Chapter Twenty: Heart of Darkness

The air in Denver, Colorado where Jeremy was staying at was bone chilling cold, not to mention the awkwardness between Holly and Damon as they both walked towards the batting cages looking for him. Holly was perfectly capable of picking up Jeremy by herself, she wondered why Damon had decided to tag along.

She sighed. Though knowing Damon, it probably didn't even have anything to do with her, it seem like all that Damon had in his mind right now was killing the Originals.

Holly smiled when she finally saw her brother. "There he is."

Damon winced when he saw how bad Jeremy was. "Next time I compel him, remind me to make him good at baseball."

Holly ignored him as she pressed her face against the cage. "Hey, Jeremy!"

Jeremy smiled. "Holly!" he hugged her. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

Over the next fifteen minute as they walked away from the batting cages Damon and Holly began telling him what he had missed ever since Damon had compelled him.

"Katherine sired us, Rose sired Katherine, now all we have to do is find out who sired Rose." Damon explained.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "So you traveled across the country so that I could talk to some dead vampire? News flash it doesn't work that way, I could talk to Anna and Vicki because I knew them, and I never knew Rose."

Damon scowled. "What good are you if you can't talk to a ghost when I need you too?"

"Give him a break." Holly wrapped her arms protectively around Jeremy's shoulder. "Well, there's no harm in trying."

Jeremy shrugged as he looked over his shoulder. "I guess not, but can we do this later, my friend just got here:"

Both Damon and Holly turned around and Holly paled when she saw Kol holding a bat. She tightened her grip on Jeremy's arm. "Jeremy, get back he's an Original."

"Sorry mate, but we're not buds!" Kol said as he hit Damon across the face with a bat, causing Damon to fall to the floor. Holly used her vampire speed to get behind Kol and snapped his neck. She looked at Jeremy's stun face before she helped Damon up. "Hurry up, let's go."

"For the record she was the one that wanted to stop at a motel not me," Damon said as he followed Holly and Jeremy towards the second floor of a small unknown motel white dragging Jeremy's suitcases behind.

"We needed a place to locate Rose in peace," Holly looked back. "Unless you want Kol to behead us with his bat."

Damon paused. "Fair point."

Holly opened the small hotel room and started closing the curtains. "We should get this done soon. Do you need anything Jeremy, like candles?"

Jeremy shook his head as he sat at the edge of the bed. "No, but it would help if I had a picture of her."

Damon scoffed. "From what our trip to Disneyland?" he started pacing around. "Come on, Rose you're not really going to make us wait are you? I know you're obsess with me." Nothing. "Fine, I'll tell you something about her . . . she spend her last day in paradise."

Holly frowned. "I was with her on her last day, she was suffering."

"It was the dream that he gave her," Jeremy finally spoke up. "Rose, she's here."

"How are you Rose?" Holly asked feeling weird speaking to someone that wasn't there. "Are you lonely?"

Rose smiled. "No, I'm at peace." She looked at Damon. "And tell Damon that he's dripping with sex."

Jeremy frowned.

Rose laughed. "Fine, tell him I miss him and that I'm rooting for him and Holly. They will work things out."

"She misses both of you."

Rose frowned. "Unfortunately, I don't have much news to offer. No original turned me, I was sired by Mary Porter." Jeremy repeated the message.

"Ugh," Damon wrinkled his nose. "Scary Mary. Any idea where she is, Rose?"

"No, but I can try to find out."

"So what's up with you and Damon?" Jeremy asked once they were finally alone. "You guys seem . . . tense did you break up or something."

"No, nothing happen." Holly flushed. She really didn't want to tell her little brother that she got dumped.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "Really, because even Rose said something."

Holly blushed and refused to look at him. "We broke up . . . it was a stupid misunderstanding. But me and Damon are over."

Before Jeremy could ask anymore, Damon entered the room. "Hey, you two better get some sleep, I'll keep watch, while we wait for Rose."

Matt had just dropped off Rebekah after school, but her happiness soon diminish when she saw a tall, fair woman waiting for her in the living room. Rebekah pressed her by the throat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

Esther looked at her sadly. "Because I'm dying."

Rebekah pulled back. "How are you dying, Ayana preserved your body with a spell."

Esther sighed. "She did, I was drawing my power for the Bennett witch line and that line got severed when Abby became a vampire."

Rebekah took a deep breath. "Well, if you've come to spend your last moments with your loving daughter, you should have something else planned. Perhaps you should have spent less time plotting my murder."

"Because it shouldn't have been a 1000 years, Rebekah." Esther said exasperated. "No one should live that long."

"But I haven't lived at all!" Rebekah said her voice breaking.

Esther grabbed Rebekah's hands. "I'm sorry, Rebekah." She fell to the floor as Rebekah stared at her.

