A/N: Before anything else I just want to say, sorry for the delay in updates, I know it's unusual! I don't even really have an excuse, I've just been really beaten down and tired the past week or so and didn't do much writing. I'm back on my game now though so don't worry!
Chapter Fifty-Two: The Petrova Sacrifice
"I knew this day would come," Katherine said, obviously trying to keep up the show of the untouchable ice queen but failing significantly because she was too weak to stand without clutching the wall of the tomb. "Does Damon know you're here?" Elena ignored this and dropped the heavy bag she was holding to the ground.
"I brought you some things," She informed her doppelganger. She refused to let Katherine bother her this time; she needed these answers and the only way to get them was to do it alone.
"You came here to bribe me?" Katherine questioned suspiciously, "What is it that you want?"
"I want you to tell me about Klaus," Elena answered with a clear air of satisfaction. Katherine certainly looked surprise to hear that name, she was happy to see, though she quickly hid it.
"Hmm, you've been busy," She noted.
"I also brought you this," And she produced the huge Petrova volume from the bag, "It's your family history. It says in here the line ended with you- obviously, that's not true." Katherine actually smiled then, which was strange for Elena to see- a cruel smile on her own face staring back at her through the shadows.
"I suppose it's our family history," She smirked to Elena, "You think that if you brought me some family keepsake that I'd open up?" Elena smiled right back; she was surprised but pleased at her ability to second guess her doppelganger these days.
"I also brought you this," And she produced the bottle of blood Caroline had supplied her with, waving it at Katherine. Her reaction was immediate; she tried to vamp at Elena to get to the blood, but she hit the invisible barrier of the spell that was keeping her trapped inside the tomb and couldn't get out. Elena hovered out of Katherine's reach.
"You don't look so good," She mocked Katherine, "How long before your body shuts down? Ten, twenty years? It must be painful to desiccate and mummify, I can't even imagine." Katherine probably would have throttled her if she could, but Elena definitely felt some of her anger and frustration leaving her as she taunted her evil doppelganger. It was fair payment for all the grief Katherine had caused in her life. Instead, Katherine sighed and slid to the floor, looking pale and tired. Elena also sat down, producing a cup from her bag and pouring a tiny measure of blood into it. Placing it on the ground, she picked up a stick and pushed the cup over the line to Katherine's side of the spell. The vampire drank immediately and Elena saw a little of her colour return straight away. When Elena offered her more blood, Katherine jumped at the chance, placing the cup on the floor.
"It's a long story, Klaus and I," Katherine began as Elena poured more blood, "It goes all the way back to England, 1492, after I left Bulgaria… or was thrown out." She received the blood and downed it again.
"Thrown out?"
"My family, your true ancestors, they disowned me. My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time," Katherine laughed bitterly, "I had a baby out of wedlock. The shame." She laughed again.
"It was kept secret?" Elena surmised.
"Mm," Katherine confirmed, looking over at her, "My baby was given away…" And so Katherine told the story of her daughter being snatched away the second she was born, getting mixed into English high society and meeting Klaus, whom she'd then been forced to run from as he threatened to spill every drop of blood from her in order to break the curse.
"The curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood," Katherine concluded, "The doppelganger was created as a way to undo the spell. Once the doppelganger reappears, the curse can be broken."
"So… you ran before he killed you?" Elena was watching Katherine's reactions closely now.
"Something like that," She answered in a funny sort of voice, "I stole the moonstone and I ran. Trevor told me to go to Rose and she'd help me to freedom. I didn't know what else to do. But she told me that she was going to deliver me back to Klaus."
"But she didn't, did she?" Elena recalled the conversation Elijah had had with Trevor.
"Not because she had a change of heart. I would rather have died than go back to Klaus…Rose wouldn't let that happen. She fed me her blood to save Trevor because he wanted to help me. While they were bickering, I hanged myself." Elena gaped after this last part. She couldn't believe it.
"You killed yourself?" She gasped.
"Klaus needed a human doppelganger. As a vampire I was no longer of any use to him." Elena stared at Katherine. What would she have done in Katherine's position? What was she going to do, in Katherine's position?
"You didn't really escape," She pointed out, "You've been running from Klaus ever since." That was no life, in her opinion. 1492… that was over five hundred years of constant running. Elena didn't want that for herself. Katherine seemed to know what she was thinking about.
