Soon they were headed in the direction of the station. Elena had been quiet. Damon knew she had a lot on her mind. Mainly, her cousin and their relationship. She could deny it all she wanted, but he knew she wasn't going anywhere a second time. If she tried to, he would chase her to the ends of the earth. She had clearly returned because she wanted to be with him. Even if she didn't want to admit it.
When they reached the station, Elena jumped out of the SUV. "Okay, go see about Josh. I will go speak to the sheriff and meet you here?"
"If the kid isn't home I will return right away."
Less than five minutes later Damon was at the Landley home. Josh's hot rod was still missing. Damon knocked on the door, and a small blonde woman answered.
"Can I help you?"
"Hello, my name is Damon Salvatore." He showed her his ID. "I'm from the FBI and need to speak to Josh regarding Luis Gomez."
Theresa Landley frowned, her eyes coolly distant. "Why do you need to speak to my son?"
"Mrs Landley, Luis Gomez was found beaten, bloody and unconscious in an abandoned warehouse." Damon grimaced, watching the woman pale before his eyes. "Your son was the person who told us where to find Luis."
Theresa's eyes widened. Her features turned a sick shade of green under the bright sunlight. "I don't understand..."
"We don't either, ma'am. It is why we need to speak to your son," he urged.
She shook her head, short blonde hair swinging around her shoulders. "I don't know where he is. He—" She blinked and paused. "I will call the sheriff and speak to him about this. I don't believe my son would do anything to that kid."
"That would be a good idea, but do you know where we can find Josh?" Damon asked again.
"No. He left yesterday. Said he was going to go camping or something and hasn't returned."
"What about Roxy Santos. Do you know where she could be?"
Theresa's brows shot downward. "That girl. Why would I care where she is?"
Hate. Damon could feel the hatreds. There was enough of it in Theresa's tone that the words dripped acid when she spoke.
"She has been missing for over three days, and we are trying to find her," he explained.
"I don't know anything about her other than I prohibited my son from seeing her." She curled her hands into fists at her sides. "But he is weak and refused to do as I said."
Damon watched her. There wasn't anything hesitant about Theresa. She genuinely disliked Roxy, but wasn't lying about knowing where she could be. "Do you have any ideas on anyone who might know where she is?"
"Talk to her crazy mother. They are just alike. Insane," she muttered and stepped into her house. "I don't know where that girl is, and I don't know where Josh went. If I hear from him, I will have him come into the police station and straighten this all out."
"Thank you." Damon didn't bother handing her a card to call him. He knew she would just throw it out.
x x x
Elena marched into the police station ready for a showdown. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be anyone there to make that happen.
"Hello?" she yelled over the quiet counter. Then the sound of a toilet flushing reached her, followed by heavy steps on the wooden floor.
The young deputy showed up from around a corner. "You are back."
He said the words with surprise. Elena didn't know why. It wasn't like she would just forget her cousin was missing, and Luis was in the hospital.
"Yeah, I'm back. I need to speak to the sheriff," she demanded. She didn't care being nice anymore. "Where is he?"
"Sorry, ma'am, but he said I shouldn't talk to you. That you have no reason to be here, and that he called your superiors."
Elena clenched her jaw and tried not to yell at the kid. It wasn't his fault the Sheriff was an incompetent. "What superiors?"
The deputy reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper. "A Mr Maxfield."
Damn. Elena frowned. "What did he say?"
"Mr Maxfield said you weren't on a case for the Bureau and didn't have any permission to be here asking questions." He folded the paper and shoved it into his shirt pocket. "In fact, Mr Maxfield said he would come over and make sure you weren't giving us any trouble."
Great. Just great, Elena thought. This is what I need. "Where is your sheriff, Deputy?"
"Sheriff Young is out on patrol. I told him about the boy you found in the warehouse, and he decided to go see what information he could gather on that."
Useless, Elena thought. The whole lot of them were completely useless. She did an about face, fuming over her lack of progress and rushed out the door. So much for a great day.
Beads of sweat gathered on her upper lip with each hurried step she took out of the station. Outside, things were even worse.
It started to rain heavily, the sky dark with clouds after Elena had already walked a decent amount towards the Landley home. She cursed her bad luck and decided to continue to move. She would meet Damon halfway. Squinting against the rush of raindrops, she chastised herself for not going with him to begin with. She wanted some action. Some answers. Something! Roxy was still missing and now she had more questions than she started with.
