Chapter 29 BF
Stefan moaned as Damon circled his hips inside of him.
"Uh..." He drooled and Damon ran his nose across his cheek softly.
"Love you." Damon whispered as he kissed him deeply, moving his manhood inside as they both gyrated against each other.
"Damon…" Stefan panted and tilted his throat for a bite.
Damon obliged, taking just a mouthful. Their bodies were alive with sensation to the point where they were unaware of the chaos surrounding them. All they could feel was their intense love and joining. Stefan struggled with tears as he felt Damon climax inside of him and become fused again. This time he wasn't afraid. This time he welcomed the thought of them being joined together for at least an hour while their bodies melted and sealed their union. He let out a sigh of utter contentment and smiled as Damon lay his face in at his neck. Sweat was dripping down off of Damon's back from the exertion and Stefan wanted to scent him so badly.
Want to lick you
He channelled, wondering why after a few seconds that Damon didn't channel back. Stefan gave a small whine of request and Damon's whole body tensed as though he'd been electrocuted. Stefan wrapped his arms and legs around him, cradling him in concern.
Hot Stefan!
Damon channelled and Stefan pulled his face back to look at him and saw the red glowing veins growing into his neck. He panted and Stefan's eyes widened. This had happened before. When? When they were…when they mated again last year. When they were in the basement and Damon had been terrified.
Wait.
Where the hell were they? What was happening? Stefan gasped, realising that he had no idea and he looked around wildly, becoming aware of all of the other mates clawing at themselves in fear of the veins. They were covered too.
Damon!
He channelled in fear. The spell, this must be the spell, but, what had happened? Why couldn't he remember anything? He'd been fighting with Damon about Bonnie saying he was pregnant and then…nothing.
"Oh god!" He cried out and Damon groaned and tried not to claw at himself.
"It's ok, it's ok, remember? They don't get any hotter. It's for me." Stefan tried to sound soothing as the veins crept into Damon's face.
Damon took a deep breath.
Damon are you back with me?
Damon nodded and calmed, beginning to look around too.
What's happening?
The spell.
Help…!
Damon suddenly fell forward and cried out and Stefan held him and cried out too.
No, no, I can't let it go…
What's happening Damon?
Stefan held him protectively, sensing the presence of the creature around them, moving along the walls like a snake. He bore his fangs and growled at it to stay away.
"Help! Bonnie!" Stefan called out, afraid and suddenly there was motion.
They were all there, all of his friends. Elena stopped short, wide eyed and called for Bonnie.
"Bonnie, Damon's…he's…" She seemed to be speaking in slow motion and Stefan squinted trying to listen harder when he felt heat grow up his body now.
The feeling brought back memories of last year. He'd had the red veins grow on him twice to seal them together. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe through it but he felt trapped and scared and Damon was shaking fiercely and channelling pain. He opened his mouth to call for Bonnie again when he felt a surge of energy force his mouth open. Damon opened his mouth with a choke too and let out gold dust.
Elena began to weep and Bonnie chanted, trying to slow the spell down somehow. It didn't seem to be working.
"Just find your focus Bonnie, breathe." Rick said but there was so much urgency in his tone that she couldn't comply.
They were all going to die right in front of her. Everyone but Klaus. She looked to him. He was now writhing on the floor but wasn't screaming anymore.
"Bonnie!" He gasped and she went to him. "Link them to me." He groaned and looked at her as though he couldn't see her properly.
"What?"
"I am immortal. Link their lives to me and they won't die." He struggled to say and the wheels in her head began to turn.
"How do I..?"
"Damon's blood. Let me drink it." He demanded and she pulled out the small vile of Damon's mated blood. "The blood…" He cried out and panted for a second, letting some energy out of his mouth in a burp motion. "…the blood was used as a catalyst."
She nodded as he drank it down in one gulp.
"It's central to the spell linking with them."
"Because Damon's blood brought all of you here? But it didn't bring you." Caroline appeared at their side and Klaus shook his head stiffly.
"I was already on my way here." He grunted. "I felt the pull."
"Tie him to me and they will all be connected to me." He squeezed her wrist and she nodded and began to chant.
She'd never done a spell like this before . The only similar spell had been to split Damon's soul and link them together so he could live again. She's began to sweat as she frantically combined a few other spells she knew that might accomplish the task with elements of that one. She began to chant and Klaus's eyes glazed over.
She fell back as Klaus screamed and arched so high that his body looked macabre. Energy burst out of his mouth like a laser beam and they all moved out of the way.
"Did it work?" Caroline shouted and Bonnie shook her head, unsure.