"I underestimated his spirit for vengeance, but living in a suitcase is better than being dead so you can have your blood spilled over some silly little rock," Katherine smirked, "What's wrong? Afraid I'm right?"
Damon was not a fan of crying women, or crying anything. He didn't deal with emotion well and never had, not in himself and not in other people. But what on earth was he supposed to do with a weeping vampire he barely knew? Rose wiped her tears when she saw him but it was too late for that. He wished he could turn around and walk back out of the room.
"All right Rosebud," He said, "I need some answers. Oh please don't tell me you're crying 'cause your buddy Trevor lost his head?" Rose looked at him sardonically.
"Have you always been this sensitive?" She sniped.
"Full vampire switch for this reason," He grinned, "Takes the emotion out of it."
"Yeah, you switch yours, I'll switch mine." Damon laughed a little at that one. It wasn't so long ago that he thought he had his humanity switched permanently off. Elena had changed all of that. "Being in love with a human must be hard."
"What makes you say that?" He asked, for lack of knowing how else to respond.
"You and Elena, clearly in love," Rose looked at him with raised eyebrows. It made him want to break something. Instead, he just shrugged and mumbled something unintelligible. This was not a subject the felt like discussing right now, least of all with Rose. "
"How do I find Klaus?" He fired at her.
"You don't find Klaus, he finds you." This made him roll his eyes. Rose sure did seem to enjoy weaving riddles around Klaus.
"Somebody's got to know somebody who knows where he is, right?" Although not every vampire knew each other, they were usually connected either by who sired who or by crossing paths. Especially nowadays, the world was not that big and vampires tended to get around a lot, what with having to keep on the move if they wanted to survive without detection.
"Add another two hundred somebodies to that and you're not even close," Rose informed him. Damon huffed.
"Humour me," He told her, "You got in touch with Elijah. How did you do it?"
"Through a very low somebody on the totem pole," She replied, "A guy named Slater in Richmond." Damon nodded at this news, seizing on this lead. Anything to get out of this house and feel like he was doing something to protect Elena from whatever plot was brewing around her.
"Perfect, I'll drive," He told her, heading to the door. Rose stopped him.
"No, you forget not all of us can do sun," She indicated the windows. The curtains were drawn shut but a tiny slither of sunlight was coming in the room. Damon wondered how a vampire as old as Rose had gotten so far without a daylight ring- but then again, Katherine hadn't even had one until she met Emily, so he supposed it was a rare spell.
"Then you drive," He fired back at her, "Come on."
The drive to Richmond was lengthy but they would make good time on the almost clear highways. Rose had evaded the sun by shooting into Damon's car quickly, though she hissed every time rays got in through the window. Damon stoically ignored this, not in the mood to talk, but eventually he cracked when he got fed up with the looks she kept shooting him.
"What?" He snapped.
"I was just wondering what your deal is," She informed him, "Concerning Elena." He kept his eyes fixed determinedly ahead and ignored the question. He had simply had to watch her walk away and head to school like nothing had happened, unable to stop her. But if what Rose was saying about Klaus was true- and he had a nasty feeling it was- she was in a lot of danger and he hated that he couldn't protect her from it, especially when she would barely look at him. It was driving Damon crazy. Rose sighed.
"I understand that it's none of my business, I'm just curious," She told him, "I saw the way you looked at her. There's something there, isn't there?"
"So?" Damon fired off.
"Vampire-human relationships. More common than you'd think."
"Do you have a point to make or are you just trying to piss me off?" Rose actually laughed at him.
"Whatever's happened between you two is none of my business. I hope you get what you want, Damon." They didn't speak much for the rest of the drive, until they finally pulled up at the coffee shop that Rose had directed him to. It was in a nice neighbourhood, but they descended into an underground parking lot, where Rose pointed out a back door.
"How convenient," He commented.
"That's the point," Rose replied, "We can't all have little daylight rings." He raised his eyebrows; not every vampire knew about daylight rings, and the ones who did usually did all that they could to get hold of one. Of course, it wasn't so easy to convince a witch to make you one, usually.
"How do you know this Slater guy is even here?" Damon asked as they got out of the car. He still couldn't help being a little suspicious of Rose, given the fact she had recently kidnapped Elena to sell her to Elijah and by extension, Klaus himself.
"I called him. He's here, he's always here," Rose answered.
