Chapter Thirty-Seven: Lost Cause Women

Elena hadn't budged from outside the cell door since they had locked Stefan inside. Several times during the night Damon had tried to convince her to leave, but Elena had refused. At one point, she had cried. Damon hated his brother in that moment, for making her believe that all of this was her fault- that she was the reason that he was like this.
"Won't Jenna be worrying about you when she realises you've been gone all night?" Damon asked Elena as she once again stood up to peer through the bars. Stefan had stirred but he still had too much vervain in his system to really be aware of his surroundings. The sun would be up outside by now, but Damon and Elena had stayed outside the cell all night, since she had crept into Stefan's room, stabbed him with the vervain dart and had Damon carry his body down here.

"What teenager hasn't snuck out at some point?" Elena dismissed.

"I wonder how many have snuck out to imprison their friends to stop them from eating the town," Damon mused. Elena looked at him with annoyance. "You should go and get some sleep at least."

"I just feel kind of bad for locking him up in there," She admitted, "Don't you?"

"Did he feel bad when he did the same to me?" Damon recalled the time, which felt like a lifetime ago now, that he had had to call out to Elena to come and rescue him. She shivered at the memory, "If this works he will thank you for this, Elena, so don't worry about it." She nodded, but she still didn't budge.

The sight became familiar over the following week. Stefan soon entered into a state of hallucination from lack of blood and he often cried out half-uttered sentences, things from their past which brought back mostly unpleasant memories for Damon. He took a visit into Stefan's head one day while Elena was at school to see what exactly Stefan was dreaming about, only to find himself reliving firstly Katherine's apparent death and then his own transition into being a vampire. Without Katherine he hadn't wanted to be a vampire; he had wanted to die. But Stefan had saved him. Saved him, and cursed him. Damon had hated him for that and yet… being a vampire suited him. It had never suited Stefan; he had never learned how to really be one without going off over the edge. He didn't venture into his brother's head anymore after that, but he did speak to Stefan when he was finally lucid.

"The human blood is gone from your system now, brother. You can come out." He waved a bottle of animal blood in his direction, but Stefan shook his head stubbornly, "You can't starve yourself."

"I'm not hungry," Stefan lied.

"We're always hungry, it's what defines us. You don't want to desiccate."

"Elena was here," Stefan recalled deftly.

"She's been here nearly all the time, driving me crazy." Stefan gulped and met Damon's eyes. He looked distraught.

"What I said to her that day was… it was unforgiveable," Stefan said, sounding almost fearful, "I don't deserve to come out." Damon rolled his eyes; he had always hated his brother's self-loathing tendencies.

"Don't be an idiot," Damon tossed the bottle of blood through the bars on his cell. It fell to the floor but Stefan made no move towards it. Damon sighed tiredly, "Fine, have it your way, brother. Rot. I don't care." Of course, he did care. He had always cared about his younger brother, even when he had hated him the most, even when they had been each other's worst enemies. But Stefan didn't like people to care about him- it reminded him that he was a good person and he wanted to paint himself as the bad guy. Damon had always been better at that than his brother, too.

He made his way upstairs to the living room, where he choked back a healthy measure of bourbon. Damon Salvatore was definitely not cut out for babysitting duty. As he was pouring his second helping, however, his phone rang.
"Hello?"

"It's Alaric Saltzman," The mystery caller told him, and Damon frowned.

"How did you get this number?" Damon demanded. Alaric chuckled throatily down the phone.

"It's a mystery. Listen, I've got a friend who has done some digging…" Damon listened as Alaric explained how he had come to find out that Isobel appeared to be in Grove Hill, just a few miles away from Mystic Falls.

"Give me the address," Damon ordered. Alaric laughed at him again.

"What, so you can go without me? I don't think so," He told him. Damon cursed.

"Let me guess, if I try to go without you you'll kill me."

"Something like that," Alaric agreed mildly.