She looked over to Stefan who was still venting energy through his mouth. Damon was now slumped on top of him, unmoving. She held her breath as she watched the energy all connect in the air, leaving a trail from their bodies up into the air, where it formed a solid structure and them tapered off into tendrils at the top.
"It looks like a tree." Elena gasped and Bonnie clicked.
"A tree? A tree!" She shouted and Caroline looked at her confused.
"Like the family trees?" She asked and Bonnie nodded and gritted her teeth.
"Trees belong in the ground!" She yelled and moved back to Klaus dropping onto her hands and knees and beginning her focus to melt her hands into the wooden floor.
"What's she doing?" Tyler yelled and Caroline shook her head.
"She's trying to become part of the wood so she can glue them to it and not to the wolf." Elena said and frantically looked around. "We need, elements – water, fire, earth…quickly!"
"Wolf?" Tyler asked and Caroline shoved him, blurring away to find those things.
Elena ran over to Stefan and tried to tell him what was happening. Stefan was unresponsive though, his body arching up slowly as he was emptied of energy.
"Please hold on, please!" She begged and Damon lifted his head and looked down at Stefan's face, groggily.
He could feel that Stefan was dying and he opened his mouth instinctively and sealed it over Stefan's in a kiss. The energy was blocked by the motion and Stefan began to struggle as though he was a bottle needing to be uncorked. Elena nodded and stepped back. Damon was buying time. She looked around to Bonnie, who's hand were now in the floor.
"Elena!" She called, not seeing her at all. "Help!"
Elena ran over and touched her shoulder, immediately feeling an electric shock. Bonnie looked at her, now focussing and pulled one hand out of the floor and grabbed Klaus's arm. He shuddered violently but she held on as she screamed, her face beginning to pulse with veins too. Elena grabbed Bonnie's shoulder as Caroline appeared with a plant. Elena dove her free hand into the earth in the pot and gasped as she felt the life in the soil, it made her feel as though she might pop.
"Grab me!" She managed to cry out and Caroline grabbed her shoulder and reached for Tyler.
Tyler and Rick brought a bowl of water and a candle and one by one they all touched their element and connected with each other's bodies. They all felt as though they were being ripped apart and cried out.
"Hold on!" Bonnie yelled and the glowing tree shape of dust began to lower from the ceiling.
Elena panted and tried not to blackout as they watched it slowly come down to rest on the floor behind Stefan and Damon, glowing and spreading the roots as it joined all of their bodies together and went down into the wooden floor where Bonnie was anchored.
"Go back to hell!" Bonnie screamed and Elena looked to her to see a shadow blurring around her.
She kept her hold on Bonnie tight so it wouldn't be broken and she could swear that she felt the wolf spirit graze against her, even snap its fangs at her. She closed her eyes and held stiff. There was a loud roar from Klaus and then suddenly nothing. Elena opened her eyes and saw that all of the gold dust was gone. The mates all lay collapsed against each other and quiet.
"Bonnie..?" She croaked, feeling her throat raw from yelling and Bonnie hung her head and tried to breathe.
Bonnie fell forward and collapsed and Elena broke contact with her shoulder in surprise and reached out for her. Everyone looked at each other and slowly removed their hands.
"Did it work?" Tyler panted.
"Bonnie!" Caroline moved to Elena's side to check her and Bonnie opened her eyes.
"Check them." Bonnie whispered and Caroline blurred over to the mates, checking them all and dashing to Stefan and Damon.
Stefan and Damon looked white as sheets and were holding each other protectively. She reached down calling to them and touched the skin of Damon's back and Stefan opened his eyes a crack.
"Thank god, Stefan!" She exclaimed and he closed his eyes again. "They're alive!"
Bonnie sat up slowly and looked around, at all of her friends and the remains of plants, water and candles now abandoned at their feet.
"We did it." She smiled in amazement and Rick helped her from the floor. "Together, we did it."
"What did you do?" Rick asked and she leaned against him unsteadily, feeling as though she couldn't trust her feet.
"My magic wasn't helping, so I had to use the earth magic instead. Once I glued them to Klaus, I used him to anchor the whole bloodline into the earth through the floor."
"You planted them into the earth."
"Yeah. Their bodies were made to be a conduit between their own life force and the wolf's, so she could extract it from them. I redirected their channel of energy back into the nature, where it should have been."
"We all come from the earth." He nodded and rubbed her back as she nodded.
"What wolf?" Tyler looked to her and she realised she hadn't told the others whom their real foe was.
"She can't hurt them anymore. They're part of the earth again." She said and wobbled on her feet again.
"Alright, question time later." Rick reached down and gathered her in his arms as she closed her eyes and sagged into him. "Tyler, check them all out."
