"Stop over here." Stefan points to a park.
"I thought we were going to see Gloria?" I ask pulling over.
"We are. I wanted to show you something." he says getting out as Elena and Bonnie follow, leaving me in brief thoughts.
"You gonna sit in there all day?" he says pacing around to my side.
"Okay, what is this about and why?" I asked dragging myself out of the car.
"Over here." he says pacing towards a bench and stops just behind it.
"You look all nostalgic. What's the point of this, Stefan?" I ask confused.
"Right here, is where it all began. This is where Kit came into our lives, brother." he looks at me, reminiscence written on his face.
Traveling the streets of Chicago for the third time that night, I still couldn't manage to get the taste of human blood from my lips. I knew it was wrong to feed on that girl, but I just couldn't stop myself. Her blood sang to me like a siren's song. As I head toward the park, I start to hear the faintest sound of life. But, this sound is one I've heard many times in my life. This was a dying heartbeat. Racing to find the source of the broken heartbeat, I hear three more in it's place. "That can't be right." I thought to myself. Seeing three well dressed men surrounding a park bench, toying and poking at something, I spy a high heeled foot. The look of ill-disguised lust written on their faces says everything. This girl is dying and all they can think about is sex. Making the impulsive decision, I bare my fangs and approach them. "Leave. Now." I compel them, thankfully to my renewed strength. I move to see the girl I'd just saved, hearing that her heart falters even more. It takes a moment to realize I'm completely captivated by her. "Stefan. Focus." I bite into my wrist as I kneel beside her and push my wrist to her mouth. "Drink." I will her. "Drink!" I shout and she stirs and excepts my blood. When I'm sure she'll survive, I make the decision to take her with me. There's no way I could leave her like this. I take her into my arms and race to the nearest hotel at vamp speed. I pretty much bs my way into the most expensive hotel in the city. This girl needs rest and she won't get it in my apartment across town. Getting into the room, I finally have the chance to really look at the girl in my arms. She really is beautiful, but there's something about her. She's a disheveled mess, her bright red dress is two sizes too tight, and her heels are freakishly tall for her frame. But, aside from all that, just looking at her, I can tell she's too slim to have been healthy to begin with. Thinking that it'd be best to clean her up, I make the split decision and lay her on the bed. I remove her heels and then her dress. "She's a sick girl you're helping. Now is not the time to ogle her." I remind myself and lift her up, taking her to the bathroom. After thoroughly washing every inch of her, I wrap her in a hotel robe and her hair in massive towel. I bring her back to the room and lay her under the covers. I decided to got out to the clothing store across the street and compel a few items of clothing for her when she woke. After a few days of nursing her, I realize my blood kept her alive, but something else was going on in there and she'd surface when her body allowed. After inspecting her to figure out why, I found a few puncture marks on her arms that only indicated that she was a user. I considered that she needed whatever she was using before debating if she is in fact an addict. But, the puncture marks and their placement confirms my suspicion. As I sleep, I hear her stir finally and I open my eyes to find two beautiful orbs looking quite confused back at me. She looks as if she has no recollection of anything worth knowing to her and I soon find myself on the edge of the bed, thinking she'd bolt. I'd bolt if I woke up in a strange room with stranger myself. I try to explain everything as calmly as possible, when I stupidly ask her if she's on drugs. She pulls herself out of bed and the second she's found her footing, she visibly starts to shake and I catch her before she crumples to the floor. Holding her against me, without words, she confirms that she's an addict. She didn't know her own name or anything else as far as I could tell. I convinced her to eat something, anything at least and when she's devoured her fill, she goes for a bath. I decide to call my nephew Zach to make arrangements for her to stay at the boarding house. He's been here since the day after I found her, but I needed to be sure of what I was getting myself into before I moved forward. If anyone can help her, it could be me, I hoped. I call an old buddy of mine to bring up a mug of his finest fox blood, which arrives in no time at all. And just like that, the human I fed on is nothing but a distant memory. I've never had this control over my bloodlust and it's a welcome sense of calm in the face of having to help someone else in their own addictions. She steps out of the bathroom and immediately my heart slams into my ribcage. Realizing I'm still holding the disposable coffee cup of blood, I try desperately not to vamp speed to the trash can. I explained that she had a problem and I intended to help her get through it. Zach came to explain how we'd leave and mostly to warn me that Damon was back home. I figured we'd go on as planned and I could keep Damon at bay for as long as I could. There was no way in hell I'd let my brother, of all people that could mess this girl up more than she had already bargained for, anywhere near her. We convinced her it'd be good for her and soon we were on a plane leaving for Mystic Falls.
