The Tragedy of Being a Whitmore
Chapter Ten: The Sacrifice
March 28, 2010
"Rise and shine, little witch." Damon's lips brushed up against Amelia's ear as he whispered to her.
"No…" Amelia moaned, protesting, and grabbing onto the sheets.
Damon yanked the blankets off of her easily, leaving her shivering in shorts and a tank top. "Cute pjs." He smirked at her.
Amelia muttered obscenities at him as she slammed the bathroom door shut and got in the shower.
After she had finished getting ready, Damon rode in the passenger seat with her over to Elena's house. "Why're we coming here again?" She questioned as she pulled into the driveway.
Stefan met them on the porch and he knocked on the door. A moment later, Elena opened it and Stefan said, "Hey, uh, can we talk?"
"Why?" Elena asked warily.
"We went to see Katherine." Damon explained.
Amelia glanced at him in surprise as Elena stepped aside, "Come on in." She said reluctantly.
Stefan and Damon explained what Katherine had said. "You don't actually believe her, do you?" Amelia protested, doubting that Katherine would just skip off into the sunset. "See, this is why we should have just killed her!"
"No, of course not. We just want the moonstone." Damon said, tossing an orange from the fruit bowl around.
"According to Rose's friend Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break." Stefan explained.
"No spell, no doppelgänger sacrifice, ergo you live." Damon broke it down into simple terms for them.
"How do you destroy it?" Elena asked.
"By releasing it from the moonstone." Stefan explained.
"How do you guys even know this is gonna work?" Elena protested.
"'Cause we have a crafty witch on our side." Damon smirked, throwing his arm around Amelia.
"You never even asked me so I assume you discussed it with Bonnie?" Amelia asked, irritated.
"She agreed to do anything she could to help us." Stefan agreed.
"It's Katherine who has the moonstone - she's not gonna give it to you." Amelia protested.
"We're gonna get it from her." Stefan disagreed.
"Well, what he means to say, is that we will pry it from her cold, dead hand if we have to." Damon said.
"Bonnie and Amelia just need to find a way to release the seal long enough for us to get in, and get out in time for them to return it." Stefan told her.
Amelia protested. "You realize that the last time we tried this Sheila died, right?"
"By we, I assume you mean Bonnie and Sheila because you refused to participate, remember?" Damon goaded her.
"Yes, and for good reason." Amelia glared at him, officially pissed off. "Sheila was a more powerful witch than I'll ever be. This would be much easier if I just incapacitated her, and walked out with the moonstone - the one that I told you not to leave in there with her - remember?"
"No, no, no. I don't think so." Damon protested, putting his lips together and shaking his head.
"Why not?" Amelia asked, crossing her arms.
"Because, you can't take on Katherine by yourself! She'll destroy you - and we won't be able to help." Damon argued, annoyed that she had even suggested it.
"I can take care of myself." She argued, muttering, "Dick," under her breath.
"Hey! I heard that." Damon grumbled.
Elena interjected, "Wow, I mean, it sounds like you guys already have it all planned out."
"Yep, we're awesome." Damon whispered confidently.
"Except for one thing…I don't want you to do it." Elena said. All three of them stared at her in confusion.
Stefan and Damon exchanged glances. "What are you talking about, Elena? We don't have a choice." Stefan asked, confused.
"What about Klaus?" Elena asked.
"We'll find him, right after we get the moonstone." Stefan explained, as if it were that simple.
"Is that before or after he kills everyone that I care about, including the three of you?" Elena questioned, looking at her friends.
"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone, we can save your life." Stefan explained, exasperated.
"Yeah, if…" Amelia muttered and Damon elbowed her.
"I know, everybody keeps saying that." Elena said, walking away.
Damon and Stefan left, and after much convincing, Elena and Amelia skipped school, driving to the Salvatore Boarding House instead.
"Elena, will you please just tell me what you need help with?" Amelia groaned from the passenger seat.
"I told you, I'll explain everything in a minute." Elena repeated, unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping out of the car. The pair walked inside, Elena not bothering to knock.
Rose came out to greet them, tying up her robe."It's not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning - woah." She said, realizing that they were not Damon. "Sorry, I thought you were -."