Tyler moved over and went to Nathan first. Nathan was poorly but alive and let out of breath of thanks. The humans also seemed to be alive but unconscious. At least they'd made it through. Now that the spell was over and they were all going to live, Tyler suddenly became increasingly aware of the fact that they were all naked and post coital. He looked up to Caroline and she nodded in agreement. They blurred away to fetch blankets for them.
Klaus groaned and opened his eyes. He felt dreadful but he could hear the hearts of the mates beating and he sat up, relieved. He looked over at Elizabeth and tried to stand, but couldn't. He wasn't used to having his body fail and it infuriated him. He tried a couple of times and fell back down to the floor with a growl of anger. Elena appeared at his side and helped him up, much to his astonishment. They looked at each other but didn't speak and she led him over, holding him around his back to Elizabeth. He knelt down to rest and shoved Jack's body from her, so he could check her. Jack fell aside easily and rolled onto his back. Elizabeth was breathing but looked as if she was at death's door.
"I'm here love. I won't leave you." He kissed her hand as he stroked the hair from her sweat covered forehead.
"Klaus." Elena croaked and he ignored her as he looked down at Elizabeth's face again. "Klaus."
"What?" He huffed in annoyance and looked at her.
She was pale and anxious and he frowned. She indicated towards Jack and he followed her line of vision. Jack was grey. He sat up immediately, feeling fear begin to pull at his insides and pulled Jack to him, checking.
"Is he dead?" Elena croaked, looking back at Elizabeth and Klaus shook him.
"No…no..." He mumbled in fear and bit into his wrist to pour blood down Jack's throat.
"It won't work." Elena said, tearing up.
Klaus frantically shook the body as he began to panic. Jack was dead as a doorknob, which meant that Elizabeth would die too.
"No!" He cried and dropped the body, sweeping Elizabeth into his arms as he frantically listened to her heart and tried to rouse her.
Elena stepped back sadly and sat down on the sofa as Caroline attended to covering the other mates in blankets. Elena could see Stefan and Damon had survived as they were holding each other and breathing still. She felt completely empty and exhausted, too exhausted to check on them as she could see they were alive. Caroline leaned over another of the mated pairs and froze, looking back at Elena with wide eyes.
"Lena…" She gulped and Elena looked down at the now dead bodies.
"They're gone." She whispered and Caroline chewed her lip and sat down next to them as she fought tears. "At least they went together." Elena mumbled and looked to Elizabeth again as Klaus began to weep and rock her in his arms.
Elizabeth would have a horrible death – just like Damon had feared when Stefan had been killed. Klaus looked over to her.
"The witch. The witch can bring him back like she did with Stefan!"
"No." Elena shook her head feeling numb and he roared and bore his fangs at her. "It won't work. They have to be siblings or parent and child." Elena explained grieved.
"We are all family now." Klaus said shakily but he knew, simply because they'd been linked and shared a common ancestor, didn't mean that they were close enough related in terms of their blood work, to have such a spell be successful.
Their blood shared common traits and was connected but not as closely as that of immediate human family and that was what the spell worked on – the human blood ties. He buried his face in at her neck and wept as Elena lay down on the sofa and watched as Caroline and Tyler tried to make those alive comfortable. She closed her eyes and gave into sleep.
When she opened them again she'd been asleep for hours as some of the mates had been moved out of the lounge and the lounge had been tidied somewhat. She sat up, blinking away sleep and looked around. Stefan and Damon were still lying where they'd been, but Caroline had built a nest of blankets around them, hoping to make them feel safe. She stood up and went over to them, peeling back the blankets to see their faces. Damon had his face pressed into the curve of Stefan's neck and Stefan was holding him with all of his limbs as though someone would come and try and take him from his embrace.
She called to him gently and he opened his eyes and looked at her.
"You're going to be ok." She said soothingly and reached out to touch his forehead when he growled weakly and squeezed Damon to him.
Damon moved a little in response and snuggled into his embrace but didn't waken. Elena pulled back and Stefan continued to warn her with his teeth not to touch them. Were they going to stay like animals now? She gulped and looked up when she heard someone enter.
"Nathan?" She said in surprise.
Nathan was dressed and although looked like he had a really bad flu, was definitely thinking like a human again.
"Hey. Don't touch them. They'll hurt you." He warned and moved over gradually to her.
She stood up to help steady him. He had bottles of their blood to feed them with.
"How did you know?" She asked surprised and he gave a small smirk.
"They're my pack." He advised and she raised her eyebrows but didn't know what to say. "I'll tend to them. They still know me as theirs."
"Are they going to stay this way?" She held herself and he shrugged sadly. "What about you?"
"I woke up and was me again." He said and she stepped back as he got down on his hands and knees and grunted at Stefan.
