Alright, you guys have started putting your votes out! I'm not going to shut down the poll just yet, I'm going to continue to let you guys put your opinions out there, and I'll be laying some flirty ground work for the pairings until I decide which one ;)
Here we go! Masquerade and Rose are here! Just a warning, this is a pretty long chapter, so be prepared, and I hope you like it!
Val's heeled boots clicked loudly across the wooden floor as she sped-walked through the front door of the boarding house. As she did, she was met with Stefan in the entry way, who looked like he'd just come through one of the many side doors.
"Did Damon text you, too?" He asked, and Val nodded.
"Do you know what this is about?" She wondered as they half-jogged into the parlor together, but he only shook his head.
Val had gotten out of the shower after her training session that morning to a text from Damon:
Caroline's here at boarding house. Emergency. Be here ASAP.
When they walked down the mini-steps, they were greeted with Damon standing next to several crystal bottles of blood and Caroline sitting on the couch with a glass of blood in her hand, looking freaked. Stefan raised his hands in a questioning gesture as Val walked over to the couch, sitting next to the blonde. "What happened?"
Caroline took a big gulp of blood, sighing once she was done. Damon raised his eyes at the teen, "Go ahead, tell him. You're gonna love this." He told his brother and frenemy, and both turned their attention back to her as she started speaking.
"I saw Katherine today."
The huntresses muscles immediately tensed and she sat forward slightly as Stefan responded without missing a beat, "Where?"
"At the Grill. I just stopped by to gawk and… quasi-stalk Matt." She told them sheepishly, and despite the circumstances, Val suppressed a smile as she patted the girl's shoulder.
"Skip the teen drama and get to it," Damon interrupted impatiently, clearly suppressing an eyeroll. Val waved him off as Caroline shook her head, muttering a "Right, sorry," under her breath before continuing.
"Then I pretended to use the bathroom, even though I didn't have to go, cause I'm a doofus," she groaned, "and that's when I saw her. She was in the bathroom; she tried pretending to be Elena, but I knew she was at home. When I confronted her about it, she told me she needed me to deliver a message."
"What was the message?" Stefan asked, and Val could practically see the vein in his forehead throbbing with anxiety.
"She said, 'Tell Damon and Stefan I want the moonstone, or I will rip this town apart until it rains blood'."
Val raised her eyebrows at the blonde; Katherine was clearly running out patience, and that meant she was almost out of tricks.
"Tell him the rest of it." Damon ordered, and Val couldn't tell if he was excited or angry, maybe a little bit of both, knowing him.
"She said she wants it tonight, at the masquerade ball."
Val sighed, running a hand through her hair and grinding her jaw in concentration. "So, she wants it in public."
"Looks like killing Mason caught her off guard." Stefan mused, pacing as he thought out loud.
"She's running scared, what she did to Jenna was desperate." Damon scoffed, and Val's chest tightened in anxiety and anger. After losing her grandmother, she'd almost lost one of her best friends, and that wasn't going to happen.
"Yeah, but she did it." She shot back, "And we can't let anybody else get hurt. Katherine will not show any remorse for the people in this town, who the hell knows how many people she's already compelled?"
"We've got to play this smarter than her." Stefan reminded them, looking like he was already coming up with fifteen different ways things could play out.
"Can't we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?" Caroline asked, looking a little bit desperate before Damon interrupted vehemently.
"No! Katherine's not getting dick!" He exclaimed, walking around the couch.
"Yeah, I agree with Damon," Val started, and all three heads snapped to her so fast they blurred.
"Wait, wait. Did…did you just say you agree with me, peanut?" Damon asked her, looking both delighted and confused. The huntress rolled her eyes as she stood.
"Don't make me regret it."
"I'm going to go to the masquerade ball tonight, and I'm gonna kill her." Damon told them firmly, but Stefan stepped towards him, shaking his head.
"You're not going to kill her," he started, and both Val and Damon turned to him in shock and anger.
"Don't give me that goody-goody crap." Damon disagreed lowly, and Val nodded.
"Yeah, Stef, this isn't exactly the time to take the high-ground…"
"You're not going to kill her." Stefan cut Val off, his eyes flickering to his brother, "cause I am."
A smirk started to pull at Val's face as the three started their planning.