Klaus came into the room. "What's going on?"

"She's dead."

Holly couldn't sleep, especially with Damon there. She raised her head slightly and saw that he was sitting down on the couch across from the bed. Jeremy was soundly asleep on the opposing bed. Holly patted down the bed, not sure if he was going to come.

Much to her surprise he laid down next to her. "Why didn't you tell me about what you did for Rose? It was very kind of you."

"Because, I'm not kind Holly." Damon said as he glanced back at the ceiling. "I'm not a nice person remember?" he glanced at her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"You have proven me wrong a couple of times. You are kind." Holly whispered as she squeezed back. The room felt hot and stuffy, like she couldn't breathe. She needed to get out of here. Holly sat up and headed outside.

She shook her head, she and Damon were broken up. They were over. They needed to stop feeling like this. She needed to stop feeling like this.

She could sense Damon behind her. "Damon, don't, we can't-"

"Why not?" Damon asked as he gently squeezed her shoulder and made her turn around slightly.

Holly raised her lips to his as they kissed. His lips felt so warm and reassuring and familiar as Damon pressed her against the wall and started kissing her neck.

"Holly?!"

Damon and Holly pulled away and stared at a stunned Jeremy. "Jeremy, what-"

"Rose found Mary." Jeremy said flatly. "She lived in Kansas."

"Good." Damon said as he looked back at Holly. "Let's go."

"This is the address." Jeremy spoke over the silence as Damon stopped the car in front of an old abandoned looing house in Kansas.

"Hopefully, she still lives here." Holly said. "Jeremy, stay in the car."

"Why? So you guys can find more secret spots to make out."

Damon slammed the door. "Don't be a dick and listen to your sister."

Holly opened the door of the house and came across dozens of worn out objects and furniture. "Ugh, does this Mary ever clean? Do you know anything about her?"

"She was creepy. I dated her."

"Figures."

"What I said creepy, not ugly and I dated her before you were even born."

Holly turned the flashlight around and yelped when she saw a staked vampire against the wall.

"Mary." Damon whispered.

"Quite contrary." Holly flashed the flashlight towards the corner and saw Kol smirking and holding a bat. "Poor Mary, too bad that she had to die. She was sort of an Original groupie."

Holly tried to keep her voice from trembling. "And were you her favorite."

Kol shook his head. "I'm not a fool, little girl. I know that you're trying to find out which bloodline you came from and I'm not telling you. So where did we leave off?" he hit Damon across the face with a baseball bat.

"Holly, get out of here!" Damon grunted.

Holly raced to the door, but was trapped by Kol. "You're my brother's favorite which means you're off limits. Please don't test me."

"Don't touch her."

Kol smirked. "Well, I've hit a nerve, relax darling I just want us to be even. You humiliated me, you killed my brother." He hit Damon with the bat several times. "There, now we're even. Farewell, darlings."

Holly immediately helped Damon up. "Are you ok? He didn't do permanent damage did he?"

Damon snapped his arm back into place. "Nope." He touched Holly's cheek. "But enough about Kol, I want to talk about us. What the hell is going on? This trip and us kissing-what does that mean. For you at least?"

Holly gulped as she stared him. Those blue eyes made her soft, but she needed to be honest with him. She didn't want to be hurt anymore. "Damon, what happened at the motel, it was just . . . we were caught up in the moment. It didn't mean anything, I don't want a relationship, at least not right now with everything."

Damon nodded. "I get it, you don't have to explain anything. Come on, let's go back to the car."

Holly, Jeremy, and Damon were driving back to Mystic Falls when Rose appeared besides him. "Don't tell them I'm here. They had a fight, they are in a complicated situation right now and I know you want to help your sister, protect her from getting hurt but you're young, you don't see what I see. Damon has been with Holly since the beginning, he has helped her grow up, been there when she most needed him, and Holly in return has taught Damon how to love. With Klaus, yes with Klaus I know scary," Rose laughed at Jeremy's shocked face. "Klaus represent a whole new world for her, a world filled with excitement, he helps her question the world and even the people whether they are good or bad. Klaus and Damon will either be the best thing for her or the worst."

"Go on," Rebekah pushed Alaric in his alter ego towards the cave where he had hidden the white oak stake. "You know that I can't get in."

Alaric scoffed. "Now why would I give you the one thing that is keeping me alive? There's only one stake here, so that means only one original has to die, help me and I'll make sure it's not you."

"You see I don't want only one Original to die," Rebekah said slowly as she stepped over the vampire barrier. "I want all of them to die."

Alaric looked startled. "How?"

Rebekah shrugged. "It was easy to fool, Klaus, but I thought you of all people would understand after all my son did use your body at some point."

"Esther."

-End of Chapter Twenty-