"I, uh, sorry, I-." Elena stuttered, refusing to look at Rose.
Amelia felt so irrationally hurt. She knew that Damon had the right to sleep with whoever he wanted to - it's not like they were together - but, it still hurt.
"Nope! I'm out." Amelia decided, turing to leave.
Elena grasped onto her arm with a surprisingly strong grip. "No, Amelia, you promised!"
Amelia groaned and turned back around.
Rose looked at her amused. "There's no one else here." She told Elena.
"Actually, I came to talk to you." Elena said awkwardly, still not looking at her.
"Then I should probably get dressed." Rose chuckled awkwardly, heading up the stairs.
Amelia tried not to think about her returning to Damon's room for her clothes.
Finally, she returned in a pair of jeans and a sleeveless top that she looked really good in.
"It's a bad idea." Rose said after Elena had told her plan.
"No, it's not. From what Stefan told me, your friend Slater obviously has more information about Klaus. And you and Damon just gave up before you got it." Elena argued.
"Because somebody blew up a coffee shop with us in it." Rose argued.
"There's more to learn. We just have to find a way to learn it." Elena tried to convince her.
"Why are you coming to me with this?" Rose asked, confused.
Elena shrugged. "Because you owe me. One word from me, and Damon and Stefan could have killed you for kidnapping me."
"Or, maybe it's because you know that they wouldn't want you doing this." Amelia interjected, crossing her arms.
"And their moonstone caper gives you the chance to sneak away." Rose realized.
Elena paused, not liking that they had figured her out. "We're having a disagreement, okay? They're willing to risk everyone that I love, and I'm not." She explained.
"They're just trying to protect you." Rose said.
"And you've proven that you can't care less whether I'm protected or not. So, we're back to you taking me to Slater." Elena persuaded.
"What exactly do you hope to achieve by this?" Rose asked her, sitting down next to Elena.
"How would you like to be able to walk during the daylight?" Elena asked Rose, looking at Amelia pleadingly.
Amelia gaped at her. What the hell, Elena?
She imagined Damon and Rose, walking on the beach, holding hands as the gulls called all around them. The sun illuminating the water droplets on Damon's skin, his damp, messy hair blowing in the breeze…
Rose glanced at Amelia before turning back to Elena. "I've been a slave to shadows for five hundred years. What do you think?" She asked her sarcastically.
"I think I know a witch who's willing to do whatever it takes to help." Elena negotiated, looking meaningfully at Amelia. "If you're willing to make a deal."
Amelia couldn't help but notice the uncanny resemblance between Elena and Katherine in that moment.
Elena looked at Amelia pleadingly. "Amelia? Are you in?" She asked.
Amelia thought about how they could possibly be in danger, but then she thought about how Damon had said she couldn't protect herself earlier, and how pissed off he would be when he found out what they had done… The image of Rose and Damon… together… kissing as they tried to get closer to each other… sealed the deal.
"Sure, okay." She agreed, feeling reckless.
The ride to Richmond was mostly silent. Amelia sat in the back, catching up on homework as Rose drove her tinted SUV.
Damon had sent her a text, asking where she was so she could help them with the plan, but she ignored it.
Elena tried to start a conversation with Amelia, but she kept blowing her off with one-worded answers, annoyed that she had made her promise to help her to begin with. She would be more careful with her words around Elena from now on.
After a few hours, they pulled into an indoor parking garage. The two teens followed Rose as she led the way up several sketchy flights of stairs, until she knocked on a wooden door that most of the paint had peeled off of. "Slater! Slater, it's Rose, open up!" Rose hollered in her British accent, banging on the door. Rose turned to look at the girls. "He's not home, sorry." She said, trying to get out of their agreement.
Elena put her hand up. "Mnm, no. We didn't come all the way out here for nothing." She argued.
Rose rolled her eyes, but she applied pressure on the doors until they burst open, breaking the chain that had been used to tie the together. Amelia thought that was very strange. How had Slater left if the doors were chained from the inside?
"After you…" Rose told Elena.
Amelia frowned at Rose's selfish behavior and walked in ahead of Elena, ready to protect her from any threat that came their way. "Slater?" Rose called out again, moving deeper into the spacious apartment. "I don't think he's going to be much help." Rose called to them. Elena and Amelia exchanged a brief look before hurrying over to Rose. They found a dead, staked vampire laying on the ground, who must have once been Slater.