"So, you'll send me pictures of you when you're ready, right?"
"Yes, I promise, Jen." Val giggled, reassuring her friend as she was looking over the floor plans they'd nabbed for the mansion. Her phone was currently on speaker as she cleaned her gun and tried to decide her best point of entry.
She had called to ensure Rick, Jeremy, and Elena had gotten Jenna home safely. At the moment, she was helping the Salvatore brothers with their master plan: Katherine would die tonight at the ball. Val had already picked a dress she could hide weapons in on purpose, so she was all for it. They were starting to come up with a rough plan, one that included using Caroline as a decoy, and Val as a backup.
"Ok; I just can't wait to see that dress and mask on you! I'm so jealous of how well you pull of red, you're going to kill tonight at the ball."
Val snorted a little as she picked up her gun, carefully placing the pieces back together.
"That's what I'm hoping."
Rick came over soon after, and he'd brought his whole arsenal. Unlike Val, Rick preferred close range weapons to guns and bows, but his friend wasn't complaining. As Jeremy stood with them, he was showing the young boy his nifty stake-gun.
"This uses compressed air, it's best for long range, like the stuff Val does. And I've got two of these in two different sizes." Stefan stopped at the table, and Rick turned to him. "For you, I recommend this." He showed him the stake ejection sleeves that Val normally kept planted in her jackets. "Fits nicely under a jacket sleeve, you've probably seen Val use them a million times. Here's the trigger when you're ready." He pressed the lever, the stake shooting into his hand. With a grunt, he aggressively shoved it forward into an imaginary target.
The Salvatore brothers and Caroline all stared at him with wide eyes, and he shrugged. "Hey, you wanted me to show you how to kill vampires."
"Very nice." Damon told him, then turned to Val. "Gremlin, show me what you've got."
"Well," she started, reaching under the table for something, "since it's going to be in a house full of people, I can't fire a gun without either alerting someone or possibly injuring a bystander. So," she rolled out the mat she'd brought, showing off about six vicious looking daggers. Three wooden, three silver. "I've got these."
She pulled a particularly sharp looking silver one out; it was a ring dagger, the blade curved. Perfect for throwing. "I soak the silver ones in vervain regularly, then freeze them so that it stays for a while. I'll make sure they're all freshly soaked tonight, and the I think the wooden blades all speak for themselves."
"And how good is your aim?" Jeremy asked, looking skeptical.
Without responding, Val spun the silver knife until she was holding blade, turned, and flung it across the room. It sunk into the chest of one of the figures in a portrait with a loud thud!, the handle vibrating from the impact.
The group around the table all turned to her in shock, and she simply shrugged, smiling innocently. "What?"
Val bit her lip, staring at the mirror. She'd spent at least an hour on everything, and she wasn't sure if she actually looked good or not.
The dress was strapless with a corset styled torso, giving her a little more cleavage than she normally showed, and floor length. It ran black until it reached her knees, where the fabric began to intermix between red and black, looking like flames with the tulle fabric. A large slit ran all the way up to almost her hip, exposing her shoes of black, strappy peep toes. A holster went around her other thigh, holding three knives, all sliver. She'd be stashing a crossbow and her gun in the room they'd be in, and her crucifix dangled over her chest. Her mask was a deep burgundy, matching the fabric on her dress, only covering one eye and cheekbone.
She was ready.
The mansion was booming with activity, and Val was extremely impressed. Fire dancers were slinging around balls of flames on rope, acrobats were doing tricks on the lawn, and the food looked delicious. She snagged a few chocolate-covered strawberry's as she searched for the crew, having already checked in with Rick before she left to ensure the safety of Elena and Jenna.
Finally, her eyes landed on the pair of brothers, both clad smartly suits and masks, Damon in black and Stefan in maroon. As her eyes met Damon's his widened noticeably beneath his mask as she started walking towards them, her dress fluttering and exposing her leg in the wind.
"Val, wow, you look…" Damon trailed off as she approached them, and she shrugged.
"Yeah, I don't normally do floor length, but Jenna was the one who picked out the dress." She explained, adjusting the top of her dress a little. Her eyes roved around the crowd, "Have we seen our friend yet tonight?"
