Chapter Twenty-Eight

After

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1876

Naked and afraid, Damon waited. He had spilled no blood and he had broken no bones, but he felt as though he had suffered a great injury. He found a space next to the small vanity in the corner of the room, cowering behind it to protect himself from the sunlight. What will happen when Elena returns? he thought. What if she never does?

He set aside his panic and rage to collect his thoughts. The sun must sleep, he thought. He said it over and over as he watched the sunlight creep closer to him, never relaxing until it finally began to recede toward the window again.

Once the sun was retreating and he was able to think properly, he mapped exactly what he would do once he was free of his room: he would find his clothing, or steal some, whichever proved easiest, and then he would find Elena. If he found her, he knew he would be able to fix everything.

He spent the rest of his hours reasoning. Elena has been alone and confused for a decade. She did not have him to protect her. She did not have him to teach her. She was confused, and he need only speak with her. Katherine could protect herself, surely, from whatever she had planned. It would all be well once the sun set. He began pacing when the sun was tucked safely out of view of his window, slowly sinking in the Western skies. He would soon make his escape.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door abruptly swinging open. At first glance of the dark brown curls coming from behind it, he sped towards them, grabbing Elena by the neck and pulling her further into the room. He had her back to the wall before she could blink, only it was not her at all. Rather, a smaller version of her, gazing contentedly up at Damon with similar almond shaped eyes that were not brown enough. Her hair was too short as well, but she it wore as Elena had.

He fell back, embarrassed and confused, but she did not seem bothered in the least. She seemed comfortable, if not adrift from herself. There was something about the way that she did not look directly at Damon when she spoke to him that made him uneasy. Her clothes were ill-fitted, as though they were made for someone just a little bigger than herself, and moreover, they looked a little outdated. She stood quietly as though waiting for him to say something first, pulling up the shoulder of her dress as it fell.

In her left hand, she clutched a bundle of clothes. Wordlessly, she offered them to him. He snatched them from her quicker than she could extend her arm, but she did not seem to mind. Trying to keep himself covered, he retreated to his place behind the vanity, pulling it out from the wall to dress himself behind. "Who are you?" he half-snarled, securing his belt around his waste.

No reply.

He lips curled into an irritated frown. "Did Elena send you?"

No reply.

"Are you deaf?"

No reply.

He rushed to her once more, his hand wrapping itself around her throat before he realized what he was doing. "Speak!" he ordered.

"I've brought you something else," she said simply. Chills ran up and down his arms; she sounded so much like Elena. He looked down to her right hand and ripped the small silver object from her fingers before she could offer it. It was the chain that Elena had secured around her neck only hours earlier, his ring dangling from it. He secured the ring around his finger and the muscles in his shoulders relaxed slightly. "Where is she?" he said, trying to control his voice.

"Who?"

Again, he felt the blood in his body rush down his spine, alight with rage. He inhaled, and spoke once more, focusing directly on her irises. "Where is Elena?"

The girl looked down for a moment, biting her lip as though she was genuinely trying to think of an answer. Her eyes returned to his, empty.

He knew that this girl could not be a vampire resisting his compulsion; she was undoubtably human. He could hear her heart beat and feel the warmth of her skin. Elena must have compelled her, that was the only explanation he could think of. "Do you know the answer?"

She nodded.

"Can you tell me the answer?"

He was met by silence again, and the girl looked almost embarrassed.

He took a calming breath, begging for patience. "Why are you here?"

"I brought your things," she smiled proudly.

"Is that all?"

"What else would you like?"

He rolled his eyes, "What is your name?"

"What would you like my name to be?"

Exasperated, he turned his back on her and finished putting on the remainder of his clothing. As he laced his shoes, he turned to her once more. "What will happen when you leave here?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Where will you go?"

"Oh," she said, and her face looked like she had only just remembered something, "I do not intend to leave."

"You will sit in this room until Elena comes for you?"

"No."

He could feel it: he was on the brink of ripping the poor girls throat out. Perhaps Elena had compelled her to be this way on purpose. She knew how much he hated repeating himself. "Elena is not coming for you?"

"No."