"Damon, it was fate, don't you see it?" he asks looking back at me. "Had I not been pacing like a madman, I wouldn't have…"
"You mean, had you not been trying to walk off a bender, you wouldn't have stumbled upon her." I say annoyed at him, but wishing it were me instead of him to find her. You know damn well that had it been you and not Stefan to find her, he'd be married to her and he'd be the one looking for her like a madman. That thought only makes me wanna kick and scream like a child. No way in hell could I ever see Kit with anyone but me.
"This bench." I chuckle to myself. "She chose this bench to pass out on." I'm mostly talking to myself but, I find myself standing behind the bench like it's a memorial. "Time to go see a witch about a spell." I say walking towards the car.
"Damon, I thought we were just going to talk to Gloria?" Elena questions.
"You don't just talk to the woman without leaving with some sort of herb or witchy juju." I say getting in and starting the car.
Gloria's
As we all walk into the all too familiar bar, I immediately search for Gloria.
"I know you're in here and I know you sense us!" I shout.
"Where do you think she is?" Elena asks looking around at every single detail of the place.
"Oh, she's here. I can hear her." I almost snarl.
"Gloria!" Stefan shouts more annoyed than me.
"What's all the yelling about? I am trying to run a business here." she emerges from the storage room. She stops in her tracks when she sees us standing here. "Well, had I known it'd be the two of you, I wouldn't have been here." she smirks.
"And then I would've hunted you down and ripped out your heart." I smirk back.
"Fine, you got me." she glances at Stefan before continuing, "I see you two are done hating each other? Took long enough."
"We're actually here because we need your help." Bonnie says stepping up to the bar.
"You two are traveling with a witch? What the hell is wrong with you?" she shouts at us.
"Would you calm down for two seconds so we could tell you that we're looking for your niece." I glare at her.
"What business do you have with Kit?" she asks deciding on her nervous habit of cleaning already clean glasses.
"She's my wife and this is Bonnie, her cousin." the info stops her and she drops the glass.
"What did you just say?" she turns the iciest glare in my direction. Before she can move, Stefan has her arms pinned to her sides. "Let me go. Now! "she tries struggling.
"Not until you hear what I have to say. Kit is my wife. We were in love, but circumstances took her from me."
"What circumstances!?"
"She was turned." I say placing my hands on the bar, wincing at the earful I was about to receive.
"You mean to tell me that you married my niece and then you turned her!?" she screams at me before shouting at Stefan, "And you! You let this happen!?"
"It's not what you think! I love her more than anything! Yes, her turning is my fault and I take full blame! But, she's running around with no emotions, and she's not what you think she is. She's...different." I say trying to get her to understand me.
"What do you mean, Damon? Is something wrong with my baby girl?" she asks tears forming in her eyes
"She's a hybrid..."
"A HYBRID!? How in the hell could you let that happen?" she screams flailing as Stefan holds her.
"She's half vampire-half demon..." I say still wincing at what is soon the come my way. Silence fills the space for longer than it should and I open my eyes to find her in complete shock, then a quiet anger exudes from her.
"Oh...that stupid bitch! All these years that poor girl tried to get away from that woman and still she haunts her to this day. All these years and still she still has a hold on her. That devious backstabber!"
"So now you understand?" I ask. "Ever since she turned, she's been on a slaughter mission. I think her mother is the last name on her list." I lay all my chips out before everyone.
Looking taken aback, "How many?" she asks.
"Excuse me?" Bonnie cuts in.
"How many people has she killed? I need to know." she says, tears still
touching her eyes and Stefan releases her.
"Too many. The fact that she's killed at all should be enough." he says pacing behind her.
"You're right. Who knows what that poor child is thinking."
"Where's your sister, Gloria?" I ask and she doesn't answer as if she's stuck in her own thoughts. "Gloria!" I say more forced.
"Marylyn's not my sister." she looks me straight in the eye.
"What do you mean she's not your sister? You took care of Kit when she wouldn't! Didn't you?" Bonnie shouts at her.
"Exactly. I was there for her. I was more of a mother to that girl than Marylyn ever was. I've known Marylyn all her life. And I assure you, that woman has always been the woman that you've seen or heard of. I feared that her daughter would turn out just like her. When Kit came to live with me, it gave me hope that she wouldn't be like Marylyn. Then, a few years after her music career picked up, an old buddy of mine stopped by here to tell me that they'd seen her dancing at the Pink Panther. Kit came to me as a singer. She was successful. She'd come back home for a few nights for a show and that was her downfall."
"But, you kicked her out." Elena cuts her off.
"Yes. I did. Day one, I told her I wouldn't put up with anything like that. If she wanted to act like her mother, she could do it on the street. But, it wasn't gonna happen under my roof." she glared at Elena.
"Didn't you ever think that she wouldn't do any better, at all?" she asked.
"I'll tell you the story of Marylyn and how Kit came to be." she eyes me for a second. "Marylyn was my best friend for a time. She was the closest thing I had to a sister. That doesn't mean she was good. She was the kind to sleep around. She attracted men like a moth to a flame. Then, she started to fool around with Kenneth Bennett and I was ready to part ways with her. The Bennett bloodline, is family to me. Not biological, but they meant the world do me. I couldn't stand the idea of her ruining a Bennett. I was done with her, before she showed up in my bar claiming she was pregnant and terrified. The moment I found out about Kenny and Marylyn, I knew he wouldn't last very long around her. He decided to change his last name, give up his magic and marry her, to get out of The Bennett Fold. He never understood why we all told him she was bad for him and his unborn child. Then, Kit was born and it was the happiest day of his life. I decided I'd be there for whenever catastrophe his entire family foresaw. Then, he passed. We still don't know how he died. Some figured suicide, others blamed her. No matter how you look at it, his passing is blood on her hands and I'm sure Kit knows that. So, if I know my niece and her anger the way I'm sure I do, Marylyn will most definitely be getting a visit from her only daughter." she finishes placing her palms on the bar.
"Do you know where she is? We have to get to her, before Kit does. It's the only way we can get her back." I almost plead with the woman.
"You're in luck, pretty one. She lives just in the center of town. If Kit is here, then I know for a fact that Marylyn isn't her only chosen victim."
"What do you mean? Who else is she after?" Bonnie's put herself in the position of groveling as I have.
"Who else other than that skank she worked for? You got two choices: Save that woman or get to Marylyn. If you know Kit at all, then you know you must choose wisely. The wrong choice could result in dyer consequences."
"Could I ask for some help of my own?" Bonnie asks.
"You mean magical help, don't you?" Gloria eyes her.
"If we're going to get Kit back, I need some help. Every plan we've had failed miserably." she says glancing at me.
"Come on back with me. I have a few things that can help you." she gestures for Bonnie to follow her.
"We're gonna get her, Damon. You wouldn't think about going back to Mystic Falls without her." she leans toward me. "Plus, I have a plan. It's foolproof." she smirks before following Gloria.
Bonnie, with a plan? Could it actually work?