"No, but all that matters is that Caroline finds her when she's most desperate, then she'll lead her right to us." Stefan reassured as they both looked around. Val turned back to see Damon still staring, and she narrowed her eyes.
"Damon?"
Blinking, the older vampire cleared his throat and nodded, "Um, yeah, go find Matilda and Van Helsing Jr., we'll be up there soon."
Nodding, she adjusted her mask and strolled away, keeping her eyes peeled for the two teens. When she saw them, she nodded and started walking towards the stairs, Jeremy grabbing a bag from behind a plant and following her up. She didn't have to look to know that Bonnie was right behind them.
Finally, they reached the room she'd picked; a large sitting room with French doors, two floors above the main party and several hallways down from the staircase. "This is it. Let's be quick." She instructed them, walking over to Jeremy as he laid out the roll of weapons.
"It's perfect," Bonnie reassured breathlessly as she pulled out her grimoire. Jeremy turned to it curiously.
"Is that the spell book I read about in my family's old journal?" He asked, and Bonnie nodded.
"It's my ancestor Emily's, the spell I'm doing here is similar to the one that sealed the vampire's in the tomb."
Val continued to lay out weapons as they talked, taking great care to ensure the sharp objects and crossbows couldn't be seen when someone just walked in. She sent a text to Damon and Stefan informing them of the hiding places, and reminded the teens of their time limit before she left, looking up to see the two talking and sitting a lot closer together than they were before.
That's interesting, she thought, biting back a smile as she walked out of the room. She looked around for someone to mingle with while she waited for the room to finish; she didn't need Katherine noticing anything suspicious.
As she started walking towards Matt and Tyler, the voice of the anti-Christ herself stopped her.
"Well, look at you, Valentina."
The huntress closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose before turning around, her skirt fluttering a little to face the doppelganger. Katherine had obviously straightened her hair to look like Elena for the party, and was clad in a skin-tight black dress and lacey black mask. Her red lips were pulled into smirk as Val turned, and then her eyes roamed over Val's figure in a way similar to Damon. What was with everyone tonight? It was just a dress!
"Mmm, you know I thought you were Sofia from behind the first time I saw you, but now I can say that you are definitely not her." Katherine drawled, taking several steps closer. Val smiled tightly.
"Yeah, cause she didn't finish you off when she should have. I will." Val shot back, the mention of her ancestry setting her on edge. She did not like that Katherine knew more about her bloodline than she did, it gave the vampire a serious leg-up.
Instead, Katherine actually giggled. "Oh, that is so cute. Baby Rodriguez, trying to stand tall and be the big, bad hunter." She stepped very close, still smiling. But suddenly, the air felt threatening, and a chill ran up Val's spine. She went take her own step back, but the vampires hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist, grasping it tight enough to hurt. The huntress stopped, wincing as Katherine spoke again.
"So, I know that you're probably here to help the Salvatore brothers out with their master plan, probably because of what I did to your friend Jenna." Val's features darkened visibly, her hands itching to grab one of her daggers and stab it into Katherine's neck. She knew it wouldn't kill her, but the vampire's words were starting to push her over the edge. "But I want you to understand something." Her hold on Val's wrist tightened, and the younger girl pressed her lips together in pain, trying not to cry out. "I don't want to kill you, but that doesn't mean I won't." She reached up, twirling one of Val's short waves she'd done for the party around her finger. "Stay out of things you can't handle, or you'll get yourself killed, just like the rest of you family." With that, she let of Val's wrist, and the girl scowled as the doppelganger strutted away, rubbing the sore joint.
"Please tell me someone isn't dead." She practically begged as she walked back into the room, seeing the two brothers arguing and knowing immediately what that meant. Stefan's regretful face and Damon's slightly sheepish one confirmed her fears, and she groaned, rubbing her temple. She'd failed again.
"Who?"
"Amy, one of the high school girls. Katherine snapped her spine."
Val's hand curled into a fist, and it took everything in her not to punch it through the wall next to her. Then, as quickly as it had come, the fury left, and sorrow nearly overwhelmed her. What were they supposed to tell Amy's family? She had her whole life ahead of her. "I'm so sorry…" she whispered to no one in particular, then straightened. Stefan was pacing, and Damon was watching his brother and frenemy with a slightly concerned look.