"Surely the innkeeper will want to make use of this room once I have paid for it and left. What will you do then?"

"I will not have to worry about it then."

"Why is that?"

"I will be dead by then."

He eyed her suspiciously, but she did not seem to notice or care. "Do you think I will kill you?"

"She said you would be hungry," the girl said sweetly.

He stood up, taking her face softly in his hands, to bring her eyes to his. "Please," he begged, "is there nothing else you can tell me?"

His eyes peered up to him, empty. "You need to feed, Damon," she said quietly. He did not move. "She said you would hesitate."

Irritation prickled under his skin; how could she still know him so well when he did not seem to know her at all? He could feel his face getting warm as he waited for her to say more, but only her breath touched his ears, slow and quiet.

"What can I do?" she asked.

Silence settled in between them, though despair screeched and writhed beneath his skin. Elena was gone, he realized. She found him on purpose. She used him, and now she would be long gone. He looked fiercely into the girl's eyes. "Bring her back," he ordered. "Bring her back to me! Tell me something, anything!"

Her hand raised gently to his eyes, covering them. "Damon," she said again, and he wished it was Elena. Then as if to grant his wish, her voice came again, and he knew it was Elena speaking, though it was not her mouth, he was sure that it was her words. She had never been good at goodbyes.

"I looked for you. For years I wandered, lost without you."

"I am so sorry," he finally said. "I would have come for you if I had known."

"I know, darling."

He pulled her closer to him, burying his face in her hair and wrapping his arms around her, never once opening his eyes. She did not smell like Elena, no, her perfume was too sweet, but if he focused, if he inhaled at just the right moment, he caught it; the smell of honey and lemongrass that lingered from when the two women last spoke. Perhaps it was only his imagination. "I missed you."

"I know."

"Please," he begged, "please do not leave me."

She could feel her hands running gently through his hair. "I cannot leave once I am already gone."

His jaw clenched and he could feel the water in his eyes.

"Perhaps we will meet again," she whispered.

"When?"

"In earth," she said absently, "in stars."

He ripped away from her, grabbing her by the soldiers so she looked like a stranger once again. "That doesn't make any sense!" he screamed.

"It's time, Damon."

"No!"

She pulled a pin from her hair, gently impaling her finger. He was weak from a day without food and full of sunlight, but he resisted anyway, holding out hope that the girl would miraculously reveal Elena's location. The girl glanced out of the window; it had grown dark. "Katherine will be dead by now."

"What?"

"You must go find Stefan," she instructed. "He will need you now more than ever." She raised her hand back to his face, rubbing the droplet of blood across his bottom lip. "Feed, Damon."

He could feel the veins protruding from his eyes and it was no use trying to stop himself. He reared his head back before latching onto the girls neck. She tensed for a moment, digging her nails into the back of his neck before relaxing and returning to dragging her fingers gently through his hair.

Her heartbeat grew heavier and slower with every passing second, but he pulled himself off of her just before she slipped away. A tear had escaped the corner of her eye, and she looked less like Elena than she did before. He inhaled a deep sob and her last words seemed to echo a million miles away from him.

"Goodbye for now."


Stefan returned not long after to find Damon sitting on the floor of his very empty-looking room. A body laid out in front of him, its face covered by his jacket. He did not look up to greet his brother as he entered. "Where is she?" Stefan growled.

"Who?" Damon answered blankly.

"Elena!" he roared, moving further into the room as though she had something to hide behind.

"An excellent question, brother."

"She's dead, Damon!" Stefan said, his face flushed. "Katherine! She… we… there was Elena and this… this man, and another... someone else… I… they…"

"I know," Damon said, raising his voice over Stefan's rambling.

"You know?"

"I know."

"What happened?"

"I do not know."

"You just said you knew!"

Damon did not respond and Stefan slid down the wall. His face was bright red and shiny with tears. His shirt was stained red and his pants were covered in dirt. His nails were caked with crimson, and speckles of blood covered his face "She is gone," he moaned.

The sound was so unfamiliar it almost frightened Damon. He felt ill, for both he and his brother had lost someone today. "What happened?"