Elena sighed, frustrated, and Rose pulled his body off somewhere. Amelia thought that it was strange she had been to upset over Trevor, but seemed to have no remorse for Slater.
"It looks like whoever blew up the coffee shop found him and killed him for his information." Elena said, leafing through stacks of paper on his computer desk.
"Yeah, probably to stop him from helping people like us." Amelia chimed in, peering over Elena's shoulder at the stacks.
"The guy was a vampire almanac. Knowing too much information just bit him in the ass." Rose stated.
Amelia gasped as Rose threw open the curtains. "What are you doing?" She asked, concerned.
"Tempered glass. U.V. rays can't penetrate." Rose explained. "But glad to know you care so much." She winked at her.
Amelia couldn't help chuckling. She had to admit, Rose was funny.
"I used to just come here and watch the day." Rose admitted, looking out the window.
Elena went back to shuffling through papers.
"I'm sorry about Slater." Amelia told her sincerely, thinking about when Sheila had died.
"Any luck?" Rose asked, changing the subject.
Elena shook her head. "Um, it's password protected, I can't get in." She said, trying to crack the code.
"No, that's just fine. Le-let's just go." Rose said.
All three of them whirled around as they heard a noise in the other room.
"Stay here." Rose told them, going to investigate.
Amelia stood near her friend protectively, on high alert. She suddenly wondered how Stefan would react if she let anything happen to her.
"Alice?" They heard Rose ask after she had opened the bedroom door.
"Rose. He's dead!" 'Alice' ran out and hugged the vampire.
Elena and Amelia exchanged a look. Apparently they knew each other.
Amelia helped Elena make some tea - mostly she watched as she avoided the crying stranger. Rose came over and said to them quietly, "She found him a few minutes before we did."
Elena poured the tea into cups. "How is she?" She asked.
"Overreacting, big time." Rose said coldly.
Amelia scoffed. "Her boyfriend just died."
Rose shook her head and disagreed. "Those tears are for her. She didn't care about Slater. She was only dating him long enough to see if he'd turn her."
Amelia raised her eyebrows in surprise, looking at the gothic girl in a whole new light. She stayed behind with Rose as Elena worked her magic with Alice.
"Thank you. You look really familiar." Alice told Elena as she handed her a cup of tea. "Did you know Slater?"
Elena shook her head. "Not personally, no. I just knew that he kept detailed records of all of his vampire contacts, and I was hoping that he could point me towards Klaus." She explained.
"Doubtful. Klaus doesn't want to be pointed out." Alice responded.
"Do you know Slater's computer password?" Elena asked bluntly.
"Are you seriously asking that right now?" Alice asked her, shaking her head. "I just saw my boyfriend with a stake through his heart."
"I understand that. Do you know his password?" Elena repeated coldly.
Alice turned away from her. "Who do you think you are?" She asked.
Elena looked at Rose meaningfully. "What if I could convince Rose to turn you?" She negotiated. Rose and Amelia looked at her, shocked. "Will you show us his files then?"
Alice nodded and happily skipped over to his computer. Amelia exchanged a look with Rose, realizing that Rose had been right about her. She easily unlocked Slater's computer. "Someone's been here, the hard drive's completely wiped out." Alice informed them.
"Yeah, probably by whoever killed him." Amelia suggested, crossing her arms.
"Lucky for you, Slater was paranoid. Everything's backed up on a remote server." Alice said, typing on the keyboard extremely quickly.
"You know that she's not going anywhere near my blood, right?" Rose murmured to Elena.
"I know… she doesn't." Elena said, walking away.
Amelia stared after Elena wondering what the hell had happened to her sweet, innocent friend.
"Kristin Stewart." Alice said, referring to Slater's password. "God, was he obvious."
"These are all links to vampires?" Elena asked, surprised.
"Slater was obsessed, almost as much as me. And it's not all vampires, there's some stuff about you, too… Amelia Whitmore…" Alice muttered, typing her name into the search bar.
Two files popped up. Alice clicked on one of them, a copy of an email sent out to all of Elijah's minions. It said that she was to be protected at all costs.