"I think we need to call this off." The youngest brother finally spoke, and Val's mouth dropped open as Damon protested aggressively.
"What? No! Who's hesitating now? Hey," he stepped up to his younger brother, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a little for emphasis, "this woman destroyed us, she ruined our lives! And that ends tonight." He turned to Val, pointing at her, "Buffy Jr. is with us, that means it's three-to-one. No way Katherine survives that."
Stefan still looked doubtful, and Damon shook him a little again, voice going soft. "We do this together, alright? I got your back." He swore, and his younger brother stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. They both turned to Val, and she nodded, shoulders tense.
"She killed another innocent person. This ends tonight."
They were all sitting, fidgeting with their weapons and pacing, adrenaline running high. Val could feel strength coursing through her veins, a crossbow in one hand a dagger ready in the other. Stefan and Damon's heads suddenly perked up, and they turned to her. "Here they come," Damon whispered into her ear, and she slipped into one of the closets, weapons ready. Soon, footsteps sounded near the door and she heard Caroline whimper, "That one."
A proud and relieved smile spread across Val's face at the sound of the teens voice. I'm going to get these kids ice cream or some shit for how well they're doing…
The doors banged open, and then Katherine spoke, "Where is she?"
Caroline started laughing, and then giggled. "I did it. I didn't think I'd be able to fool you, but," she paused, sounding proud, "I really did it."
A short pause before Katherine spoke again, this time sounding very annoyed. "Stefan."
"Hello, Katherine."
Damon and Val smirked at each other, both sharing a giddy feeling as the doppelganger taunted, "You don't really thing you can kill me with that now, do you?"
"No, I don't."
Damon slowly opened the door, and Val level the crossbow, aiming for her spine.
"But she can."
The wooden stake/arrow flew forward, embedding itself in Katherine's back as Damon rounded on her. Dropping the crossbow, Val pulled out her own knife, ready to weaken the girl if need be. Katherine gasped and choked in pain, staggering forward a little before reaching back and ripping the stake out with pained and furious grunt. Damon flew at her, slicing across her arm, and Val flipped the knife expertly in her hand to grab the blade, swinging it forward and embedding into her shoulder. Katherine shrieked as there was a low hissing noise, yanking the knife out and snarling at Val as she launched it back at her. The huntress was prepared, though, and she spun out of the way, grabbing her own stake as Katherine dodged an attack from Damon and threw him into chair, the measly furniture shattering under his weight. Stefan whipped his owns stake as hard as he could, but Katherine dodged it easily, advancing on him. Val threw her own, but the doppelganger was too fast. She reached up and grabbed it before it even brushed her skin, hurling it back at Val. She wasn't as prepared for that one, and luckily Stefan managed to push her of the was before it sliced through her neck. Rolling, she barely managed not to trip over her damn heels as she yanked the knife from the wall. She turned to see Katherine nearly had the stake in her hand in Damon's chest, the eldest Salvatore brother struggling to keep it away. Before she could send her knife into the doppelganger's spine again, Stefan advanced and grabbed Katherine from behind, pulling her back harshly. The momentum sent them both to the floor, splintering a table underneath them. Damon flipped the stake around and reared it up, ready to slam into Katherine's heart with shocking force. But before he could, a panicked voice screamed, "Don't!"
All three looked over to the door to see Jeremy, panting and face white with fear. "It's hurting Elena! Everything you're doing is hurting Elena."
Val could have screamed; what a dirty trick to pull. Katherine smirked, slapping Stefan's arms from her and standing. "You three think you're the only one with a witch on your side? Wrong. And something tells me my witch is better than your witch."
Scowling, Val swung her knife in her hands as Stefan stood, pointing at Jeremy, "Jeremy, go check on Elena, make sure she's ok. Now!"
The teen took off at his orders, and Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yes, let's all make sure poor Elena is ok." She droned, sounding annoyed. Val smirked.
"Kinda sounds like someone's jealous they're not the center of attention anymore." She shot back, and Katherine's smirk dropped as she grabbed a stake. The huntresses eyes widened as she started dragging it across her palm.
"Just a little bit of pressure," she grunted, then raised it, a thoughtful look on her face. It dropped into a wicked smile, and she raised the stake in the air. Damon, Stefan, and Val's eyes widened in horror when they realized what she was about to do.
"This is really gonna hurt," Katherine mused darkly as she started shoving it towards her stomach.
"Wait!" Damon cried, and the doppelganger paused, staring at their desperate faces triumphantly.
"So," she questioned teasingly, sitting down and crossing one leg over another like they were meeting for brunch. "How about that moonstone?"
Val watched, unamused, as Damon attempted to get out of the room. Bonnie's spell rang true, though, and he couldn't even get past the door. She knew she could, but she was committed to seeing this through to the end; Amy's murder had seen to that.
"Here we are, just like old times." Katherine mocked lightly, "the brother that loved me too much, and the brother that didn't love me enough." She looked over at Val, winking, "And the Rodriguez hunter gunning for my head."
"And the evil slut vampire who only loved herself." Damon shot back, and Val barely suppressed a chuckle.
"What happened to you, Damon? You used to be so sweet and polite." Katherine wondered aloud, and Val raised her eyebrows.
When the hell was that?
"Oh, that Damon died a long time ago." The eldest Salvatore countered, and Katherine's facial expression looked pleased.
"Good. He was a bore." She taunted, and that was when Stefan stepped in.
"Oh, will you two please stop antagonizing each other?" He asked, sounding annoyed, and Val spoke up.
"I agree, that's not why we're all here." Plus, her head was starting to hurt, trying to keep up with all the insults the two vampires were constantly hurling at each other. This night had seriously taken a turn for the worst; they were supposed to be burying this bitch by now.
"Where's the moonstone?" Katherine asked, voice low and demanding. It was clear the vampire was running out of patience, but unfortunately, it hadn't caused her to trip up in desperation like they'd all been hoping. Val walked over from her spot.
"Why do you want it?" She asked flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. The chocolate-haired vampire pursed her lips, shaking her head before looking between the two brothers. "Does Elena enjoy having the two of you worship at her alter?" She asked, and Val cocked an eyebrow as the three exchanged looks.
What an awfully quick deflection…
"That was really desperate, Katherine. Don't you think that we can see right through you?" Stefan confronted her, but the older vampire wasn't done.
"So, it doesn't bother you that Damon's in love with your girlfriend?" She asked innocently, and Val felt her face drop at the question, knowing Stefan heard it, too.
She was trying to distract them. Why didn't she want them to know?
When does anyone hide their intentions? When they know that they'll be stopped if anyone finds out.
Ok, so that meant that they could stop her, or else she wouldn't be hiding it; otherwise, she'd be bragging about it for shoving it in their faces. So, what was it really for?
"Or better yet," Val was snapped out of her thoughts, and realized she'd spaced out for several seconds. "Kiss me, Damon." She teased, stepping closer to the eldest brother. "She'll feel that, too."
But more than one could play at the game she was playing, and Stefan wasn't done. "The whole Mason thing has me confused." He wondered aloud, "Why a werewolf? The moonstone can break a curse that would help them break a curse that can destroy all vampires so," he sighed, narrowing his eyes in mock confusion, "what's in that for you?"
Val made sure to pay special attention to Katherine's face as she came up with response. Drifting eyes, biting her lips, twitching jaw…
Was Katherine afraid?
"Sorry about your pet wolf." Damon apologized tauntingly, "Should've kept him on a tighter leash…" he trailed off, smiling and clearly proud of his pun. This seemed to snap Katherine out of her little thinking session.
"Oh, I will next time." She shot back, "He's not the only wolf in town."
Val's eyes widened in horror as she realized what the vampire meant. "Oh, you bitch…" she snarled before racing out of the room, her heart in her throat.
Fuck, gotta find Tyler, gotta find Tyler, who would know where he was?
As she hit the stairs, she saw Caroline and bolted towards her, opening her mouth to ask frantically, "Caroline, where's-?"
Shattering glass, thuds, and a shout startled both of them, and neither wasted time before they bolted into the office at the end of the hall to see Matt attempting to slam Tyler into the ground. "Hey!" Val called in authoritative, "Stop!"
"What the hell's going on in here?!" Caroline shouted as the two girls ran at the boys, Caroline gabbing Matt and practically throwing him across the room. They both jumped in between the boys as Matt got back up, going for Tyler again. Val kept her hand on the boys arm as Caroline kept pushing Matt back, and Val stared at him in confusion. He was obviously drunk, but she'd driven the kid home when he was drunk; he wasn't ever violent.
"Let me go, I have to finish!" He cried, and that was when it clicked.
Matt's been-
Without skipping a beat, Caroline brought her elbow up and slammed it into Matt's face, knocking him out cold. The huntress jumped in surprise, and Caroline turned to her with a panicked face before rushing to Matt's side, wiping some of the blood off of his nose.
Val crouched next to her, checking for facial structures when she heard Sarah.
"Matt failed. If Matt fails, I can't."
She looked up just in time to see her lunge at Tyler with a letter opener. "Tyler!"
He turned just in time for the silver blade to plunge into his shoulder, yelling pain. Reflexively, he pushed Sarah away harshly, and time seemed to pass in slow motion as she fell, her head striking the edge of the desk and emitting a loud SNAP!
Val bolted to the girl, fingers flying to her neck and realizing in horror there was no pulse. She checked her breathing, but there was nothing. Something in her mind clicked, and she reached to the back of the teens neck, her blood running cold as she felt the bones of the girl's cervical spine move and crack unstably beneath her fingers.
Oh, no, Tyler…
The boy rushed to her side, shaking Sarah. "No, no, no! Sarah! Sarah, open your eyes, wake up!" He shook her frantically, but Val reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Tyler…"
"Wake up!"
"Tyler!"
He turned to her, and she shook her head. "She's dead, Tyler. Her neck is broken."
The teen's face dropped in horror, and his eyes flashed with dread as Caroline and Val both met each other's eyes, face tight with fear. Suddenly, the boy stood, clutching his head and grunting and shouting in pain. Val shot to her feet, grabbing Caroline's arm and pushing the girl behind her.
"Tyler?" The blonde questioned, her voice high. "Tyler, what's happening?"
"Get away! Get away!" He yelled, waving his hand at them aggressively. Val felt her stomach drop to her feet when he looked up and their eyes met, his morphing into a mix of orange and yellow.
That's not good…
After giving her statement to Liz, she ran up to the room to check on the boys again, but all was well. The witch that had been on Katherine's side had turned on her, a great turn of events. Damon had grabbed the now-unconscious vampire and headed for the tomb; the spell was still active, meaning she'd be trapped there forever. A very poetic justice, in Val's opinion. Once she was sure Elena was now alright and that everyone was safe, she went home.
A very eager Freddie Mercury was licking and nipping at her toes as she walked in, his big brown puppy eyes and floppy tongue pulling a smile from the exhausted girl. Glancing at her phone, her face lit up when she saw the time and she dialed the first number on her speed dial.
It only rang once before a tiny, familiar voice chimed on. "Tina!"
She laughed at the sound of her little brother yelling for Alex and then spoke to her again, "Are you going to sing us to sleep again, Tina?"
"Yes, mijo, I am." She assured him. This was their new nightly routine; she called Liza's phone and was put on speaker to sing the kids their lullaby as they drifted off to sleep.
Once both kids had assured her they were tucked away in bed, she started singing softly, though her voice was definitely nothing to brag over.
Mama take this badge from me
I can't use it anymore
It's gettin' dark, too dark to see
Feel I'm knockin' on Heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door
Here comes Elijah...
NEXT EPISODE: ROSE
The next day, she had dropped by the school to type up the practice schedule; she needed to have it to Principal Manning today, and she'd completely forgotten. Arriving at six a.m. with coffee and some bags under her eyes, she barely managed to finish before the first bell rang.
As she was walking back to her office, though, Stefan was at her side in an instant.
You know something has been happening too often when it doesn't even make you jump anymore.
"Elena's missing." He whispered to her in a panic, beginning to lead her out of the school. Val's blood ran cold, and she stared at him in shock.
"What?! But Katherine's in the tomb, Damon put her there!"
"I know, I called him, he'll be here soon."
Out on the lawn, the three were putting their heads together, but all it was raising was more questions.
"This has Katherine written all over it." Stefan speculated, but both Val and Damon shook their heads.