Stefan waited a moment to answer, collecting himself behind the wall of his hands. "We spent the night under the stars. I..." He shook his head as though confused. "I was ready to come home. The sun had begun to rise and there was nobody left to feed on.

"We were walking back, and Katherine was on edge. She kept saying, 'the air feels strange,' but I did not understand what she meant by it. I thought she was cold, so I offered my coat. As we were walking back I thought I saw Elena. Damon, I swear it was her. Katherine became upset when I told her, but we followed her. It was a stranger."

Damon shot a quick glance to the body before him.

"Katherine grabbed her, but she was… expecting us. No, not expecting us, she… we did not know her but she knew us. I was... we ate so much last night that I was dizzy. I was unfocused, confused. She told us that you were looking for us… that she could lead us to you. I thought it was amusing, you know, because of her likeness to Elena? I thought we would find you in good spirits, but we never found you." His eyes clouded over at the memory, and a frown took his mouth.

"Where did you go?"

"I… we just walked until I felt Katherine stop. She was unhappy, muttering about the air. We passed the monorail, and she had grabbed my sleeve…" He reached down to where she had grabbed him as though he could still feel her fingers there. "A man was walking toward us, and she seemed to know him. I was not sure how I was supposed to act. I offered my hand, and Katherine screamed.

"It all happened so fast. First there was the man, and then there was a woman… she had flirted with me earlier in the evening. I thought… I thought that if… I thought she…"

"Stefan!"

"It was so fast," Stefan said again. He was growing more upset with each word. "Then Elena was there, out of nowhere. She's a vampire! They all were. All three of them were speaking as if they had known each other… well, of course Katherine and Elena knew each other, but the other two… they just jumped on her.

"The other woman held me down at first. She was so strong, almost as strong as Katherine. I had no choice but to watch." He shuddered. "I've never seen anything like it Damon. The woman twisted my neck in the commotion and that is the last thing I can recall. I woke up in a ditch beyond the fair gates... Katherine..." A sob broke from his throat. "They left her... pieces of her with me."

Damon pulled himself up, ignoring the numbness in his legs and moving next to his brother. He squatted down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry." he said, just above a whisper. Though he meant it, he did not suffer knowing Katherine was dead. She was cruel, and that made Stefan cruel too.

Stefan grew angry then, shoving Damon back and forcing himself up. "I will kill that bitch!" he screamed. The veins under his eyes were swollen and his teeth had descended from his gums. "Where is she, Damon? Tell me!"


The moon was not in the sky, and Elena could feel a chill in her bones. She gazed out over the invisible sea, only knowing its presence from the sound of waves crashing into the side of the ship. She heard Caroline giggling behind her, but she hadn't been paying enough attention to her or Klaus to know what they were talking about. Her hands felt sticky, as though she had not rinsed all the blood off. She opened and closed them over and over, testing to see if she could still feel the blood running through the cracks in her palms, but it was too cold and they were too numb to feel anything.

"Elena, darling!" she heard Klaus call. "Come, sit."

She did as she was told, joining them on a low bench at their side. "Yes?" she said coolly.

"Is something wrong?" Caroline asked. "You seem a bit-"

"-less than thrilled that we just did away with the very reason for your unhappiness," Klaus finished.

Elena took a minute, weighing her words. They were right. It was Elena who started this all. A day ago, she could not sleep, for she was so excited to kill Katherine. Now something felt wrong. "Perhaps it's the cold," was all she could think to say.

"Cheer up, pet," said Klaus. "You've done it, you've killed the beast and now you can go wherever you heart desires.

That was the problem, she realized. What her heart desired was far behind her, too far, perhaps. She chastised herself silently. She could never forgive Damon for what he had done to her. He was a monster, and now she was too.

She sat for a moment and then straightened, vowing to forget it all, and after a moment she felt something click in her brain. She had felt a similar sensation before, when she fed too greedily; something inside of her would shift, and she did not feel sad anymore. This time it,she felt every muscle in her body loosen. Her hands were no longer cold. All thoughts of Damon melted away, but she hung onto the memory of Katherine's bones snapping in her hands. She rather liked that memory.

"You are right," she said, smiling suddenly. "I think I just need someone to eat."