I'm Only Me When I'm With You

Chapter 21- Vampire Blood

Previously on IOMWIWY

Bonnie finds out that Jeremy isn't in the tomb and learns that Gingerhead is related to Elena and is half witch. Jeremy gets into the castle grounds and enters a tower building…

Elena's P.O.V

"I wanted to thank you, Rhia," Stefan spoke as he gently tapped the shoulder of the powerful and extremely beautiful witch. She stood up and gingerly placed a kiss on his cheek, before doing the same to Caroline and then to me. She smelt of freesias and of summer and of everything good.

"You are welcome. May the force be with you," She sang, causing Caroline to snigger a little, but Rhia didn't notice. She allowed us to leave the room, and we started to make our way back to the car, Stefan keeping a weary eye out.

"What was so funny?" Stefan asked Caroline, looking a little amused as he helped us get into the car. He zipped around to the driver's seat and started the engine, looking like he wanted to get out of this witch town as fast as possible.

"She said 'May the force be with you'," Caroline said, a smile forming on her lips. She bit back her laugh and I shot her a confused look.

Stefan looked just as perplexed.

"Star Wars. God, you guys are so dense," She tossed her hair over her shoulder scornfully, sticking her tongue out at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Nerd,"

"What? That Luke Skywalker was cute," She put in, huffing a little.

I chuckled, just as Stefan pulled the car out of the gates to the town and we started back onto the main road. We were going at a faster speed than was probably allowed but we were in a hurry and besides, if anyone tried to stop us, Caroline or Stefan could just compel the hell out of them and we'd be on our way again.

"We're going to the airport, right?" I asked, when I saw that the surroundings were becoming a little more familiar.

"Yes," Stefan confirmed, running a hand through his light brown hair.

He tossed his cell phone back at me. "Call Damon and see how he's doing," He ordered, and I picked it up and chose Damon's number before pressing the phone to my ear. It rang but no one picked up.

"No answer," I relayed to the two vampires.

Caroline looked curious, "What do you think is happening?" She asked us both.

"No idea," I muttered, handing Stefan back his phone. He slipped it into his pocket and kept his eyes on the road. Soon, we turned onto the road of the airport and we parked the rental car and got out.

"What are we going to do to the car?" I asked, gesturing towards it.

"We'll just leave it here. We don't have time to do otherwise. We need to get to Bonnie," Stefan said, speaking briskly as he grabbed my arm and started leading me to the airport. Caroline hurried behind us, typing into her blackberry something or the other.

Stefan bought us tickets and we waited in the terminal for the flight to take off. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I leaned my head on it, sighing. I was tired to say the least.

"Sleep," He told me, stroking my cheek.

I could only nod before I drifted off into oblivion.

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The next time I gained conscious, we were on the airplane. Stefan and Caroline were on either side of me. Caroline had her iPod plugged in, while Stefan was reading a book, his brows furrowed.

"Hello, beautiful," He whispered, once he saw that I'd woken up. His lips parted into a smile and he pecked me on the cheek. I ran my hand through his hair and smiled back.

"Hey. Stefan, I was just thinking… what are we going to do once we get there?" I wondered, pushing some of my straight brown hair out of my eyes.

"Well, we're going to find Bonnie, then lock Katherine into a room with a spell and then I'm going to call the number Rhia gave me so that Klaus's men can come pick Katherine up," Stefan explained in a quiet tone. Caroline nodded, so I assumed he'd told her about this before.

I felt my stomach growl, and I covered it, sheepishly. "I'm hungry," I mumbled, and Stefan laughed and called the air hostess over. She brought me some pretzels and an orange juice and a diet coke for Caroline. Stefan didn't want anything even though the hostess batted her eyelashes at him until I kissed him on the cheek, scaring her off.

"Do you guys need to, er, drink?" I asked, thinking of how they would probably function better with fresh human blood. It would make them more powerful even.

Caroline held up a black pitcher that I hadn't noticed before. Stefan had an identical one on top of his bag. "We're all set," Caroline assured me with a wide smile. She took a swig of the drink, before swallowing back some coke. Stefan rubbed my shoulder, reassuringly and I leaned back and cracked open my bag of salty snacks.

I chewed on my pretzels, feeling this was going to be a long day.

