Chapter Thirteen: Children of the Damned
"Rise and shine." Damon announced as he opened Stefan's door, greeted to the sight of Elena and Stefan undressed.
"Damon! Please!" Elena complained, covering herself from him with the covers.
"What are you doing?" Stefan held the sheet in front of Elena, mindful of his brothers' eyes.
"Oh, stop being smutty." Damon smirked, leaning against the door frame.
"Seriously, get out of here." Stefan demanded.
"If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." He joked. "Now listen. We all have some very important business to discuss."
"And it has to be right now?" Elena asked in disbelief.
"Well, we have lots to do, now that we're all friends and working towards a common goal. So, in order to open the tomb, we need to find the journal to get the grimoire to open the spell. First things first, since you're Elena Gilbert, you're on journal duty." Damon told her.
Stefan sighed turning to look at Elena. "Since when am I helping?" She questioned.
"Well Stefan's helping and you've taken up residency in his bed." Damon explained. "Ergo..."
"You don't have to do anything you don't wanna do." Stefan told Elena.
"I'll look for it today." She said.
"Good." Damon smirked.
"How do we know that this journal will hold the location of the Grimoire? We're really going to take the word of the Vampire who seems like a bit of a dim-wit." Stefan said.
"In lieu of any other options." Damon shrugged, trailing off.
"Ok, what exactly is a grimoire?" Elena asked.
"It's a witch cookbook." Damon explained.
"Every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself, so ever witch would document their work-" Stefan began to explain but was cut off.
"Yeah. Cookbook." Damon cut in.
"What about our mystery Vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever is out there knows who we are." Stefan stated
"And I don't like that disadvantage, so... chop, chop. You know, I really like whole sexy team thing we got going on. It's got a bit of a kink to it..." He chuckled "Don't screw it up." He said leaving the room.
"Do you think Damon really believes us? That we're all trying to help him?" Elena asked Stefan while they were looking through boxes for Jonathan Gilbert's journal.
"I don't think Damon knows what to believe. Trust isn't something that comes naturally to him." Stefan said.
"You know, I really think that Damon believes everything he's done, every move, he's done for love." Elena said.
"People will do crazy things for love. It's twisted but kind of sad." Elena said.
"There are other ways to get what you want. You don't have to kill people." Stefan said. "Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflicting pain in others. For 145 years, every single time that I have let my guard down and let Damon back into my life he's done something to make me regret that. I'm not gonna make that mistake again."
"So what do you think will happen if the tomb gets opened and Damon gets Katherine back?" Elena asked.
"I think that no matter what Damon promises a lot of people are gonna die." Stefan said, before looking at the picture Elena was holding. "That's Jonathan Gilbert."
"What are you guys doing?" Jeremy asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Hey. Just going through some stuff. Feeling sentimental." Elena said. "Dad had this old journal from years ago. I thought we'd dig it up."
"Jonathan Gilbert's journal?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, what do you know about it?" Elena asked.
"I just did a history report on in." He said.
"Oh. Where is it now?" She asked.
"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman. He wanted to see it." Jeremy said.
"So does anyone else think it's been quiet today?" Erica asked the others, sitting at the table.
"No calls or text from Elena." Aiden started.
"Not even to check in about last night." Angel finished.
"Which means that everything is all right or she's keeping something from us that's bound to end horribly." Bella said.
They all looked at each other. "It's the second one." They said sync.
"What do you think they're doing?" Angel asked as they walked around town.
"Well, Damon found out a clue about the tomb last night. My guess is that they're trying to get it open." Bella said.
"But why would they keep it from us?" Erica asked.
"They think that we won't help because we hate Damon." Aiden answered.
"And they're right. We won't help because we do hate Damon." Angel stated.
"Why would they help him open a tomb full of vampires that want to slaughter the town?" Erica asked, too low for humans to hear.
"They wouldn't, which means Stefan is planning something." Bella said.
"And we all know how well his plans work out." Aiden said, rolling his eyes.
"So something is going to go wrong." Angel started.
"And we'll be there to stop it." Bella finished.
"So we're back to being invisible?" Erica asked.
"No." Bella said. "We'll be in the woods, staying high in the trees tonight."
"That sounds fun." Angel huffed sarcastically.
"I'm sure it will be." Bella said, ignoring the girl's sarcasm. "Especially with there being a chance to hit Damon again."
"That sound fun." Angel said, smiling widely.
"We'll head to the woods at sunset." Aiden said.
Alaric was in the teacher's lounge making copies of the journal. After he was done he placed them in his locker and returned to his room, placing the journal on the desk.
Suddenly the hairs on his neck were standing. He got up and walked from the room to see nobody out there. "Hello?" He called, scanning the hallway. "Someone there?" There was no response, but a rush of air blew past him.
He hurried to his locker again pulling out a black bag, he grabbed a long gun like object as placed a stake into it before going back to his class room. He peaked around the corner before he fired to see that Stefan caught the stake firmly in his hand. He tried to reload and run from the room, but Stefan was already there with a dark look on his face.
"You shouldn't have done that." Stefan told him before throwing him forcefully across the room. "Have a seat." Stefan told him holding Alaric's weapon in his hand along with two stakes. Alaric sat down at one of the desks, his muscles still tensed. "What is this compressed air?" Stefan asked and the teacher nodded. "Did you make it yourself?" He nodded again. "Who are you?" Alaric remained silent. "I'm not going to hurt you... unless you try that again. Now, who are you?"
"I'm a teacher." Alaric stated, hiding his fear.
"Are we going to have to do this the hard way?" Stefan asked.
"I'm also a historian. And while researching Virginia, I – made a few discoveries about your town." Alaric admitted.
"So you show up like Van Helsing. Come on. Tell me the truth." Stefan said, rolling his eyes.
"My wife was a parapsychologist. She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. It was her work that led me here." Alaric replied.
"Where's your wife?" Stefan questioned.
"Dead. A Vampire killed her." Alaric said, lowering his head.
"Where's the Gilbert journal?" Stefan asked, revealing his reason for being there.
"What do you want with it?" Alaric hissed.
"Where is it?" Stefan demanded.
"It's on my desk." Alaric replied.
"No, it's not." Stefan said.
Alaric looked over to see that it wasn't there "It was on my desk."
Anna sat back in her motel room with Ben, looking through the journal.
"Anything?" Ben asked.
"Not yet. Just a lot of gibberish. Yeah, some people just shouldn't journal..." Anna rolled her eyes as she continued reading.
"I thought this Gilbert was the brains..." Ben asked confused.
"Don't you have a date?" Anna asked annoyed, referring to the witch.
"Yep. Wish me luck." He said before leaving.
"How long have you been aware of me?" Stefan questioned.
"I learned just recently. What about your brother?" Alaric asked.
"You met Damon?" Stefan was surprised.
"Who do you think killed me wife." Alaric grumbled.
"Are you certain it was Damon?" Stefan asked.
"I witnessed it." Alaric spat.
"If you're here for revenge, this is going to end very badly for you." Stefan said, trying to warn him.
"I just want to find out what happened to my wife." Alaric told him.
"I thought you just said that Damon..." Stefan trailed off.
"Yeah. I saw him draining the life out of her. He must have heard me coming. He just...Disappeared. So did her body. They never found her." Alaric shook his head mournfully.
"Damon can never know why you're here. He'll kill you without blinking." Stefan told him.
"I can take care of myself." Alaric said confidently.
"No, you can't. I can help you. If you let me." Stefan offered.
After a little debating about where to go, the gang went to the park.
"Remember when Elena was just a kid?" Erica asked from the swing.
"Everything was so much easier." Angel exclaimed next to her.
"Just put a smile on her face and it stayed there." Aiden added from his spot on top of the monkey bars. "There were no threats, no sadness, and no boys." He said, making the others smile at the end.
"But it's over now. It's our job to make sure that she remains safe." Bella said, as laid on the grass, watching the clouds.
"Where's Damon?" Elena asked.
"He left to track down Jeremy's friend Anna." Stefan said. "See if there was anything there."
"Aren't you gonna go?" Elena asked him. "If he gets to the journal before we do-"
"Doesn't matter." Stefan said, holding up a stack of papers.
"What is that?" Elena asked.
"It's a copy of the journal." Stefan said.
"How did you get it?" She asked.
"Well, Mr. Saltzman made a copy and was kind enough to loan it to me." Stefan said.
"He did?" Elena asked, not sure whether or not to believe him.
"Not exactly. But I got it." Stefan said.
"Here's a reference that he wrote about Emily." Elena said after they had been reading for a while. "The Fell family believed it should be I, not them who protected the witches spell book. But I feared she would haunt me from the hereafter. They mocked my fear, but it was Giuseppe Salvatore who-" She stopped reading. "Is that your father?" Elena asked.
"Yes." Stefan said, before grabbing the papers in Elena's hands and continued reading. "It was Giuseppe Salvatore who removed my fear. He told me he would protect the secret of the spell book. He said he would carry it to his grave. I know where it is." He stated.
Stefan and Elena wandered through the cemetery looking for Giuseppe Salvatore's grave.
"Why isn't your father buried in your family tomb?" Elena questioned.
"It wasn't built until well after he died." Stefan replied looking at the headstone.
"Are you sure the grimoire's in there with him?" Elena asked skeptically, a little creeped that she was about to dig up a grave.
"As sure as I could be." Stefan replied, grabbing two shovels handing her one.
"Great." She murmured taking one.
"Elena, I can do this on my own." Stefan told her.
"This is my home, Stefan. My friends and family are here. You're here. I don't want that tomb opened anymore than you do." She sighed.
"I'm sorry that you have to do this." Stefan said.
As they began to dig, they were unaware of the figures watching them from above.
After a while Elena got out of the grave.
"What?" Stefan asked when he noticed Elena staring at him.
"Not many girls can say they've done this." Elena said pointing a flashlight into the grave.
Stefan started to dig again. There was a thump and Stefan looked up at her. He started to move the dirt and revealed a coffin.
"Is that it?" Elena asked as Stefan started to open it.
Inside the coffin was a skeleton holding a faded red book. Stefan took the book and stood on top of the coffin. He grabbed the wire that bond the book and pulled on it. After the book was opened he started to look through the pages.
"Well, what do you know?" They heard Damon voice behind them.
They turned around to see him standing a few feet away.
"This is an interesting turn of events." He said.
"I can't let you bring her back." Stefan said. "I'm sorry."
"So am I? For thinking for even a second I could trust you." Damon said.
"You are not capable of trust. The fact you're here means you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself." Stefan shot back.
"Of course. Because the only one I can count on is me. You made sure of that years ago, Stefan." He said before looking at Elena. "I had my suspicious of Stefan, but you." He paused. "You had me fooled. So what are you gonna do now?" Damon asked Stefan, before grabbing Elena. "Because if you try and destroy that, I'll rip her heart out."
"You won't kill her." Stefan said.
Damon had his arm around her neck. "I can do one better." He said before biting his wrist and shoving it in her mouth.
Faster than human and supernatural eyes could catch, four figures dropped down from the trees. Elena suddenly found herself in Erica's arms next to Stefan. Damon didn't even had the time to be shocked before a fist met his face. He slammed to the ground, feeling like he'd just been hit by a bulldozer. He grunted when he felt a foot connect with his side, feeling his ribs break. He was harshly flipped on his back with a hand tightly gripping his neck to see Bella kneeling over him, a look of contained rage on her face.
"I warned you." She said, before she raised her arm, the vampires and Elena noticed that she was holding a stake in her hand.
"No!" Stefan and Elena yelled as she brought her arm down. Stefan tried to make his way to his brother, but was slammed to the ground by Aiden.
Bella stopped the stake centimeters from Damon's heart. Elena and Stefan released sighs of relief, while Angel and Aiden rolled their eyes in irritation.
Damon stared into Bella's cold eyes, for the first time showing fear. Never had he ever came this close to dying. The only reason her was still alive was because of his brother that he's tormented for over a century and the girl that he had just threatened to kill.
"You're very lucky to have people who actually care about you." She said, standing up to go stand by Elena and Erica.
Aiden released Stefan as Erica released Elena. They ran to each other, embracing tightly.
Angel picked the grimoire up, tossing it to the ground in front of Damon.
Damon got up slowly feeling his bones begin to heal, before picking up the grimoire.
"No pain, no gain." Angel teased. "You have once gain, had your ass kicked. Consider that a consolation prize."
"I warned you of the consequences should you ever harm Elena. I suggest you take us seriously." Bella said, before turning to Stefan and Elena. "You guys should go. We got our point through. We will leave as well." She added, seeing their worry of leaving Damon alone with them.
"Are you ok?" Stefan asked her.
"Tonight was just so intense. I mean, what Erica did the night of the dance was different. But Aiden, Angel, and Bella…I've never seen her so angry." Elena replied. "Is my head supposed to hurt like this?"
"They were just trying to protect you. And you'll be fine, it was just a small amount of blood, it should pass out of your system by tomorrow." Stefan said.
"The aspirin must be downstairs." She said. "Are you alright?"
"Damon is right this is my fault." Stefan said. "I put my faith into my father. But Damon put his faith in me. And I destroyed that. This is my fault."
"We didn't do anything wrong." Elena said. "Don't forget that."
"Okay." he said.
She groaned and rubbed her head.
"I'll go get you that aspirin." Stefan said going downstairs.
"Oh hey Stefan" Jeremy said, as he walked into the room with Aunt Jenna. "Where did she go?"
"She went to the bathroom" Aunt Jenna replied.
"Where did who go?" Stefan asked them.
"He has a friend over" Aunt Jenna told him.
"Anna" Jeremy said.
Stefan had a look of panic, before he quickly took off up the stairs. "ELENA!" He yelled. He entered her room to find it empty.