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Chapter 28: Daddy Issues
"The sheriff's department believes drugs played a part in the deranged and violent behavior that left three people dead…" Adele's eyes blink open as the sounds of the news and the shower in the bathroom flood through the room. Slowly sitting up, she focuses her eyes on the T.V, the only coherent thought going through her mind at the moment being 'more deaths?'
As she's listening to the reporter talk about dead or missing people, Damon enters the room from the bathroom a towel wrapped securely around his waist and she has to force herself to keep her eyes on the T.V and away from him. His attention is also on the T.V, she's not even sure he realizes she's awake.
"…25 year old Jessica Conan was reported missing early this morning…" Adele's eyes are drawn to Damon and not just because he's practically naked but because of the way he turns his head away from the screen, before looking back and then walking off in a hurry and Adele's eyes widen. She'd know the signs of guilt anywhere.
Getting up from the bed, she quickly pulls out some clothes and throws them on before Damon reappears in the room, this time fully dressed and he seems shocked to see her awake. "Hey…How's your head?"
"…Fine…" She answers slowly, she still felt slightly dizzy and her head still kind of hurt but other than that she feels fine. "Damon…What did you do?" She asks softly and he freezes. It takes him a moment to recover before he turns to her. "What do you mean?"
"The girl, Jessica whatever…What did you do?"
"What makes you think I did anything?" He snaps at her and she sighs shrugging her shoulders. "The way you practically ran from the room says a lot." He doesn't say anything for a long minute, he just stares at her and she stares back not willing to back down. "In my defense, I didn't know you we're awake." He finally responds and she shakes her head at him willing herself not to smirk at him.
"What do you expect from me Adele? It's who I am! I know you all expect me to be the perfect citizen but that's not who I am. I'm a vampire, I drink people's blood. I kill people. It's. Who. I. Am."
Adele's shocked at his sudden outburst, not sure exactly where it came from or what brought it on, but as she watches his chest rise and fall at a rapid pace and his blue eyes burn with rage she figures this outburst has been brewing for a while now. "What…what brought this on?" She finally asks, her voice is low and she blinks at him making him feel bad for snapping at her but it subsides quickly.
"Oh please don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about." At this point she's more confused than she's felt in a long time and it's making her head pound, like someone is slamming a hammer in-between her eyes from inside her head.
"I'm not acting Damon! I don't know what you're talking about! What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you snapping at me? Why are you accusing me of something I don't even know I did?"
"Oh come on! You're 'what did you do' said it all. You, Elena, Stefan and everyone else expects me to be someone I'm not."
Adele's opens her mouth to fire back at him but the weight of his words finally settles in and closes it, sending him a frown as she backs up a side. If someone walked into the room right now, they would assume he hit her with the expression on her face. "Do you…do you really think that?" She whispers and he sends her a look, that tells her he isn't making a joke and so suddenly he's not even sure what happened, her blue eyes turn sharp and her expression changes to something cold, something that doesn't belong on her beautiful face.
"How dare you." She spits out through clenched teeth and man if he thought he was mad. "I can't…I can't even believe you would say that to me! I've done nothing but expect who you are Damon but I guess as it would turn out you don't know who you are because if you think your that guy…that guy who kills people because he likes, because it's his nature then you're a freaking idiot!"
He watches stunned into silence as she collects her phone from the bedside table before turning back to him. "You are not that guy. I don't expect you to be anybody because I know who you are. You're the guy who has saved my life, you're the guy who is working day and night to save my sister from being killed in some creepy ass sacrifice because wither you want to attempt it or not you care about what happens to her and you know how much it'll kill me and I can take a pretty good guess at what happened to Rose. A man who doesn't care about other people wouldn't do any of that."
She slips her feet into her boots as her phone vibrates in her hand.
911 now! ~Caroline.
Her eyebrows rise in alarm as she stares down at the message. It had been a while since Caroline sent her a 911 text. A 911 text had always been there way of telling the other they had a problem they needed help with right then and there. Looking back up at Damon, she lets out a breath of air. She's feels mad and offended at the same time and she just can't believe him. She can barely even look at him.
"I'm leaving, but I want you to know that to think you don't know me better than that hurts. It really hurts Damon."
~x~
She doesn't bother with knocking; she doesn't bother to call out to her. She knows exactly where she is, pacing in the living room while trying to not pull out her hair. "What's going on?"
"Tyler knows!" She exclaims stopping to look over at Adele with wide eyes and horrified expression.
She of course needs more clarification than that. There's a lot of things Tyler could know and a lot he should never know. "Tyler knows what?"
"Everything! He knows everything about Mason and how Damon killed him and about Stefan and how we lied to him! I'm surprised he didn't call you or come attack you!"
"He attacked you?"
"Not exactly, it was like a split second loss of control where he pushed me against the car. I'm seriously surprised he hasn't called you or anything."
"Yeah I'm not. Tyler confronts people who've done wrong by him but not me. It's the silent treatment all the way around when it comes to me. He'll ignore me and ignore me and ignore me until I seek him out and demand to know what his problem is. How did he find out? No, you know what I know that answer! It's that werewolf that bit Rose. She was looking for him the night of his transition, she knew about Mason. She told him, but god! What does she want with him?"
"Well what do we do? I'm freaking out here!"
"Yeah and you should be! Tyler is hot headed, he always has been and now that he knows what happened, he could do something incredibly stupid! He could go after Damon and Stefan, and Damon already wants him dead so there would be no stopping him from killing him. Someone needs to talk to him. We need to get to him before something happens." Adele rants now being the one to pace around the living room.
"Well I can't talk to him. He won't listen to me."
"He won't listen to me either, like I said silent treatment all the way. We need someone else…" Adele trails off raking her brain for someone, anyone with great communication skills. She stops looking up at Caroline. "And I know just the person." She yanks out her phone as Caroline nods having faith in her best friend to get someone able to help them.
~x~
15 minutes later and there's a knock on the door. Adele races to it yanking it open. "I got your 911…what's up?" Stefan asks his eyes filled with concern as Caroline pops up behind her. "Tyler knows everything." She answers as she lets him in.
"What do you mean everything?"
"He knows about you and Damon. He knows Damon killed Mason. I didn't say a word." Caroline says in a rush and Stefan turns away for half a second to run a hand through his hair. "It's that woman Jules. She had a run in with Damon." Caroline sends Adele a glance. "I told you." She mummers as Caroline throws her hands in the air as they follow Stefan further into the house.
"Tyler was so upset. The look on his face, he was so betrayed." Adele feels a rush of guilt. She should've came clean with Tyler in the first place. She knows that so why didn't she do it? The same reason you're not telling Michael about vampires. The same reason you're avoiding Jasmine because you know you have to tell her about your meeting with James.
Shaking herself from those thoughts, she looks up at Stefan. "You're not going to tell Damon right? He already wants to kill him."
"No I'm not. He already thinks all werewolves should die and he's not wrong to think that. I mean what if Tyler tries to retaliate? He has every right to. He could get himself killed."
"Well we're not going to let that happen!" Caroline snaps and Adele nods. "We have to get to him and reason with him before he does something stupid."
Adele nods again before speaking up. "You have to talk to him. Just try to explain. You always know the right things to say and he won't talk to me or let Caroline try to explain. Please Stefan."
"He's…he's my friend." Caroline says and Stefan looks between the two blondes in front of him. How was he supposed to say no when they look at him with those large puppy dog like eyes?
"Okay fine I'll see what I can do." Adele breathes a sigh of relief as he starts to move towards the door.
"Whoa, wait!" He stops turning to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "This is the first time I've seen you since you we're released Grandpa! Where's my hug?" Stefan snorts a laugh and moves back to her to wrap his arms around her neck and squeeze tightly. She laughs squeezing him back before letting him go. "Oh, I should probably let you know a head of time that John is back in town."
"John? As in my Uncle John, who's actually not my uncle at all?" Stefan nods and before she can say anything he's gone. Adele closes her eyes before turning to Caroline. "What's wrong with your Uncle?"
"Oh you haven't heard? He's not my uncle…he's my father." Caroline almost chokes on her own spit as she looks at Adele. Adele nods. "Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't have that same reaction." Caroline decides not to comment on it at the moment.
"So what do we do now?" She asks instead and Adele takes a minute before answering. "Let's go shopping."
~x~
Caroline smiles her thanks to the waiter as she places there sandwiches in front of them before regarding Adele carefully. "So you and Jasmine are close." She didn't mean for the statement to make it sound like she was…jealous but that's exactly the way it sounded and a small smirk is sent her way in return. "Yeah we are. She's the one who took me to Florida where I meet…them."
"Oh." She says simple as she picks at the sandwich and Adele laughs causing Caroline to frown.
"Caroline…you've been my best friend since the sandbox. Do you really think I could replace you? You're like a sister to me and I love Elena, but sometimes you're more of a sister then she is. I'm close to Jasmine, really close to her because of what we've been through together in the past year but she can't replace you."
"I feel really stupid for even bringing it up but you know…you guys are just together so much and we haven't really seen much of each other since you got back…I don't know. Forget I said anything." Caroline sends her a bright smile before changing the subject. "So Florida…how was it?"
"It was...hot. Like really hot."
"That's not what I meant." Caroline whispers and Adele nods casting her eyes down to her plate. "I know, I figured." She swallows, she's never talked about him to anyone besides Jasmine and that's only because Jasmine had known him as well but she as she stares down at the plate, she decides that maybe it's about time she does and what better person to start with then Caroline?
"His name was Tony; he was a vampire…like 468 years old. He was turned before he turned 21 in Russia."
"He was Russian?" Caroline asks and Adele nods a smile playing on her lips. "Was he like all dark and sexy?"
Adele laughs. "He wasn't dark in the sense of appearance. He was blonde and his eyes we're brown but like a lighter shade of brown, they weren't real dark. Sexy? He was beyond. He was really tall and he was…he was built but not to the point to the point where it was gross. He was dangerous too. I mean you couldn't always tell, he was really laid back most of the time but you did not want to make him angry." There's affection wrapped in every word she says and Caroline sends her a small sad smile.
"It sounds like you really loved him."
"I did and part of me still does. I think that part will always be there just like I still love Mickey, just not in that sense anymore. When they returned my memories to me, I didn't think I was ever going to get over him. I couldn't believe he was dead. I didn't want to but…" Adele trails off trying to find the right words to explain herself.
"But your feelings for Damon helped you…" Caroline offers and Adele slowly nods. "Yes. The thought of seeing him got me out of my room on Founder's day only to almost lose him as well and I think that's when it really hit me, but I can't give myself to him just yet. Because like I said there's still a part of me that loves Tony and I don't think I'm ready." She only half lies but Caroline doesn't seem to notice as she nods.
"What about Bruce, what was that with him?" The question had been on Caroline's mind for a while now and Adele leans back.
"I…I'm not sure. I know I didn't actually feel anything for him. I just…wanted him. As bad as that sounds. I couldn't really feel much with that wall up. It blocked out feelings like that unless they we're strong enough to pass through. Apparently my desire for Bruce was pretty strong."
"He is a good looking guy." Caroline mutters and Adele laughs.
"He is indeed. You know I'm surprised I haven't been fired from my job yet. I've missed so many days it's really laughable but Corbin won't fire me. Remind me to ask Damon what he did to that man."
~x~
After lunch the two continued on their shopping spree. It was nice, it felt like old times where nothing but getting this season's fashion and having boyfriends mattered, now not only did they have more problems than just looking good, there situation involving guys had never been worse. After Caroline explained her problems with Matt and Tyler, Adele told her vaguely about her problems with Damon including his blow up at her this morning.
"I know how you feel about him so I'm not trying to say anything negative here but you also know my feelings for him. I can't just forget what he did to me."
"And I don't blame you." Adele sighs as they continue on to Caroline's parked car. It had long since gotten dark out and the two decided it was time to head home. Caroline suggested they have a movie night and Adele agreed. "If are roles were reversed, I would hate him just as much as you do. But I don't hate him, I can't. He just really…pissed me off this morning. I'm still shocked he would even think that of me."
Caroline is about to respond when a "Hey" from behind them makes them turn. Seeing it's Matt, Adele sends him a smile before turning to Caroline. "I'm going to go wait…over there." She points to the car before going off in that direction and Caroline shakes her head at her best friend before turning back to Matt.
Adele leans against the car. She wonders briefly what the others are up to. She hasn't heard from anyone all day which is refreshing but weird at the same time. She's not so lost in her thoughts that she misses Matt's asking Caroline to meet with him after the Grill closes and Caroline agreeing before Matt takes off and Caroline turns to her with sending her a guilty smile.
"I'm sorry. I know I suggest movie night…"
"Hey. Fine with me, we both need to get our guy situation worked out at least you have the guts to try." Caroline laughs as she reaches her and Adele makes a move to go to the passenger side when she notices the woman standing behind Caroline. Caroline seems to sense it to and spins around. "Caroline and Adele right?" They nod but don't say anything as they study her. Adele's not sure who this woman is but something doesn't seem right and she already doesn't like her.
"I'm looking for Tyler." Ah. She understands exactly who this is now. "You haven't seen him have you?"
"No. Not sense earlier." Caroline lies smoothly and Adele shrugs. "I haven't seen him at all today." Her answer is just as smooth but also true. "Sorry." She mumbles and they both turn Caroline ready to get into the driver seat and Adele ready to move around the car.
"I know you're lying Caroline." Both girls freeze and only Caroline turns back to look at her.
"Really? How? Is that one of your little wolf tricks?"
"Actually it is."
Caroline nods before turning back to the car. Adele glances sideways at her, praying she's not about to do what Adele thinks she's going to do. Caroline closes the car door and Adele cruses. Yes, she diffidently is. "Well I have a trick to." Caroline lets her face transform before whirling around and lets out a small shirk before turning back to lean against the car, her hands coming up to cover her face and Adele moves closer to her side to see what's wrong but before she can, Caroline spins around again, Adele following her lead this time and lets out a pretty loud shirk completely out of shock and horror when instead of the woman it's a man and he shoots Caroline right between the eyes.
Adele is so caught off guard as she looks down at Caroline that she's not aware of the guy coming for her and she has no time to react before he's got his arms around her neck and piece of cloth over her mouth and nose. She struggles but it's useless the guy is too strong and she can smell the heavy scent of Chloroform on the cloth. Slowly everything becomes dark and she falls back into the man's chest.
~x~
She can hear groaning and small screams as she slowly starts to regain consciousness and before long she can hear her name being called. She lets out a small moan of pain when she moves her head and opens her eyes. "Caroline…" She mutters as her eyes start to adjust to the darkness of the room. When they do and she's able to see clearly, she notices bars. Steel bars all around her. She's in some sort of cage.
She moves into a position that lets her push herself up onto her knees and turns her head to see Caroline in a cage much like her own, right next to her. "What the hell?" She mutters and Caroline shakes her head just as confused. "I see you got the bullet out." Both girls jump and look over. There…the guy who shot Caroline and knocked her out is sitting the gun in his lap as he regards them both, looking very…bored. "That was…nasty."
Caroline whimpers slightly as Adele only stares. This is the second day in a row she's been knocked out and it was starting to piss her off. "I have a lot of wooden bullets and other toys…" His eyes turn to Adele and he sends her a cruel smirk. "And seeing as your human, you'll be even easier to torture. It's going to be a long night sweetpeas." And with that he lifts the gun pointing it at Caroline before shooting her in the shoulder. Caroline screams.
"Stop! No! What the hell man!" Adele yells only for the gun to be turned on her.
"Shut up or I'll just end you right now." Adele presses her lips together as the fear finally starts to set in. What have they gotten themselves into now?
~x~
Tyler doesn't say anything to Stefan. After his little speech about coming back here to have a family and telling him that they both could have that without being mortal enemies, he's not sure what to think. He's not sure who to believe, Jules who told him that Vampires can't be trust and they will do to them what they did to Mason, or Stefan who has really been nothing but nice to him since he arrived in Mystic Falls?
Stefan's cell phone buzzes in his pocket and he takes it out. Seeing that it's Caroline, he answers it. "Hey…" He stands moving over to the unlit fire place. "Is everything okay?"
"That depends, how badly do you want to keep them alive?" Stefan freezes because it's not Caroline but it is a woman and she's threatening him with people's lives, Caroline's most likely but she said them meaning more than one, but who's the other one? Caroline was with Adele this morning. Could it be her?
"Who is this?" He asks slowly and Tyler glances up at him in question, being able to hear some of the conversion from where he's sitting.
"Ask your brother. Where is Tyler?"
"Jules." Stefan pinpoints. "Where are Caroline and…Adele?" He tries hoping like hell he had it wrong.
"You made a mistake Stefan. I'm going to give you a chance to fix it." That wasn't denying his thoughts that she has Adele as well as Caroline.
"Where are they?"
"Right here. You want proof?" He can hear a door opening and a few steps before she speaks again but not to him, to someone else. "He needs proof."
He hears a gun shot and then screaming and to his complete and utter horror it's not Caroline. It's Adele. "What are you doing? She's human! She won't heal!" That was Caroline.
"What's happening?" Tyler asks but Stefan ignores him.
"Hurt her again, hurt either of them again and you're dead."
"I hurt either of them again and there dead, one right after the other. Bring Tyler to me. The clearing by Wickery Falls. You have 20 minutes before they die!" With that Jules hangs up and Stefan glances down at Tyler. How is it that every night it seems like there running through hell just to keep everyone alive?
~x~
"So…" Damon's head jerks up in surprise and he turns to look at Jenna who is coming up behind him. "My friend wants to meet you." She announces and he raises his eyebrows before a woman steps into his line of vision and he is once again surprised. "I know you. You're the news lady." He didn't sound all that impressed but the woman brushes it off.
"Andie Starr. Nice to meet you."
Damon's not exactly sure what to say, on any other given night he would have started to flirt, he would have turned on the charm and had her hooked in minutes because the woman is very pretty but not tonight. After his…conversion –if you could even call it that– with Adele this morning and what happened with Rose, he's sworn off woman completely well at least for the time being.
"Can…I buy you a drink Damon?" She looks hopeful and eager, obviously confident in herself but come on…she even looked down to see he had a full glass in his hand.
"My glass is all full Andie. Thank you." He slides off the bar stool easily and moves past her and down the steps where Elena is watching.
"You totally blew her off." Elena points out; it was truly a sight to see. One Elena thought she would never see.
"I'm staying clear of all women at the moment." He comments back and Elena turns as he passes her, keeping her eyes locked on him. This must have something to do with her sister.
"You didn't have to be rude."
"Trust me it's in the best interest of woman everywhere." He brings his glass up to take a long sip of the alcohol as Elena's phone rings in her pocket. Pulling it out, she sends one more glance in Damon's direction before answering it. "Stefan…"
Damon's frown deepens as he watches Elena's face drop. "What is it?" There's few more minutes of conversion before she hangs up and looks at Damon. "Jules has Caroline…" Elena trails off but Damon can sense there's more. "And…" He pushes and Elena takes a deep breath. "She has Caroline…and Adele." His glass almost slips from his hand. "She wants Tyler within the next 20 minutes or she's going to kill them. Both of them."
"That bitch." He growls tossing his glass on the table closest to him. "Where are they?"
"Damon…"
"No Elena. Where are they?" Elena looks around not wanting Damon to cause a scene. Grabbing his arm she pulls him to the bathrooms and into the woman's.
"Elena. Tell me where they are!" He snaps and she shakes her head.
"You need to calm down. You're not going to help them if you go storming up there. She might kill them before you can reach them."
"That bitch does not know what she has done. Going after me and killing Rose is one thing, now she's has Adele? I don't think so. When I find her she's dead. What did he say? Tell me everything."
Elena does, she tells him everything that Stefan told her, from Tyler finding out about them and Mason to Jules having Caroline and Adele.
"Why am I just finding out about this now?"
"Stefan was worried that you would…"
He cuts her off. "That I would kill him? Well of course. That's what needs to be done."
"No Damon. Not Tyler. Do whatever you have to, to get Caroline and Adele back but leave Tyler out of it."
"Why? He's a werewolf. He needs to die, I'm willing to kill. It's a win, win."
"Damon please too many people are dead. Plus he's Adele's best friend. He's family to her."
"You need to stop doing that." Elena looks up at him shocked.
"Doing what?"
"Assuming that if you throw her into the conversion I'll play the good guy. Stop using her against me."
Elena sighs and looks down for a brief second because that is exactly what she was doing, she didn't expect him to call her out on it. "Be the better man Damon." She finally says looking back up at him. He looks ready to say something when the door opens and John storms in.
"Do you mind?" Asks Damon as he sends him a look over his shoulder.
"What's going on?" He asks.
Elena runs a hand over the back of her neck. "Nothing."
"It doesn't look like nothing."
"Well guess what John? Trust works both ways! Get out!" Damon says and John has the strange feeling that whatever it is it has something to do with the daughter who's been MIA all last night and all today.
"Look we don't have time for this. We need to get Caroline and Adele back." Elena reasons, confirming his thoughts.
"No we don't need to do anything. I'll take care of it." With that said Damon turns around. "First Dad duty ground this daughter; keep her here while I go save the other one."
"I'm coming with you." Elena calls moving to leave but John steps into her path with a long series of no's.
"I'm with Damon on this one…" Elena makes a move to fight him off but he restrains her easily. "Stop, you're not going anywhere. Tell me what's going on. Where is Adele?"
~x~
Adele can feel the effects of blood loss and her whole leg feels slightly numb. He shot her directly in the left foot and she knows, she knows the bullet didn't come out. It's in there and she's bleeding, she's losing way too much blood for it to be heathly. Both girls flinch back when they see the guy move. He moves to crouch in front of the cages, looking at Caroline. "So how many Vampires are in this town anyways?" He's holding some sort of gun, a green water gun.
When Caroline doesn't answer, he shoots her with it splashing water across her face and making her shirk in pain as the skin bubbles. The water is laced with vervain. "No?" He asks and Caroline kicks the cage. "Why are you doing this?"
"You're a vampire. Why not?" He asks as he's messing around with some other tool and Adele wonders what it is before he lifts it bringing it to his mouth and blowing. Toothpicks shoot out, hitting Caroline in the neck and she screams again. "Let me out!" She yells hitting the cage.
He turns to Adele, who's been silent the whole time, feeling helpless. "What about you sweetheart? Do you have an answer for me?"
Her fear and pain is pushed back slightly as her temper rises. She snarls at him. "Yeah, go fuck yourself!" She snaps and his smirk is once again cruel. "Wrong answer." He mummers moving over and to her surprise, he unlocks her cage. Silently she thinks it's a stupid idea on his part as he gets it open and her adrenaline kicks in right away. She brings her good foot up as he ducks in and kicks him right in the nose and she hears the sound of bone crunching. Startled he springs back hitting the back of his head on the top of the cage. She kicks him again and he falls back, out of the cage and she wills herself up, crawling out after him. She thinks if she can get Caroline's cage open, they can get free.
She crawls past him and is reaching for the latch when his hand wraps around her foot, the one he shoot and squeezes. She screams falling onto her back and kicking out her good foot which hits him in the ribs and she swears she heard another crack of bone and brings her foot back up ready to do it again but this time he catches her ankle throwing it to the side as he moves in-between her legs. The hand that had grabbed her foot wraps around her throat and he pulls her head up before slamming it back down but her adrenaline is so high, she barely feels it.
She swings a hand up, and her nails catch him in on the cheek, starching down his face and neck causing him to holler out and let go of her neck. She thinks for a second she has the upper hand but he's on her once again, just has fast as before, he manages her flip her over onto her stomach and with a hold on her right arm. With a single lift and pull, he takes her shoulder out of its socket and she lets out another scream causing Caroline to flinch as she yells for him to stop.
Having her finally under control, he picks her up and pushes her back into the cage where he locks her back up before wiping at the blood from his nose. He sure as hell is not going to be opening that door again. She broke his damn nose, scratched the hell out of his face and cracked a rib, thank heavens he heals quickly. He didn't expect her to have that much fight in her. He underestimated the god damn human girl, and he wasn't about to do it again.
"I should kill you but I'm not going to. I want you to suffer before I do but try that again and I won't think twice about snapping your neck." After his warning the guy leaves in a show of frustration.
Caroline crawls over to the other cage, where Adele is curled up on her side, holding her shoulder. "Adele…"
"I'm fine." She whimpers and Caroline shakes her head.
"God Adele. I've never seen anyone kick that much ass with a bullet in there foot. You broke his nose and possibly a rib. You're so stupid and I love you." She laughs slightly, trying to make the mood a bit brighter. Adele doesn't laugh. "I need to get us out of here." She whispers instead.
"No, please just stay right there. Maybe he'll leave you alone if you don't move. If you do something like that again…you heard him. He'll kill you."
Slowly Adele pushes herself to sit back up and lean against the wall where she turns her head to look at Caroline. "There is no way in hell I'm dying in here without a fight. If I die I'm taking one of them with me."
They sit quietly, only Adele's harsh breathing and Caroline's small whimpers fill the small trailer there being kept in. Adele is trying to work through her pain laced mind to come up with a plan. If she could just reach the latch of her cage, she can get it open and get Caroline out of her cage. If she could do that much, the rest she could make up on the way. She's very good at working under pressure.
Slowly, she moves towards the front of the cage and Caroline opens her eyes when she hears the movement. "Adele…"
Adele shushes her as she reaches the front. She's forced to twist her body in an uncomfortable way in order to be able to use her left arm, seeing as she couldn't move her right. Sticking her arm through the bars, she reaches for the latch. "Come on…" She mutters. She's almost got it. She just needs a few more…
"Wait…" Adele's eyes snap up and her hand freezes. "Something is happening." Caroline mutters and weakly pushes her hair behind her ears. "Stefan's here." Adele stares at Caroline. "He's got Tyler." Caroline closes her eyes, trying to listen closer. "He's trying to negotiate our release."
Caroline's eyes spring open a moment later. "Damon's here." Adele begins working for the latch again; she needs to get them out there and now. "There's more werewolves. A lot of them. There outnumbered." Caroline trails off once again and Adele pushes harder.
Caroline's eyes widen and her head picks up. Tyler stumbles into the trailer his eyes falling on them and Adele looks up, pulling her arm back through. "Tyler! Tyler! There's a latch on the doors and we can't get to it! You need to open it." He doesn't move he just stares as if trying to figure out what to do. "Tyler…Tyler please! I'm bleeding, really bad!" Adele practically begs hardly able to believe he's even thinking about not letting them out.
Finally he springs forward, unlatching Caroline's door and moving to Adele's. Once he has it open, Adele crawls out, using the chair the guy was sitting in earlier, her left arm and her right leg to pull herself up into her feet. Curling her arm into her chest and putting most of her weight on her right foot, she begins towards the trailer door as fast as she can, with Caroline and Tyler right behind her.
Stepping out onto the packed dirt, she looks around spotting Damon right away, laying on the ground. "Damon!" She yells and begins in a half limp half run over to him only to be caught by a guy two times bigger than her. "Let me go!" She yells pulling at her arms but the guy –whoever he is– is too strong for her. Looking back over towards Caroline and Tyler, she sees Caroline pressed against the trailer with Jules pointing a gun to her neck while Tyler just stands there. He turns his head and his eyes meet hers but he doesn't do anything but look to the ground and she feels a surge of anger towards her so called best friend.
She jumps as the man holding her screams and throws her forward. She falls onto her knees but doesn't stop to look back to see what happened, she can hear the other werewolf's screaming as well but her eyes are locked on Damon as she crawls towards him.
Reaching him, she grabs a hold of his shirt as he groans. "Come on Damon, get up." She mutters and his open to look at her before he pushes himself up. Grabbing a hold of her waist, he makes his way to his feet bringing her with him. He can smell blood, her blood but he's not sure where on her it's actually coming from and he's not trying to find out, his eyes are focused on the new guy to join the wreckage just like everyone else's. It's clear to them, that he's a witch.
"Elijah made a promise to Elena, I'm here to see it's upheld." Elijah's witch apparently. "You need to go." He's looking directly at Stefan, but he's talking to all of them. Damon doesn't question, he just moves forward with his arm still wrapped around Adele's waist but is stopped when she staggers. "My foot." She whimpers and he looks down spotting the wound right away. Clenching his jaw, he bends down puts an arm under her knees and an arm behind her back and lifts her up easily. She hisses in pain and he shifts her into a more comfortable position as he walks.
"How do you always do this Kitten? How do you always end up like this?" And he's taken aback when she actually laughs. "I don't know but I really need to stop wearing white." She mummers laying her head on his shoulder and he glances down. Her shirt is stained with dirt and splotches of blood, diffidently ruined. He finds it amusing that while she's bleeding out in his arms, she can find it in her to worry about her clothes.
~x~
"Alright…this is going to hurt." He says but she doesn't acknowledge the comment. She stays still; laying back on the table with her bad arm clenched her to her chest and the other arm thrown across her face. He's decided to focus on her foot and get the bullet out. He's astonished she hasn't passed out by now from blood loss seeing as the blood is still coming but she's fully awake, fully aware of everything around her.
He'd gotten her foot out of the boot with little difficulty and on the count of three, he digs two fingers into the wound and flinches as she screams and sits up. He gets the bullet and she falls back down her screams turning to small whimpers. Closing her eyes, she feels him wrapping something around her foot before he's urging her to sit up and she wants to tell him to get lost and let her be because she didn't want any more pain but she knows he has to do this so slowly she sits up.
She sits stiffly as he cuts up the middle of her shirt and pushes it from her left shoulder and then her right where she winces slightly. She half expected a snarky comment from him about being in only her jeans and bra but he's not in his regular Damon mood as he stays silent while grabbing a hold her elbow before putting his other hand on her forearm. "Ready?" He asks but before she answers he lifts her arm and pushes it back popping it back into place and she gives off a weird half yell half shirk noises while squeezing her eyes shut.
Once again before she can say anything and before she even realized what he did, he's pushing his bleeding wrist to her lips and she's forced to take a few gulps before she pushes his arm away with a glare.
"I guess all there's left for you to do if take a shower. Get that blood and dirt off you." Adele sighs and shakes her head pushing herself to the very edge of the table.
"I want to go home Damon."
He pauses in picking up the bloody rags next to them but resuming with only the simple reply of "Oh." She watches him clean up before he looks at her. "I'll go get you a shirt." He disappears from the room and she sighs again, sliding off the table and wincing at the soreness of her foot. It might be all healed from the blood Damon gave her but that didn't mean it wouldn't be sore for the next few days.
She could stay but she has a feeling all they would end up doing is fighting or ignoring each other, they we're in one of those moods and she still didn't understand his outburst from this morning. It still hurt and it still pissed her off.
When he comes back, it's not with one of her shirts; it's with one of his. She takes it from him with a muttered thanks and slips it on slowly before she realizes he also has a pair of her flip flops has well. Reaching down, she pulls off her other boot, kind of disappointed she decided to wear them today. She loved those boots.
She slips the flip flops on before following Damon out the door of the house and towards his car. "Just drop me off at Caroline's. My car is there." He nods and looks as though he wants to say something buts hold back and she doesn't push.
~x~
He dropped her off, just like she wanted him to but she didn't go home like she told him she was going to. She drove past home and found herself at Michael's apartment. The only reason she decided to go was because she knew Michael wasn't there. He was working and it gave her a chance to finally talk to Jasmine. Something she should have done when she first agreed to meet with James.
Walking into the living room of the apartment, she finds Jasmine on the couch watching some reality T.V show with Willy who is no longer purple in her lap. "Hey…" Jasmine jumps ten feet in the air causing Willy to fall from her lap and beside her on the couch. Jasmine turns, her green eyes wide. "Oh my god…what happened to you?"
Adele wonders how she knows something happened and as if reading her thoughts Jasmine stands up. "You have blood smeared on your neck, and you have blood on your face as well. That's Damon's shirt and you look like you're in pain. What happened?"
Adele limps over to the couch and plops down bringing her sore foot up to rest on the coffee table. "Where do I start? How about with yesterday. I had to take care of a vampire who got bitten by a werewolf, she went after Elena, I got knocked out and while knocked out I had the weirdest dream in the history of weird dreams.
Then there's today where I woke up and the first thing that happens is Damon jumping down my throat about me expecting him to be someone he's not. I then went to Caroline's where Tyler had found out about Mason and how Damon killed him. I went shopping with Caroline which was fine, it was fun, I had a good time until we we're attacked and I was once again knocked out. I woke up and we we're locked in cages in some trailer in the middle of the woods. Turns out we were kidnapped by a psycho werewolf that wanted Tyler. I was shot, in the foot and when the guy tried to come into my cage I attacked him, ended up getting my shoulder dislocated but everything is good now because Damon healed me with his magic healing vampire blood, now I just have to make sure I don't die in the next twenty four hours."
Jasmine is stunned, so shocked she can't find anything to say not that she needed to at that moment as Adele mutters another comment. "Shouldn't be too hard right? Its only one day." Sarcasm laces every word and Jasmine swallows. "Oh and I met with James a few days ago." Adele throws out there shocking Jasmine even more.
There are a few minutes of nothing but silence as Jasmine tries to find words. Sure she hadn't seen or talked to Adele in a few days but she sure as hell never expected Adele to go through so much in that small amount of time, not that she could've stopped it if she was around but it makes her feel kind of guilty because while she was having an amazing time cooped up in this apartment with Michael, Adele was out almost dying every night.
"Wait a minute…you met with James?" She exclaims as she finally realizes the last thing Adele said and Adele nods.
"I needed to figure out what he wanted Jasmine. I couldn't run and hide."
"Well then…what did he want?" Adele finally turns to look at Jasmine and she had never seen her friend with such a serious look in her blue eyes. The look scared her almost as much as when Adele looked mad. Almost. "He wants me to join his Buffy fan club." The comment is sarcastic but the meaning behind it is clear as day. "He wants you to join his….army of vampire hunters?"
"Yep and when I told him hell no he told me I would come to see it his way. Still wondering exactly what that means."
"Did…did he say anything about me?"
"Yes. He says he wasn't following you to kill you. He just wanted to know where I was and he knew you would lead him to me."
"And I did. I did exactly that. Adele I'm so sorry." Jasmine breaths and Adele rolls her eyes. "Don't be. He would've found me with or without you. I just hope he's not planning to hurt anyone."
~x~
As she walks through the door of her house, the first person she sees is John walking up the stairs but upon hearing the door open, he stops and turns. Relief flashes across his face and Adele has to stop herself from scowling at him. "Adele…I'm so glad you're okay."
She closes the door, eyeing him cautiously. "Oh yeah. I'm sure you are."
"I am. I know it might be hard for you to believe with everything I've done but I do care, I don't want anything to happen to you…" He trails off as Adele holds up hand.
"Listen John. I've had a really bad couple nights and I don't want to hear any of your bullshit about caring. You might have had a little bit to do with making me but you're not my father. My father's dead so just save your 'I care about you and I want to help crap' at this point; I have every right in the world to tell you to get lost." She leaves him staring after her as she walks past the stairs. She realizes that might have been a little harsh but none of what she said was a lie and she wasn't feeling up to listening to him talk about caring.
Coming into the kitchen, she goes to the fridge and yanks it open grabbing a water bottle. She drinks half of it before putting it back and turning around where she met with the sight of Stefan and Elena watching her. "That was…mean." Stefan finally speaks up having heard everything Adele said to John and Adele scoffs. "That was true and I'm fine by the way. I didn't shot tonight or anything. Thanks for your concern." Stefan sends her a sheepish smile which causes her to shake her head.
"Hey, I need a favor." He tells both Gilberts and they wait for him to explain.
~x~
She shows up a couple minutes after Stefan, Bonnie and Elena, having had to take a shower to rid the blood and dirt from her body not to mention the 20 minutes of just standing there staring at the tile wall. The warm water did nothing to relive the soreness from her body.
Coming up the porch steps she notices the three girls hugging and Caroline crying. She couldn't blame her. Today had been a nightmare and when Tyler finally showed up, he hesitated in letting them out, in helping them. Adele felt betrayed by his actions but it must be worse for Caroline who had grown close –and not in the sense of just friends– to him in the past couple weeks. Adele felt like she could cry as well but she doesn't want to. She's sick off all the crying.
"What's up with the tears? Don't you think we've had enough of those for one night?" She teases and Caroline's head snaps up, her eyes meeting Adele's and Adele sends her a small smile telling her that she's perfectly fine and Caroline chokes on a sob breaking away from Bonnie and Elena to run to her where she throws her arms around her and hugs her tightly. Adele hugs her back just as tightly, her smile dropping. She ignores the soreness and stiffness of her muscles that are protesting against the suffocating hug all while willing away the tears.
Pulling back, she smiles at Caroline again before turning to Elena and Bonnie who have come up beside them. Elena finally hugs her, unlike before where she just stared like she was taking her in and making sure she was alright. Adele pulls away from her as well and her eyes find Bonnie's. "I'm glad you're okay." Adele nods and smiles her thanks. It's amazing how far the two of them have come in such a short amount of time. Years of hatred are almost completely forgotten. Almost but not quite.
"Are you…okay?" Her eyes lift to Caroline and she lets out a long breath before shrugging. "Sure. I'm fine but you know…for how long?"
~x~
"I need a distraction." Damon declares as he leans back in the tub full of warm water and bubbles and away from Andie Starr, who he had called over not too long ago. "You can booty call me any time you want." Her tone is light and teasing but Damon gets the feeling that she's completely serious, which works well in his favor.
"You see…" Damon leans over the side of the tub to grab the glass of wine from the floor before sinking back into the water. "The thing is Miss…sexy reporter girl I have a problem I need help with. It's really messing with my mind."
"Oh. Tell me about it?"
"I'm in love with a woman I can never have." Her smile drops but Damon can't bring himself to feel guilty. She had asked and he told her. She leans forward taking the glass from his hand. "I knew it." She leans back again. "I know how to pick 'em. So why can't you have her? She's with another man I assume?"
"No not exactly. She loves her fiancé who is dead." Andie's expression turns from slightly bitter to shocked. "But that's not the point. The point is, is I'm in love with her and it's driving me crazy. I'm not in control."
"What? You don't trust yourself around her?" She jokes but Damon's not laughing.
"I don't trust myself around anyone Andie. I'm bad. I do things…"
"Oh…" Andie giggles but once again he's not laughing and she sees this, her giggling subsiding as she stares at him, noticing the intense look in his blue eyes.
"I kill people." She waits for him to tell her he's joking but after a few seconds she realizes he's not and she frowns, her heart rate speeding up and she jerks back as he leans forward grabbing her by the legs and pulling her forward. She catches his eye and can't look away. "Don't be afraid. You're okay."
All the fear she began to feel is gone and she blinks leaning back once again as he lets her go. "Why do you kill people?"
"Because I like it, it's in my nature. It's who I am." Even to him it sounds more like a well-rehearsed line then the truth but Andie nods, accepting his answer. "But then I have to stay together to help protect someone she cares about…someone we both care about and she wants me to be a better man so I can't be who I am."
"If you think you're that guy…that guy who kills people because he likes, because it's his nature then you're a freaking idiot!" Her words replay over and over in his head. It is who he is. It's who he's always been. He knows it is. So why doesn't he truly believe it? "You see the problem I'm having Andie?"
"Well…maybe this is who you are now. Love does that Damon, it changes us."
That's not what he wanted to hear. Not at all. "Just stop talking." Sitting up, he pulls her forward again. "Just kiss me. Be my distraction." And he kisses her, a long and slightly sloppy kiss that has her arching into him before his lips move to her neck. Before he can stop himself, his fangs grow and the veins under his eyes begin to pulse. He bites down, harder than actually necessary and she jerks in his arms, trying to push him away as the bite stings for the first few seconds before she melts into him, closing her eyes and leaning her head back, allowing him better access because it feels…strangely good.