"Hold on, I have another call," Damon put Alaric on hold and switched over to an incoming call from Elena. He glanced at the time as he did so and realised that she must have just arrived home from school. She had stated with absolute conviction that morning that she was intending to stay for the whole weekend. Damon didn't mind- especially not as when rested, she crawled into bed beside him- except for the fact that she didn't actually sleep and just tossed and turned, wide awake, all night. It was even worse than her nightmares because he couldn't fix the insomnia.

"I'm just collecting some clothes and then I'll be right over," Elena told him, "How is he?"

"Brilliant. He won't eat and he's sulking worse than ever," He answered, "Hold on, I was on the line to someone else." He switched back to his call with Alaric, suddenly feeling extremely tired of everything, "You drive. Pick me up in an hour," He told the teacher, who agreed. He then switched back to give Elena his full attention.

"Maybe I'll be able to talk some sense into him when you're out," Elena said, when he told her had plans that night and she'd be alone. Damon rubbed his eyes.

"Elena, you need to give yourself a break. Stay home or better- to go the Grill, hang out with Caroline or Matt or someone normal." He could practically feel Elena rolling her eyes, and he knew that she wouldn't listen to what he said.

"I'll be there in a little while, Damon."

Elena hung up the phone before Damon could protest anymore. She was, strangely, feeling better than she had been on the day of the pageant, though she still felt a horrible sense of responsibility for the state Stefan had gotten into. She felt even worse knowing that he wasn't feeding because of what he had done to Amber. Still, she was determined to help him through it, admittedly for selfish reasons- she didn't want to feel bad anymore. Usually it would have all been for Stefan, except that what he had said had really hurt her- even if it was, essentially, true. She went over to close her closet door and jumped when John stepped out from behind it.

"Sorry," He apologised for making her jump, though the apology sounded insincere. Elena had done a good job of avoiding John since he had come back to town, though she knew Jeremy had spent some time with him. This worried her, on top of Jeremy's distancing himself from her lately.

"I didn't see you there," Elena said, trying to sound light and breezy.

"I thought we could catch up. We haven't really had a chance to talk since I've been back," John told her, and her stomach turned over. She already knew what he was going to say, but she decided to act dumb until he came out with it- always the safer option,

"I'm actually just heading out, so…"

"It won't take long," John told her, and she paused in her packing up of clothes to take to the Salvatore Boarding House. She looked at him expectantly.

"What did you want to talk about?" Elena asked him when he didn't say anything immediately.

"I know you know," He replied, somewhat cryptically. Elena kept her face carefully blank.

"It's really silly to keep pretending," John told her, "What do you think your mother would say if she knew you were dating a vampire?" She had known this was what the conversation was going to be about- but she hadn't expected him to frame it the way he had, guilt tripping her about her parents who had hated vampires. However, she had an ace up her sleeve:

"Which mother?" She picked up her bag and went to head out the door, but John grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her from leaving. Elena turned angrily towards him. "What is your problem?"

"Damon Salvatore is dangerous, Elena, and as your- your uncle," He faltered, "I think you should stay away from him!" Elena laughed in his face, taking him by surprise. He let go of her, staring.

"He's dangerous to you, maybe- I mean, he did kill you, didn't he?" John looked shocked, "Yeah, he told me about that. I know all about your ring." She also had an idea of where he'd gotten it from, though she wasn't sure she was ready for that conversation yet. She was more angry than anything else at the fact that he was trying to tell her what to do.

"Elena, he's a vampire. Vampires are monsters and you certainly shouldn't be dating one. He'll only end up killing you. That's all they're about." Elena looked at him coldly and was surprised to see him recoil as if he was afraid of her, which was strange.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Damon and I aren't dating. But let me make one thing clear, Uncle John," Elena told him, "You try to interfere in my life ever again…" She made sure she left the threat implicit before departing without looking back. She didn't have a thought to spare for John Gilbert at that moment with everything else that was going on.

"This place?" Damon indicated the door leading to the apartment that apparently belonged to or was occupied by Isobel. Alaric nodded.

