They fell silent when they saw the sign. A moment before, they'd been laughing, teasing each other about their taste in music. ("Don't you listen to any music that was made after 1990?" "Nope. Managed to miss Hanson, the Spice Girls, and LMFAO that way. That makes it a winning strategy."), but the jokes died on their lips as the blue sign came into view. Such an innocuous sign, really- cheerful, with an ugly drawing of a cardinal perched on a dogwood branch. "Welcome to Virginia," it read in overindulgent script. It was familiar, it was welcoming, it was home. It made Elena want to beg Damon to turn the car around.
The past three days hadn't been perfect, but they'd come pretty damn close. Lazy mornings lying in bed, watching the sunlight move across the ceiling; pleasant afternoons when Elena coaxed Damon out for hikes in the rolling hills; endless evenings spent under blankets on the terrace, watching the stars. And always through it all, there was laughter and a feeling of such rightness.
Oh, they'd bickered, of course. Never would get away from that. They fought about Bonnie, they fought about Stefan, they fought about her turning. Nothing new, just covering the same old painful ground over and over again. But after they'd both stormed away, slammed a few doors, they always came back together and laughed again—with each other, at themselves.
The world wouldn't leave them entirely alone. There had been multiple phone calls every day from Stefan, from Caroline, from Ric. Abby was dealing with her new life as best she could, but it was rocky. "It's harder to turn when you're older," Damon had explained. "That's why you don't see many vampires who were turned over forty. Lot of them just can't deal with such a big change." Bonnie had withdrawn into herself, Caroline said, isolated and full of quiet rage. She'd argued that Damon and Elena should stay away, but they couldn't. At some point, they'd have to face Bonnie. And Elena owed it to her friend. She owed her an apology and an explanation and whatever help Bonnie needed from her. It wasn't safe; the risks were huge. But they couldn't stay away any longer.
The Originals were still a threat. Much of the family had scattered, leaving only Klaus and Rebekah behind in Mystic Falls, but those two were danger enough. Ric read her a note Elijah had left for her—some nonsense about her endless compassion and how he'd done things he regretted and on and on in endless moralizing bullshit. Elena asked Ric to burn the letter.
"Don't say we can turn around. Just don't. Please," Elena said as they left the blue sign in the dust. If he asked now, Elena wasn't sure she could say no. Not after seeing how life could be together. The very thought of leaving her friends, of leaving her family in Mystic Falls behind was both traitorous and tempting.
"I won't. We're going." He sighed as the radio station dissolved into static, turning the dial in a vain attempt to find anything that wasn't country music or fire and brimstone preaching. "If possible, I would like to move out of my hometown sometime prior to my two hundredth birthday, though."
Elena did some quick math. About thirty years. "God, I hope so. For my sake."
"So we're agreed, then: We have one mission back in Mystic Falls. Well, two. Mission one is always staying the fuck alive. Mission two is killing Klaus and any other bonus Originals we can take with us," Damon said.
"Yeah, I think everything we need to do falls into one of those categories," Elena said. Sure, there were other things that were important—helping Bonnie and Abby, finding out who'd killed the M.E. and Bill and who'd tried to kill Ric, but mostly those fell under the "staying alive" heading. "Now we just have to figure out how to do it."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that," Damon said. He gave up on the radio, jabbing it off with one knuckle. "Sometimes I hate living in the South. Not a single classic rock station. Probably think it's the devil's music."
"You'd been thinking? About killing Klaus?" Elena reminded him.
"Oh, right. So if they're all bound together already, what was the point of the spell Esther was trying to cast?"
Elena frowned. "I don't know. Bonnie never told me. But that is kinda weird, because Esther specifically told me that their fates were tied together now, so whatever happened to one of them would happen to all of them."
"Huh. And we know that Originals can't be staked and that daggers just mean nap time for them, but what about decapitation? Aren't many things that can survive without a head. Or my personal favorite—de-hearting," Damon said, a cold smile lighting his face, that maniacal gleam in his eyes. A shiver ran up Elena's spine. She knew how strongly Damon felt joy in the hunt and the chase and the kill, but she preferred not to think about. She was definitely happier not seeing it written across his face.
"Because it'd be so easy to test that theory out," Elena said. "And what if you're wrong?"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Damon said. He was silent as he gunned the engine, zipping past a poky minivan. "But testing it might be easier than you'd think."
"What are you talking about? You couldn't even get close enough to Klaus to shake his hand, let alone rip his heart out," Elena said.
"Klaus, no. But I could get pretty close to Rebekah," Damon said, eyes drifting off the road to watch her reaction.
"Close to Rebekah? You mean—oh." How close would Damon need to get to Rebekah to rip her heart out? How distracted would she need to be for him to try? What would her wrath be like if it didn't work? "No. Not happening."
"Unless you want to send Caroline in to snuggle with Klaus, I'm not sure what other options we have," Damon said.
Elena gripped the door handle, fingers tightening until they ached. "I could go to Elijah. I told you about that note. He feels guilty, I can throw him off guard."
"And then what? You're going to reach into his ribcage and yank his heart out? You can't physically do that," Damon said.
He had a point. "We'll get Katherine to do it. She said she wants them dead; she'd do it."
"No, she said she wanted Klaus dead. She and Elijah have a past, and I don't know all the details, but he knows her well, so he'd probably see right through her. Plus, we can't trust her with something like this. Homecoming was one thing, but this is totally different," Damon said. "And don't act like I'm doing this because of Rebekah; I don't want anything to do with her."
"Right. You looked so miserable that night at the bonfire. I'm sure going undercover in her pants would just be heartbreaking for you," Elena shot back. The very idea of them together—of the things he'd have to say to lure her close, of the way he'd have to look at her and touch her and maybe even kiss her and...no.
Elena caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. "Are you smirking at me right now? Really, Damon?" she asked incredulously.
"Sorry, involuntary reflex." But there it was again, a little grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "But...I kinda like seeing you all jealous."
"Of course I'm jealous! She's gorgeous. And you two can bond over your love of old stuff. And she's a vampire. You wouldn't have to hold back with her, like you do with me," she said, staring out the window. The mountains were gentling, falling back into the soft hills that surrounded Mystic Falls. It wouldn't be long now; they'd be back by sunset.
"She's also an evil, venomous bitch who seems to have entered arrested development as a petulant teenager. And as for the vampire thing..." he shrugged. "Now that you're all aboard the vampire train, that'll solve itself eventually." He didn't deny it, though. Didn't deny that he wished he didn't have to check himself, that he could go full tilt. Elena's grip on the door handle tightened. "God, fucked that up, didn't I? It doesn't matter if you're human or vampire, Elena—you're the one I want. Not Rebekah. I don't even know where she's been," he joked.
Elena mustered a smile. It was nice reassurance, but she wasn't positive she believed him. "Good. You're still not doing it, though. It's too big a risk, all grossness of you making out with Rebekah aside."
Damon slapped the turn signal on as he moved toward the right lane. "Mystic Falls, Next Exit," the sign informed them. "There's gonna be risk, Elena. Everything with these fuckers involves risk. And better me than you."
"We'll talk about it, okay? Let's just leave it at that. We're not going to do anything tonight anyway. I've got to go see Bonnie, and I know you're anxious to see Stefan," Elena said, trying to placate him. There was no way in hell she was letting him get within fifty feet of Rebekah, but they didn't need to fight now. Tonight was going to be hard enough as it was.
"Don't know that anxious is the right word," Damon grumbled. "But Stefan's having...issues. As usual. Eating himself up with guilt when I'm the one who did something wrong, not him."
"But you did it to save him. You knew this would happen—you had to know," Elena said gently. After all, Stefan had spent centuries agonizing over the sins Damon had committed, all because he thought he was responsible for his brother turning. Which, yeah, he kinda was, but Damon was a big boy, and he'd made his own decisions.
"Can we just enjoy our last few minutes together without talking about him? Or Rebekah? Or anyone?" Damon asked as he drove down the ramp toward Route 4, the road that would take them back into the nightmare of Mystic Falls.
Elena grasped his hand. "You know what you said about how I'm the only one you want? Ditto."
He smiled. "Love you too, Elena."
"I still don't think it's a great idea," Caroline warned. "She's been really, really weird lately. Hardly talks to anyone except her mom. She doesn't even talk to me. I just think she still needs more time. Can you at least give it until tomorrow?"
"No, Caroline, I can't. Look, I'm already here. I won't stay if she doesn't want me, but I have to see her," Elena said as she climbed out of the car. Damon had dropped her at home, and after a brief chat with Ric, who was on his way out the door to meet Meredith, Elena had made the drive to Bonnie's. It was time to admit her part in what had happened, apologize, and do whatever she could to make this easier on Bonnie. It was what she should have been doing from the start.
"Just...be careful, okay? I mean, she's not going to do anything to you, but she's not really herself," Caroline said.
"I know. But we'll get through this. If the three of us could weather you turning, we can deal with this," Elena said. "I gotta go. Call you later?"
"Yep. Love you, girl. Tell Bonnie I love her, too."
"You got it. Bye, Care." Elena tossed her phone into her purse and walked up the drive. The house was dark, curtains drawn against the night, no light spilling onto the lawn. But Caroline had assured her that Abby had moved in with Bonnie rather than staying at that fleabag motel. They must be here. Elena rang the bell.
It was quiet in the house—no footsteps, no dishwasher running or heater humming. Too quiet. The door opened a crack, but she couldn't see in. It was too dark, the person standing in the shadows. "Hello, Elena," a voice said.
"Hey, Abby. How're you doing?" Elena asked. She cringed when she heard her voice. Unintentionally, she'd used that awful tone, that voice reserved for dealing with children and invalids and the bereaved. She hated that voice; had heard enough of it to last her a lifetime. The last thing Abby would want was pity, especially from her.
"They told me you'd gone. You and...him," Abby said. Her voice shook, her face still hidden in darkness.
"I came back. Damon's back, too, but he isn't here right now. I wanted to see how you and Bonnie were doing," Elena said, trying to sound casual. "Is Bonnie around?"
"She's sleeping," Abby said. "She's been working so hard to take care of me, but she needed to rest."
"Oh. I can come back tomorrow. Is there anything you need, Abby? Anything I can do for you?" Elena asked. God, she wanted to see Bonnie. Even if her friend wouldn't speak to her, she needed to know she was all right.
"Well, there is one thing," Abby said. She pulled the door open, the dim glow of the porch light illuminating her face, the tracery of veins standing out in stark relief against her dark skin.
Elena screamed and turned to run, but it was too late. Abby grasped her with inhuman strength and mauled her neck like a mad dog.