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Damon's P.O.V

"Take that…" I staked a guard, just as another one came up behind me. I kicked him in the stomach and yanked the stake out of the other one, before slipping it into the other one's heart. "And that…." I growled. Another few came at me but I ran past them and into the castle grounds. Some yelled after me, but none actually tried to pursue me.

"I'm in," I muttered to myself, smoothing my jeans and running a hand through my hair. Now I had to find Bonnie and Little Gilbert. I sped off in the direction of the main castle. I had been here before, though it had been abandoned at that time save for a few human families that had taken it as their residence. They'd been a delicious meal.

I ran smack into a certain brunette vampire. I cursed under my breath as I looked up into the beautiful brown heavy eyelashed eyes of Katherine Pierce. Her lips parted into a smug smile, and I clutched the stake tighter in my hands.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" She sang, tipping her head slightly to the side.

I ignored her, poising the stake towards her. It was now or never. I started to plunge it towards her, but she held it off easily. She started to laugh and then snapped her fingers together.

About a dozen guards appeared armed with stakes and vervain guns. I tried again to stake her but she broke my stake in two.

"Take him to the prison," She ordered, and the guards came at me, shooting at me with a vervain gun. I felt the syringes stab into me and a pain rippled through my body, sending me to the floor. The last thing I felt before passing out was being carried away somewhere.

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Bonnie's P.O.V

"Bonnie, I have an idea. I learned something from my father's books about witches, I mean," Gingerhead informed me, as he peered towards me from on my bed.

"What?" I asked, a little wearily. I'd taken all the news I could get for one day. I didn't want to hear anymore. In fact, all I wanted to do was tuck myself up and go to sleep forever.

"If you drink some vampire blood, you gain a little energy and power," He spoke slowly.

"No way, ew!" I exclaimed, in disgust.

His eyes looked amused for a second before they turned worried. "You'll be more powerful. You'll need it if you want to fight Katherine," He reminded me, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed, knowing he was probably right. "Are you volunteering?" I asked, and he nodded and bit into his arm, offering me the dripping hand.

I brought the arm to my lips and started to suck, noting that it didn't taste as bad as I thought it would. It was salty but it tasted clean, kind of like water. I drank until I thought I couldn't take anymore, and then wiped my mouth and leaned down on the bed.

"Was that really so bad?" He asked, his mouth turning up at the sides in a very Damon like smirk.

"Yes," I joked, though now was not the time for joking. I couldn't help it. "Why are you helping me, anyway?"

"Because I've done a lot of bad things. My dad before he turned evil wouldn't have been proud. I like to imagine him as my pre-dark magic dad. I don't like to remember him afterwards. Dad would have liked me to help you. Besides, you have a pure heart, Bonnie," Gingerhead concluded his speech, looking down a little.

"What about Katherine? Aren't you like related to her?" I reminded him, biting my nail. It wasn't a good habit but I was worried.

He grinned, "She'll be none the wiser," He assured me.

I felt the sudden urge to make sure Emily was on my side. I closed my eyes and tried to conjure her. I felt a certain light fill up my heart with a little bit of warmth and I held onto it, asking for help.

"The elders are with you," A ghost like voice hissed, that sounded very much like Emily's, I think. I nodded, drinking in the power until I felt myself being shaken. I phased out of my dream and saw a concerned looking Gingerhead standing over me. He helped me to my feet.

"You just collapsed to the ground. What happened?" He demanded, stroking my shoulder.

"It's just…. Nothing. Can you let me out?" I asked, with big pleading eyes.

He sighed but then nodded and started making his way to the door. He unlocked it and then peered out for one second before letting me out.

"Wait," He said, pulling on my arm.

"What?" I wanted to know. I wanted to go fight Katherine or try to do something. I still felt Emily's influence within me, burning deep with a passion.

"Promise me you'll be careful. I'd hate to see you die," Gingerhead spoke honestly.

I nodded, "I will be careful," I assured him, and then we started down the steps. I didn't know why he was coming with me, but I felt glad to have someone watch over me. I started walking faster, before bumping smack into a brown haired guy. I was about to form a spell to give him an aneurism when I realized it was Jeremy. He looked startled, but his eyes lit up as he saw me. I jumped into his arms and we hugged for a long time.

A/N: Short, I know, but I've just been finishing up on exams and stuff… The next chapter will have some Beremy, so look forward to that. We only have about 5 more chapters left so keep your eyes peeled for them..

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Lily xx

Disclaimer: I don't own TVD.