"The records show it was paid three months in advance," Rick added.

"So now we just have to find out whether or not I can actually get in," Damon said, wondering.

"Yeah, how does that work? You always have to be invited in?" Damon was quite surprised that Alaric didn't know the answer to that question already, but then Damon supposed that his expertise lay in killing vampires, not the study of their habits and abilities.

"By the owner or person of entitlement. Short term rentals and hotels are a bit of a grey area- you kind of gotta play it by ear," Damon explained, "Can be a pain in the ass." Alaric chuckled at this.

"Can we not kill anyone tonight, please?" He asked, harkening back to their last venture together to the farmhouse full of tomb vampires. Damon wasn't in a murderous mood though, unless he happened to encounter Katherine. For everything she had done to him, she deserved death. The only reason he remained interested in Isobel was because she may be connected to Katherine; he knew Elena was better off keeping away from her birth mother, judging by the evidence. He addressed Alaric with a smirk:

"You mean you just brought me along for my company?" He asked, before opening the door. He pushed it open expectantly, peering through the door, but nothing happened. Damon reached across the threshold with his hand, waiting for the uncomfortable invisible barrier that would prevent him from entering the premises if it had a human occupant, but he didn't meet one.

"It doesn't look like anyone's home," Alaric noted.

"Yeah, I'm good. No permanent resident, apparently," Damon added, and they stepped inside. Damon and Alaric glanced around themselves, both looking out for any clues that would confirm Isobel was occupying the place. It was as he was opening the fridge that Damon heard it- the sound of a movement so swift and quiet that no human could detect it, at the same moment that his eyes fell on the blood bags inside the fridge. "Um, Rick, we have company." A man had come flying out of apparently nowhere and had jumped on Alaric. The teacher was ready for this and punched him hard with a set of wooden knuckles that caused the vampire to howl in pain, though he was soon ready to attack again. Damon was faster, however, and threw him off of Alaric, who got to his feet, breathing heavily. The pair of them stood looking down at the vampire and recognition, a memory from a long time ago, stirred.

"I know you," Damon said to the vampire, who had brown eyes and sandy brown hair to match.

"Damon?" He looked just as surprised to see him as Damon was to see him.

"Your name is Henry," He recalled, "You were in the tomb."

"Yes, sir," Henry admitted, "What are you doing here?"

"Stefan," Elena called through the bars. Stefan turned his head to look at her for a second before he turned away.

"Leave me, Elena," He told her.

"No," She refused firmly, planting her feet and placing her hands on the bars of the cell. She remembered sticking her hand through these same bars to test Damon's self-control. He hadn't attacked her that day and he had been in a much worse, more emaciated state than Stefan was. She took a deep breath and told herself that she could do this, that Stefan could do this.

"Damon hasn't fed me any vervain in a while. I could be at those bars in a flash, and you'd be dead," Stefan threatened, though his voice lacked much conviction. Elena reached down and produced the bottle of animal blood that Damon had prepared. She tried to imagine enjoying drinking any kind of blood, but the thought made her feel ill.

"You could kill me," She agreed bravely, "But you won't."

"I don't want you here, Elena," Stefan told her through gritted teeth, "Leave me alone." Elena instead unbolted the door and stepped inside the cell. His forest green eyes widened a little bit, almost in panic, and Elena felt a little more confidence blossoming at this- he wasn't completely lost, because he didn't want to hurt her- he just didn't trust himself to be able to resist attacking her. "You're being an idiot, Elena," He warned, "You're taking a stupid risk. I could hurt you."

"Then I'm stupid," She shrugged, taking a few steps closer to him. "You need to drink this." She held out the bottle of blood and his eyes went to it for a second before flickering back to her. Elena stood still, watching as he stood up to face her. His body was almost trembling visibly. Elena stood her ground.

"Elena, get out of here or you'll regret it," Stefan promised angrily.

"No," She argued again, "Drink!"

"I said get out!" Stefan bellowed the last part, obviously trying to scare her into running away, but Elena had been ready for that tactic. She merely continued to gaze at him, not moving a muscle.

"Stefan, you need to drink this," She repeated once more, waving the bottle of blood at him. Stefan let out a strangled kind of growl and lunged for her, knocking the bottle out of her hand and coming right up into her face, breathing hard. The veins were showing around his eyes. Elena still didn't back away. She had made too many mistakes already, especially where Stefan was concerned- she wasn't going to let him desiccate on her watch.

"Get out," He commanded once more.

"No," She responded coolly, reaching up to touch his face with her fingers. His skin felt cold, and Elena remembered him explaining that coffee and other hot drinks helped keep their body temperatures at a normal level- it seemed like such a strange thought to cross her mind. Stefan closed his eyes at the contact and slowly she watched his face transform back to his human one. Eventually he opened his eyes again. Elena let her hand fall to her side and Stefan lurched away from her, throwing himself back down so that he was leaning against the wall. Elena sighed and slid down to sit beside him, waiting for him to speak. It was a long while before he did, and it was not what she expected.

"I really loved my brother when we were human," Stefan said softly, "I looked up to him. He was my best friend… and what I did to him was awful. Every time he does something terrible, I know it's really my fault."

"What?" Elena frowned.

"Damon does the vampire thing better than me, but he didn't want to be one. After Katherine was gone, he didn't want to complete the transition. He wanted to die and I wouldn't let him. I forced him to feed." Stefan laughed humourlessly, "That's the real reason he hates me. It wasn't because Katherine chose me, it was because I didn't let him make any choice at all." Elena thought about this. She had never heard the full story of the Salvatore brothers' transition. Damon had told her about being shot by their father and having had Katherine's blood in their systems- but he hadn't gone into any more detail about it than that.

"He doesn't hate you, Stefan. If he did, he wouldn't be trying to get you to feed." Stefan didn't say anything to that, "Stefan, I get why you're trying to do this. You're thinking that… because you chose to complete the transition, that you made a mistake because this is what being a vampire did to you and your brother. But Stefan, neither of you are bad."

"I wonder what the body count would be between my brother and I."

"Stop it!" Elena ordered, "Both of you are fighting your basic nature to kill every single day and both of you handle it in different ways. But you've both been doing well, haven't you?"

"Give up, Elena, it's no good," Stefan told her flatly, "This happens every time I feed on human blood and it will happen every single time until I stop feeding- so there's no time like the present." Elena looked at him for a minute and then shook her head, before reaching into her pocket and producing his daylight ring, which she had taken the night they vervained him.

"I'm going to leave the cell door unlocked. When you feel like talking, I'll be upstairs." She made sure to kick the bottle of blood towards him on her way out, though she wasn't sure what good it would do.

"Well that was a bust," Damon and Alaric were driving away from Isobel's empty apartment. All they had gotten out of Henry was that he didn't know anything about her, only John Gilbert. Alaric had staked him in the end and even once they turned the place upside down they didn't find any clues. All they had come away with was the knowledge that the tomb vampires were still out for revenge on Mystic Falls- another worry to add to his list, Damon thought grimly.

"I don't know what I thought I'd find," Alaric sighed as he turned the car onto the highway, "I keep looking for answers, you know… wanting to know why she did it, when exactly she decided that I wasn't enough… but answers only make things worse, don't they?"

"I'm sorry about what happened with her, man," Damon told him, "She came to me with this… excitement in her, begging to be turned. I had no idea who she was, or about her connection to Katherine. I didn't care."

"You apologised before," Alaric recalled. Damon frowned.

"I did? Must've been drunk," Alaric chuckled at this response, "Speaking of which…"

"I could do with a stiff one," Damon laughed as the teacher finished the sentence.

"I have to make sure my brother hasn't killed Elena in my absence… but I'll drink a toast to giving up on lost cause women when I'm back at the house."