"Good." He seized her by the throat and shoved her against the wall before she had time to react, "Just one thing, if you are setting me up in any way I will rip your heart out and shove it down your throat. It's something I'm very good at," He added menacingly. But he was taken by surprise as Rose grabbed him and shoved him against the car, overpowering him easily and twisting his arm behind his back.
"I'm older than you, and stronger. Don't get on my bad side," She growled. Damon nodded, and she released him. He shook his arm out painfully, "You can trust me," Rose added, and Damon saw sincerity in her face.
The coffee shop was a surprisingly light and bright place with floor to ceiling windows, which confused him given Rose's constant reassertions about avoiding the sun.
"What about the sunlight?" He asked her.
"Double paned and tempered. UV rays can't penetrate- see the appeal now?" She grinned.
"That and the free Wi-Fi," Damon turned to see a young-looking guy with dark hair and stubble. Rose hugged him, confirming his guess that this must be Slater.
"Hey, how are you?" She asked him warmly.
"Good, I saw you come. What are you doing here?" Slater wanted to know.
"Um, it's a long story, but I want you to meet-"
"Damon Salvatore. Turned in 1864 in Mystic Falls by Katherine Pierce, aka Katerina Petrova," Slater filled in, surprising Damon, who narrowed his eyes- but he supposed that if this guy could track an Original down he shouldn't be surprised that he could track him. "So I take it I was right, what I told you about the tomb under the church was true?" He asked Rose.
"Yes, it was right," She replied, "Thank you for the tip." Damon looked from one to the other, realising what a long afternoon they must have ahead of them.
"How much of your little story is true?" Elena folded her arms and sat against the tomb wall, watching Katherine.
"I have no reason to lie, Elena. I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot." It did all make a horrible kind of sense, but Elena was unwilling to completely trust Katherine's words.
"Okay, assuming it's even partially true, that's the reason you came back isn't it?" Elena was starting to realise that in order to get the full story, she was going to have to try and think like Katherine would. Why else would Katherine sit still in one place if she was so desperate to run from Klaus? "You wanted to be the one to hand me over to Klaus."
"Five hundred years on the run, I figured maybe he'd be willing to strike a deal," Katherine shrugged earnestly. So, that probably meant that Katherine's whole story was true. But there were other elements to this, Elena realised.
"So you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moonstone… What else do you need to break the curse?" She glared at her mirror image, waiting.
"Hmm, look who is getting smarter," Katherine smirked.
"It's not just me or the stone, is it? Otherwise there'd be no need to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse." Katherine's entire diabolical plan was starting to make sense now, Elena saw.
"Witches and their spells. So many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice…"
"So you need a werewolf. What else?"
"A witch to do the spell. Mine bailed but Bonnie will do just fine," Katherine answered apathetically.
"What else?" Elena repeated her question.
"A vampire."
"Caroline," Elena realised now why Katherine had targeted her friend so much now. She probably saw her as an easy victim and also conveniently somebody else who it would hurt the Salvatore's the lose- she liked to cause maximum damage, after all. "So you were gonna just hand us all over to be killed?"
"Better you die than I," Katherine answered frankly, getting to her feet and walking away, back into the tomb. Elena listened to her footsteps fade, feeling sick. It wasn't just her who was in danger anymore, but all of them- her two best friends, Tyler, and anybody who tried to stand in the way of this spell being done- meaning Damon and Stefan!
For a long time, Elena simply sat staring into the dark depths of the tomb, thinking. If what Katherine said was true, they were all going to die. She wanted not to believe her doppelganger, to think that she was just lying to be vindictive, but it all made too much sense. And besides, Katherine was right- there was no reason for her to lie anymore, she was trapped in the tomb. Sighing, she grabbed the empty bottle which the blood had been in and got to her feet, about to leave, but a soft sound in the dim light alerted her to somebody's presence. Stefan stepped forward so she could see him.
"Elena," He said, looking at her.
"Stefan, what are you doing here?" She glanced back towards the tomb, but Katherine was still out of sight.
"I could ask you the same question," He looked slightly angry.
"Caroline told you," Her friend had warned her she was no good at keeping secrets.
"No, she kept your secret but it didn't take me long to figure out what you were doing that was so important you couldn't tell Damon about it. Or me." Elena cringed at the mention of Damon's name, feeling a little guilty.
"I knew that you'd stop me," She decided to stick to her guns.
"Whatever she's told you, she's lying. Do not listen to her. She's a liar, Elena," Stefan repeated vehemently. Elena just sighed- if only Katherine was lying this time. Of course, Stefan would deny it to the bitter end.