She clicked onto the second one. It was an article about an old legend that had been translated by some anthropologist at a college she had never heard of. There was drawing of a necklace that looked eerily similar to her own. The article told the story of the ancient, powerful witch and how she had contained her daughter's powers into the talisman, due to her being unable to control them properly.
Amelia thought about her dreams, and the blonde woman who called herself her mother.
Elena reached over and clicked out of the screen, "Let's get down to business, shall we?" She said.
Amelia was taken a back by her. She scoffed and left the room, needing to cool down. Why was Elena acting like this? She had found some information on herself, but Elena was too selfish to allow her five minutes to study it?
Amelia ended up going outside to get some fresh air before she eventually found her way back up to Slater's apartment. When she came back, Alice seemed excited, Rose seemed annoyed, and Elena wouldn't look her in the eye.
Amelia ignored them and worked on her homework, losing track of time. She gasped when a strong hand grasped onto her arm and yanked her out of her chair. "Ouch, Damon?! What're you doing here?" She pulled away from him, rubbing her sore arm.
"What are you doing here?" Damon retorted, crossing his arms and glaring at her.
Elena walked into the room, and so did Rose. Elena spun around and spoke to Rose."You called him?" She asked, angry.
"I'm sorry, Elena." Rose apologized.
"You said that you understood." Elena said.
"She lied." Damon responded as Alice walked into the room, sounding like a fan girl.
"Damon Salvatore…no way!" Alice gawked.
"Get rid of her." Damon commanded, and Rose led her out of the room.
"Come on, we're leaving." Damon told Amelia and Elena.
"What, why?" Amelia asked confused.
"Oh, don't act like you're not involved in Elena's little suicide mission!" Damon berated her. "God, I can't believe how stupid you are!" He bellowed at her.
Elena glared at Damon and stepped in front of Amelia who had hurt look on her face. "Stop it, Damon. She doesn't even know, okay?"
"Know what?!" Amelia yelled, confused and angry.
Elena sighed. "I had Alice call one of Slater's contacts so that I could surrender myself to Klaus."
"You… what?" Amelia asked, unable to comprehend what she had said.
"Come on, we're leaving." Damon said again, nodding his head toward the door.
"No." Elena shook her head.
"I said we're leaving." Damon glared at her, leaning in closer.
"I'm not going with you." Elena said firmly.
"You do not get to make decisions anymore. And for the record, neither do you, little witch." He emphasized, annoyed.
"When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me. Now this, this is my decision." Elena emphasized.
Damon shook his head, wanting to punch something. "Who's going to save your life while you're out making decisions?" He asked.
"You're not listening to me, Damon. I don't want to be saved. Not if it means that Klaus is going to kill every single person that I love." Elena argued.
"Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you myself." Damon threatened.
"Elena, come on, let's go home." Amelia tried to persuade her.
When she didn't respond, he grabbed onto her arm, but she pushed him away. She tried to punch him, but he caught her hand. "No!" Elena said childishly.
Damon leaned in closer to her, and for a second, Amelia thought that he might kiss her. Damon glared at Elena, his face inches from hers. "Don't you ever do that again." He threatened before releasing her as Elena gasped, frightened.
Rose, Elena, and Amelia were sitting in the living room as they waited for Damon. "Time to go." He said, coming out of the bedroom that Alice was in. "Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a moment of this horribly stupid day." Damon informed them.
The girls stood up in surprise and Damon spun around as the front doors burst open and three men strolled in. "We're here to meet the doppelgänger." The man in the front said.
Elena tried to step forward, but Amelia grabbed onto her wrist, stopping her. "Thank you for coming." Elena greeted.
Amelia leaned down and whispered in Elena's ear. "I will break your arm." She threatened, seething.
"There's nothing here for you." Damon told them.
Amelia tensed up in surprise as one of the men dropped to the ground, dead. Behind him, Elijah stood, looking murderous and perfectly alive.
Elijah blurred into the room as Rose ran away.
"I killed you. You were dead." Damon said, disbelieving.
"For centuries now." Elijah agreed. "Who are you?" He asked two of the minions politely.
"Who are you?" The man responded crudely.