"Katherine's in the tomb." Damon shot back, sounding frustrated. "I shut her in there myself."
"Well, did you?" Stefan asked, and Val's eyes widened. Now was not the time for some brotherly arguing.
"What does that mean?" Damon asked darkly, not at all looking pleased with his brother's tone.
"Well, I know the hold that Katherine has on you." Stefan hurled at his brother, and Val, seeing the look on Damon's face, stepped in between them.
"Enough. Katherine's in the tomb, that's it. We've got to think harder, who else would want the doppelganger?" She brought them back down to Earth, glad they no longer looked like they wanted to kill each other, even if just a little bit.
"Katherine…did say something right before I shut her in." Damon started sheepishly, and the other two snapped their heads to him as he muttered, "I thought she was lying."
"You gonna share with the class, or should we play charades?" Val asked sarcastically, her patience running out. Both Amy and Sarah were dead, she wasn't going to be involved in the murder of another teen.
Damon shot her a glare before telling them, "She said Elena was in danger."
The huntress scowled, running her hands through her hair in frustration. As the two began arguing again, she immediately went to find Bonnie. She didn't want the tomb opened, no one did, but that didn't mean she couldn't help. They had to do something, or they could very well be finding Elena's body a few weeks from now.
Because Bonnie was amazing, she could do a locater spell. Which, if Val was being completely honest, was probably one of the coolest things she'd seen that day.
She rolled out the bag of weapons, both hers and Rick's. She and Stefan were stocked up to go, ready for just about anything. Val could only pray that it wasn't anything like when Stefan got kidnapped; she wasn't going to be able to fight a whole house of vampires, she'd gotten lucky last time.
Bonnie stood with Jeremy over a map, eyes closed and concentrating. Walking over with Stefan, they stopped to see a trail of blood traveling over the paper. Val felt that familiar breeze go over her skin, coming from Bonnie's direction, as the drop stopped on a spot three hundred miles away.
"There. She's there." Bonnie told them, and the older woman caught the note of exhaustion in her voice. How much magic had the young girl been doing?
"We need a more exact location." Stefan demanded, and Val rolled her eyes.
"It's not on-demand, Stefan. We have to work with what we've got." She told him, a little peeved he was snapping at Bonnie as she was helping them.
"We can map it, aerial view. It'll show us what's around the area." Jeremy reassured them, and Val smiled.
I love modern tech.
"I'm coming with you." Jeremy started following she and Stefan out the door, but both stopped, turning and holding up a hand.
"No. Both of you, go back to your house and stay safe, ok? We'll call you the minute we find her." Stefan told him firmly, and Val turned to Bonnie.
"And you, get some sleep. I mean it, Bon, as well as some hot soup and lots of water." She ordered the young girl gently.
"You guys can't do this alone! And Val, you're human!"
The huntresses face dropped in irritation, "Hey, I can handle my own." She chided when she was interrupted by the door behind them opening up.
"They're not." Val turned to see Damon in the doorway, face set in determination.
"You're coming?" Stefan asked, sounding more than a little surprised. His brother only shrugged.
"It's Elena. Plus, someone's gotta make sure booster seat here doesn't get hurt, and you'll have you hands full." He gestured mockingly to Val, and the grateful look on her face dropped to one of annoyance.
"Gee, thanks."
On the way there, Val was loading her gun and ensuring all the parts were cleaned, as well as two stakes planted up her sleeve and the stake launcher next to her.
"What's that?" Damon question pulled her from her task, and she looked up to see Stefan fiddling with something that looked suspiciously like a grenade.
"It's like a vervain bomb or a grenade launcher, I don't know, something like that." Stefan brushed off, and Damon shook his head.
"Weird."
"Um, I think you mean 'awesome'." Val told them, reaching a hand up and wiggling her fingers. Stefan handed the girl the weapon, both brothers smiling slightly at the girls strange fascination with deadly objects.
"So, who do you think took her?" Stefan asked, and Damon shrugged.
"Someone from Katherine's past, she said she was running from someone. Maybe they've got the wrong girl." Damon speculated, and the huntress raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't Katherine five-hundred-some-odd-years old? That's a pretty long list of potentially very dangerous people." She warned (Lmao, you got no idea, