expect anything from the vampire and nothing she did had proved otherwise; but somewhere deep down Elena thought that maybe the vampire would show some care. Katherine noticed the change in Elena's features and raised an eyebrow as a smirk crept across her face. "You thought I would, didn't you? You think I care," Katherine said in a mocking tone, her smirk widening.
Elena felt stupid for thinking the vampire would ever be selfless. "And if I was turned? There goes your perfect little plan," Elena responded dodging.
Katherine raised her hand, "you don't think I have a plan B?" she flicked up her index finger, "and if that doesn't work, a plan C?" another finger, "and a plan D" another finger, "well, you know how the alphabet works." She cocked her head as her hand fell to her side, a smile tugging at her lips, eyes narrowing "and if you were turned, then I get the pleasure of killing you myself."
Elena threw up her hands, exasperated, "what's with you?" Elena was tired of Katherine's forever altering attitude towards her. One day, they'll be at a bar, drinking and relaxing, and the next day they'll be at each other's throats. "This hot and cold attitude you have going on is exhausting. Either stay around and help me when I actually need help, or stop hanging around and leave me alone."
The vampire stiffened unconsciously and Elena saw many emotions flicker in her eyes. Anger. Annoyance. Disbelief. Frustration. Amusement. Admiration. Admiration? And… lust? Elena froze.
Katherine stepped slowly forward towards Elena until they were inches apart. Katherine stood slightly taller because of her heels. Elena swallowed anxiously while staring into the similar chocolate eyes; her mind was a blur as Katherine inched ever so slowly forward, dipping slightly, closer to Elena. Her breath caught at their proximity and her body wanted to react but she didn't know if she wanted to run, push her away, or grab her and- she didn't let that thought finish.
The vampire edged closer, Elena didn't move, she stood frozen and her eyes stayed locked with the vampire's. Katherine then moved passed her to reach below and turned the shower off, her head dipped and Elena felt her hair fall and graze her arm. She felt Katherine's leather jacket brush against her right shoulder as the vampire moved to stand upright again. Katherine paused and moved her lips close to Elena's ear. "It is not your place to command me, little human," she whispered threateningly.
When Elena met the vampire's gaze again, all signs of the previous emotions were gone, hidden behind a wall and masked with a hardened, expressionless face. Katherine turned towards the door, unlocked it and quickly left out the window she came in from just as Stefan walked into her room with a bottle of Advil, a large glass of water and a smile on his face.