"I'm Elijah." He stated, smiling at the terrified expression on his face.
"W-we were going to bring her to you, for Klaus. She's the doppelgänger. I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her." He said, terrified.
"Does anyone else know that you're here?" Elijah asked him casually.
"No." The man said, confused.
"Well, then, you have been incredibly helpful." Elijah told him before he reached into their chests and ripped their hearts out. Elena gasped as he dropped their hearts onto the floor. Damon stepped in front of the girls protectively as Elijah cleaned his hands off with a handkerchief. Elijah spoke to Damon. "I left you with my sister because I thought you could protect her, but now I see that I was wrong."
Amelia felt nauseous as she realized she was now standing next to Elijah. He must have grabbed her.
"Do not fret too much, I shall return her after we have a little… chat." Elijah informed him. Damon's concerned, piercing eyes met her wide, gentle ones before the world turned into a blur and Elena and Damon were left alone, standing in shock.
Amelia squirmed and struggled in his grasp as he ran with her. "Let go!" She gasped, sending out a huge burst of power. She must have caught him off guard because she went crashing to the ground, rolling on the pavement. She stood up shakily, ignoring the sting in her knees and hands. She glanced around, her heart racing, as she looked for him.
"That was not very smart." Elijah's smug voice called as he appeared behind her. Amelia spun around, looking at him with wide eyes. "Now you're injured." He stated, taking one of her scraped-up hands in his.
Amelia jerked her hand from his. "I want to go home, Elijah. I've had enough of this - this game that you're playing." She demanded, sounding more confident than she felt.
Elijah looked at her fondly. "Ah, sister, how you remind me of our mother." He said, a small smile on his face as memories played through his head.
Amelia frowned and shook her head in disbelief. "I'm not your sister. I can't be - it's impossible. You're a vampire!" She argued, gesturing to him with her hands.
"Yes, but I was not always a vampire." Elijah explained. "Our mother, Esther," Esther, the name sounded so familiar to her. Where had she heard it before? "Well, I am not entirely sure on the details, but she told us you had died. This was before I was born, so, of course, I had only heard whispers of you from our siblings… She performed a spell on you - putting you into a deep sleep for centuries… And now, here we are."
Amelia stilled her shaking hands and took a deep breath. "Am I Rebekah? This girl everyone keeps saying I look like?" She asked boldly, not wanting to hear his answer.
Elijah chuckled and shook his head. "No, no, although you look uncannily similar."
Amelia sank down to her knees and focused on remembering to breathe. "I can't believe this is true… Why should I trust you?" She asked, staring at the cracks in the pavement. She observed the grass that sprouted there - the unlikely life that somehow managed to survive.
Elijah knelt down next to her and lifted her chin, looking into her eyes. "Because, I am your brother, Freya."
Amelia Whitmore sat in front of the piano in the Forbes' living room. Her piano, her living room, she reminded herself. She felt so unsure of herself again, and she hated it. She remembered feeling this way when she was in a new foster home every other month, and it was the worse feeling in the world.
Amelia felt a slight breeze behind her and she closed her eyes, sighing.
"What the hell, Amelia?! I've been looking everywhere for you! You couldn't have returned my calls?!" Damon yelled, throwing his hands in the air.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, not looking at him.
"Yeah? Well, sorry's not good enough!" He bellowed, his long hair falling in his eyes. Amelia glanced up at him and flinched as he stepped towards her. Damon froze and immediately felt bad. He slowly sat down on the bench next to her and held open his arms. "Come here," He murmured, and she tentatively wrapped her arms around him.
"I used to be like that, too, you know." Damon said quietly, releasing her and playing a slow tune on the piano. "When I was a child, my father, he… he would hurt her - my mother. For the longest time I thought it was just the way it was - how husbands treated wives… until one day I realized it wasn't, and I stood up to him." Damon told her, playing the tune perfectly. "He started taking his anger out on me after that. I remember when I was twelve, it was Thanksgiving, and he thought I had stolen money from him…" Damon paused, the last note lingering in the air. He rolled up his sleeve and showed her a circular, discolored scar on his upper arm that she had never noticed before. "He burnt me with his cigarette."
"Oh, Damon…" Amelia breathed, running her hand down his arm, hating that his father had hurt him.