Where the hell was the sheriff, anyway? She stayed on the side of the road, not that there were many cars in Holy Oak. Besides, at that time of the day most people were working. Not to mention the town and the number of people in it could probably fit in their office building. The rain let up quickly, but she was already wet.
A honk blared past her. Her heartbeat tripped. Damn that was close. She took a quick peek over her shoulder for safety. If she hadn't, she might have missed the car zooming right for her. Instinct pushed her to jump into the cascade of trees to her right. She tumbled down an incline, rolling through the grass. Rocks bit into her arms, cutting her skin open. The world shifted with each roll she did, until she came to a stop. Her stomach took longer to make its own stop. A sense of vertigo took over, and she was instantly nauseous. She panted, shaking from the almost hit and the adrenaline rush.
"Yeah. Great day."
Elena stood, wincing at the pain on her right ankle. It didn't feel broken, but she must have sprained it on her roll down the hill.
For a moment, she sat there, wondering what to do next. Her phone rang, pulling her out of her musings.
"Are you okay?"
It was Damon. Elena didn't even want to ask how he knew something was wrong.
"Yeah, fine. I think an old lady almost ran me over just now."
"Where are you?" he asked, the almost growled words enough to make her heartbeat speed up all over again. "I just came to the station, and you are not here."
Elena glanced around her. Trees surrounded her. She turned to the incline and bit her lip. "If you head towards the Landley home, I'm not far from the station."
"Stay there," Damon ordered. "I'm coming for you."
She heard more fear through the phone. Genuine dread over her safety sounded in his voice. "That works. My ankle hurts."
Elena attempted to crawl up the incline, but gave up after every other move she made she slid further down.
"Elena?" Damon yelled.
"Down here!"
Elena watched Damon slowly use the trees to make his way down to her. Then he stopped in front of her and crouched. He picked her up in his arms, lifting her slowly to cradle her against his chest. She curled her arms around his neck and pressed as close to him as possible. It wasn't that she was scared. Okay, maybe a little, she thought. Almost being run over could do that to a person. It felt so right to be close to him.
"Let's get your foot checked out in the hospital," he said, his breath heating the side of her face.
"Okay, we can probably see about Luis. Hopefully, he has woken up," she said, clinging to him.
Damon held her tight in his grasp as he made his way up the incline. The SUV was parked on the side of the road. He slid her into the passenger side. Elena met his worried gaze and smiled.
"I'm okay. Just a scratch."
Damon leaned down, pressing his lips hard on hers. Bruising. Owning. His hand cupped her cheek, fingers sliding down to her jaw. Their tongues rubbed, twined, a perfect mambo of need and pleasure. Passion flared to life in her chest. Their kiss turned aggressive, his lips fully branded her as his. Her heartbeat tripped, each beat thumping loud in her ears. There was a desperate edge to the kiss. As if he were ensuring she was okay through the connecting touch. Fire lanced her lungs, a reminder to breathe. He leaned back. Enough to stare into her eyes with his blue-grey ones.
"I need you, Elena. You are everything," he whispered, the words a soft growl.
"Not everything," she denied.
"Yes. Everything. My everything" he said. "You are my life."
Elena couldn't help it, couldn't stop her hands from taking control. She pulled Damon into her arms and hugged him. Hard. Not because she had been hurt, or because she had dodged what could have been a severe injury, no. She hugged him to hold the feeling of belonging to him, with him, in her heart. She would have to quit. There was just no way she could stay on the job and keep her hands away from him. This weekend had been eye-opening. She had known it might be difficult to work with him, but she hadn't counted on her love for him pushing its way to the forefront and taking charge.
Damon pulled back, ran his hand over her cheek once more and shut her door. She hoped Luis had woken. She needed to know what he knew about Roxy's disappearance. Hopefully, something that could help them.
"Alright." She sighed and stood, trying not to put too much pressure on her bandaged foot. "Let's go see if Luis is awake."
Damon offered to carry her, but she wasn't completely useless. She limped beside him to the ICU.
They stopped outside Luis's door. Damon's eyes flashed red.
"What is wrong?" Elena whispered.
"The sheriff is in there with Luis," Damon murmured.
"Great. Let's go see what the heck he is going to do about this mess." Elena pushed the door open.
"Elena, wait—"
Too late. The door shoved inward, and Elena gasped when she caught the sheriff holding Luis by his shirt, gun in hand.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" she yelled.