What if she isn't? You didn't hear what she said," She pointed out.
"You don't have to worry. We're not gonna let anything happen to you."
"That's the problem," Elena sighed sadly, "You won't, but you'll die trying. How's that any better?" The more she thought about it, the more hopeless it seemed. Her feelings weren't helped when Katherine re-emerged from the tomb.
"There's nothing you can do, Stefan."
Rose cried for most of the car journey back. The trip had been a total disaster- somebody had smashed the windows and fried the vampires within. Damon had managed to save Rose but she was distraught and Damon had no idea how he could make her feel better. He had thought at first that she and Slater might have been behind it, but he realised from her reaction that she had nothing to do with what happened. When they got back to the house, even he was relieved. He was starting to think he was in too deep with the Klaus situation.
"I'm sorry about today," Rose apologised anyway as he sipped his scotch, "I didn't know that was going to happen."
"I believe you," He admitted.
"I wish we could save Elena. I know that you want to." He ground his teeth. There had to be a way of saving her, they just couldn't see it right now. There was no way he could lose Elena to Klaus, no way at all. Damon wouldn't survive that pain.
"And I will," He told her quietly.
"You remind me of Trevor," Rose said sadly. This surprised Damon.
"Why? Why him?"
"Because he always talked a big game, he was always working an angle but underneath it all he was the best friend anyone could hope for," She smiled.
"And where did that get him?" He asked sarcastically.
"Dead, and my loyalty to him almost got me dead too," Rose admitted wryly. He chuckled and handed her a scotch.
"To friendship," He toasted. Rose took a gulp of scotch.
"Did you ever try to fight it?" Rose asked him quietly, after a moments pause. Damon blinked at her confusedly, unsure what she was talking about. "Your feelings for Elena?" He had been aggravated when she had brought this topic up earlier, but the barriers had come down between him and Rose now he had an idea of what they were up against. It had landed them on the same side, somehow.
"In the beginning," He answered finally, after some thought.
"If you want to survive, you need to not care about anyone." He knew the truth of that all too well- it was why he had refused to care about anybody for so long. But Elena was different. "Now might be the time to turn your feelings off," Rose suggested.
"I will if you will," Damon challenged, glaring over at her. She glared back for a minute, but then they both laughed and looked away from each other. Damon gulped down the rest of his scotch and set his glass down. "My feelings were off, and Elena was my trigger- I wanted to feel again."
"Then there's nothing we can do, is there?" Rose asked, and Damon shook his head. He was going to save Elena, he was determined of that.
He was still contemplating this later on that night, as he sat in his room. Rose had settled by the fire downstairs and he had needed time alone. He didn't really want to think about the mammoth task he was faced with but he couldn't turn it off. He was considering going down to the Grill for a drink when the sound of the door downstairs opening caught his attention. He thought it was Stefan returning home but then the footsteps on the stairs turned towards his room and moments later, Elena entered.
Tears were streaming down her face and her arms were crossed over her body, like she was in pain. Without even thinking, Damon vamped over to her and she collapsed into his arms.
"I spoke to Katherine," She told him, when she had finally regained enough of her composure to speak. "She t-told me everything."
"Elena…" Damon wanted to sooth her but he didn't feel very soothed himself.
"I wanted to know the truth and I got it… I just… I can't blame anyone else now. Caroline and B-Bonnie and Tyler are in danger and it's because of m-me, not because of you coming to town or because I f-fell in love with you," Damon felt his stomach drop when she said that but he gave no outward sign of it, deciding that now was not the time. "It's all because of me!" He continued to comfort her until her sobs subsided into sniffles and then nothing. Elena didn't often cry, Damon had noticed. When she was done, she pulled out of his embrace and looked up at him. He could see the teardrops still clinging to her eyelashes and he wanted so badly to kiss her, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
A/N: Once again thanks for your patience if you've got this far or if you've been waiting for me to update! I'm sorry that this chapter doesn't deviate much from the canon, other than Damon not sleeping with Rose. There isn't really much I can do without destroying the entire concept of Klaus and the curse when it comes to this and it wasn't something I could really skip over either, so I'm sorry if you got bored reading basically what happened in the show. It'll be onwards and upwards after this, but either way I'd be really grateful if you'd drop me a review even if you're only telling me I suck and there's too much dialogue!