She took a deep breath and stood up, lifting the bottom of her shirt slightly. She pointed at the small, circular scar on her right side. "I snuck into one of my foster home's fridges that night… I was so hungry, and they wouldn't let me eat much. Th-they were always yelling at me, telling me I was fat. I hadn't realized that my foster father had been outside smoking a cigarette at the time. He came inside just as I had taken a bite of the sandwich I had made… and, well…" She trailed off, putting her shirt down.
They were quiet for a moment before Damon asked her what had happened with Elijah. She took a deep breath and explained to him everything he had said. How he had told her he was her brother. Damon scoffed, "He's probably lying."
"Unless he's not." Amelia said quietly, as she played one of the songs her mom had taught her. She faltered and the instrument made a terrible sound when he told her the Stefan was stuck in the tomb. "What? Oh, my God, what did I miss?"
Damon explained to her how Jeremy had tried to get the moonstone himself, and how Katherine had fed on him several times. Bonnie had tried to lift the seal on the tomb, but she hadn't been strong enough. Katherine had attacked Jeremy again, and Stefan had run inside, saving him.
Amelia immediately felt guilty. "I should have been there… Maybe Stefan wouldn't be stuck in the tomb…" She realized.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you should have." He said mercilessly. "But no, instead, you were helping Elena with her suicide mission!" He stood up and began pacing, irritated.
Amelia stood up and glared at him, her fists clenched. "I told you, I didn't know what she was planning! She told us that she just wanted to get more information."
"You were so reckless, Amelia! You could have gotten yourselves killed." Damon berated her, still pacing.
"Well, I didn't okay? I wanted to prove you wrong after what you said earlier. I can take care of myself, Damon." She argued, crossing her arms.
Damon paused. "Apparently you can't! If I hadn't shown up, Elena might be with Klaus right now, and Elijah would still have you!" He yelled.
Amelia scoffed. "You're so full of shit, Damon! You're just upset because Elijah took me and you couldn't do anything. Even if you hadn't shown up, Elijah still would have killed those minions, and he still would have returned me, so don't play that bullshit. Elena would still have made it home safely." She reasoned, knowing that he was being illogical.
"Urgh!" Damon yelled, throwing her text book across the room as pages fluttered out.
"You know what? Why don't you just go crawling back to Rose, hm?" Amelia yelled, angry and upset. She could feel Damon's anger and it just made her more amped up.
"I don't want Rose, Amelia, don't you understand?!" Damon groaned, tugging at his hair.
"Then what do you want, Damon?!" Amelia yelled throwing her hands in the air.
Damon strode over to her and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips to hers. Amelia stood frozen in shock for a moment, before she relaxed and leaned into the kiss. She tentatively looped an arm around him, running her other hand through his hair.
He pulled away from her slightly, his breathing heavy. "I want you, Amelia. I'll always want you." He breathed, running his hand through her hair.
Amelia didn't have a chance to respond as the light flipped on and Caroline Forbes looked at them in shock. Amelia immediately stepped away from him and smoothed out her wrinkled clothes, feeling flustered. "Oh, wow, um, sorry, um, I just, um, sorry!" Caroline squeaked before blurring into her bedroom.
Damon grabbed her hand as she turned to go upstairs. "What you did today was incredibly stupid." He reminded her.
Amelia groaned. "Damon, please, I don't want to fight anymore." She pleaded, walking away from him.
Amelia shut her bedroom door and closed her eyes, sighing, before she turned around. Damon was sitting on her window sill. "I think we should talk about what just happened." He said.
"What do you mean?" Amelia asked, avoiding his eyes.
Damon groaned, "Come on, Amelia, don't do this to me again. I didn't imagine you kissing me back."
"So? What of it, Damon? You're not going to change. God, you just slept with Rose, like, this morning!" She said.
"Rose means nothing to me, Amelia, I swear. Please, give me a chance?" Damon pleaded, grabbing her hands in his.
Amelia stepped away from him, crossing her arms. "I-I need some time to think about this, Damon."
Damon nodded slowly, a hurt look on his face before he disappeared. The only trace of him was her open window and the curtains that waved from the breeze.
A/N: *hides*