The sheriff shoved his hand down, dropping the boy back in the bed, but she had already seen him. "I was just asking Luis here about the injuries he suffered."
Elena glanced up at Damon. His face was set to stony hard lines. "Get away from him."
The sheriff shoved away from Luis. Elena ran to the boy. He was barely awake, still under the influence of his pain medication.
"Hey, now. What the hell are you two doing in my town anyway?" The sheriff rushed forward. "I called your FBI office," he spat. "You two don't have any permission to come nosing into my town."
"My cousin is missing, and you haven't done anything to find her."
The sheriff waved his gun in her direction. "I told you to get out of my town. Or you are going to regret it."
Elena didn't get a chance to speak. The air in the room thickened to almost oppressive. She jerked to give Damon a long sideways glance. His gaze locked on the sheriff.
"I wouldn't if I were you," Damon growled, his voice animalistic. Rough.
The sheriff gasped. "What the hell are you?"
"Not someone you want to shoot at."
But the sheriff didn't listen. Everything moved in slow motion. Not because Elena was scared, but it seemed Damon controlled the gun and bullet with his mind. The pop sounded, and the bullet shot out, fast at first. She screamed a warning. The slowed and stopped in front of Damon's face before dropping to his open palm.
Elena's heart slowed to a crawl. She knew he was strong, but that didn't matter when a bullet was rushing for his head. Alarm locked her muscles in place. Fear for him almost choked the air out of her lungs. He didn't move. She watched his features turn feral, the red in his eyes glowing so bright it almost hurt to look at.
Then everything shifted to real time. She gasped and glanced at the sheriff. He stood there, frozen in place.
"Damon?" Elena rushed to Damon's side, wanting to be near him.
"He did that," Damon said in another round of rumbles.
Elena blinked at the sheriff. Even without his movement, the fear in his eyes now evident. "What?"
"He beat up the kid."
She gasped. "Why?"
"The girl at the morgue is Luis's half-sister," he said, his eyes slowly dimming from the blazing red to a red-black combination. "They tried to blackmail him. Them and your cousin. The three combined to blackmail people having affairs."
"How would they know?" Elena turned to Damon fully, a million questions suddenly popping into her mind.
"Roxy," he said, meeting her gaze. "She caught them doing things and wrote down the letters and numbers in her diary. Then she told Luis, and his half-sister suggested blackmail to make some money. To be able to leave town."
"So did the sheriff also kill the other girl?"
Damon nodded, cocking his head to the side as if still digging through the sheriff's brain. "He promised to meet up and pay her, but instead strangled her to death."
Elena gulped, unsure if she really wanted to hear the rest. "What did he do with Roxy?" She pushed away the nausea riding the back of her throat. "Did he kill her too?"
"No. I know he wanted to, but he doesn't know where she is."
"No!" Elena screamed. "I don't believe it!"
"We will find her," Damon promised. "We won't leave until we do. But first, let's get someone in to take this piece of shit to jail."
Thankfully, the hospital sat on the border of the next town, so they waited to get a different, competent, sheriff to come in and arrest Sheriff Young.
Luis groaned, waking from sleep. Elena rushed to his side.
"Luis?"
He blinked his eyes open. "Yes. Where am I?"
"The hospital, Luis."
The kid glanced around, his eyes filled with fear. "Who are you?"
"My name is Elena Gilbert. I'm Roxy's cousin. I need to know when the last time you saw her was." Her words tripped over each other in her haste.
"Before the sheriff caught me at the warehouse. She'd had an argument with her mother."
"Did she tell you where she might go?"
He shook his head, his eyes dull with pain. "She knew her mum would punish her, so she came to see me to tell me to be careful with the sheriff."
Jenna would punish Roxy? That didn't make sense. "Punish her how?"
"I don't know. She never wanted to talk about it."
But Jenna didn't know where Roxy was. If she did, she wouldn't have called Elena in order to find her. It didn't make sense.
"Thanks, Luis." She watched him drift to sleep.
"I'm taking the SUV," Elena said to Damon. He had cuffed the sheriff with his own handcuffs and watched him from other side of the room. "I need to speak to Jenna again. She must have missed something. Maybe a place Roxy would go when angry or upset. I don't know."
He handed her the keys. His hand held her wrist for a moment. "Be careful."
"I will."