Stefan opened his eyes and looked at him. He seemed confused for a moment and then he let out the tiniest of whines. Nathan moved over and licked Stefan's cheek as Elena watched aghast. She supposed it made sense. Nathan knew how to interact with them as a wolf and now that he was back to thinking human, he could use that knowledge to communicate with them even if no one else could. It pained her to watch a virtual stranger care for the men she loved, but it had to be this way for now.
Nathan supported Stefan's head as he fed him from the bottle. Stefan grimaced and turned his head away and Nathan looked at her confused.
"His is the other bottle, with the other cap." She advised and sat down, realising she could still be of some assistance after all. "That one is his own blood."
"Oh." Nathan sighed in surprise and changed the bottle over.
Stefan purred and gyrated slightly as he drank from the new bottle and Nathan cooed at him gently.
"How much do you remember?" Elena chanced at asking as he lay Stefan back down and rubbed their faces together.
"Everything." He admitted and she chewed her lip and blushed. "I remember everything."
"I'm sorry." It was all she could think of to say and he nodded but didn't look at her.
He stood up to go around and feed Damon now, when she caught his arm gently.
"Please, I need to look after them too." She said and he frowned, unsure whether it was wise. "Please. Damon trusts me."
She took the bottle from his hands and he sat next to her as she stroked her hands down Damon's back. Stefan had fallen asleep with the feed and so wasn't a problem. Damon turned his face towards her but couldn't quite open his eyes.
"It's me." She whispered soothingly and slid her hand under his neck to tilt him slightly.
He didn't even put up resistance as he lay limply in her embrace. Nathan didn't like that. Damon should still be alert and thinking of predators. He found himself letting out a small growl at that and Elena looked to him.
"It's nothing. Sorry." He reassured her and she turned back to Damon.
She put the bottle to his lips and he opened them to accept the elixir. She fed him very slowly as he kept dribbling blood down his chin.
"He's so weak." She mumbled, worriedly and Nathan nodded.
Damon spilled more blood from his mouth and she fretted. Nathan rubbed her back.
"May I?" He asked and she nodded regretfully as he slid in and took over.
He leaned down and rubbed their faces together, cooing at Damon to waken. Damon frowned and grumbled and Nathan nipped his chin and nose playfully, until Damon opened his eyes a crack. Nathan licked his cheek and grunted and Damon opened his mouth properly as a bottle was placed to his lips again. This time he drank properly, sighing and pawing at Stefan's body underneath him as he made the connection between the bottle and his food source. Once the bottle was empty Nathan nudged Damon's nose with his and Damon sighed and turned his face away, curling into Stefan once more and Nathan sat back.
"Thank you." Elena said as Nathan helped her up onto their feet again.
"They're my family, one way or the other." He gave a tight smile and they moved away to let them sleep.
"Where is everyone else?" She asked as they entered the kitchen and Nathan turned the percolator on.
"Bonnie is at home. She was pretty beaten up by the spell I guess. The teacher guy took her. Ty is burying Mike." Nathan paused and swallowed sadly and she sighed and nodded. "Uh…" He struggled to continue through his grief, "…Caroline took the rest of the mates to their rooms to sleep."
"The humans?"
"They woke up like me and were pretty freaked out. I got them some clothes and they headed for the hills."
"You just let them go?" She asked in surprise and he looked at her sternly.
"They're not prisoners. None of us are." He said coldly and she looked to the ground, embarrassed at having been so indelicate.
Nathan huffed and began to prepare mugs for them as they sat in silence.
"The sheriff is going to keep tabs. Once everything has calmed down, I'll find them and talk to them. Explain what happened."
She nodded.
"What about you?"
"I'm not going anywhere." He said simply. "I can't leave them yet. They need me."
"Don't you have people back home? Shouldn't you call somebody?" She asked, accepting the coffee gratefully as he sat down next to her.
"No." He said and she sighed.
"Wait a minute…where's Klaus? Elizabeth?" She opened her eyes wide in alarm as she remembered and Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"It's ok. Elizabeth is fine. Klaus took her to rest in one of the bedrooms."
"But, her mate died, she has to drink from another mate or she'll die!"
"It's ok. Anne did it."
"Anne?"
"She woke up like me and knew what to do. She fed her and she's fine."
"But, what about Michael? Is he ok?" She asked and he frowned. "Anne's mate." She clarified and he nodded.
"They're pre-occupied in their room since, but I think they're ok." He said and Elena relaxed finally and slumped in her chair.
"What are we going to do?"
"I guess we'll figure it out once everyone is thinking human again." He sighed and she nodded.
All that was left for them to do now was to wait.
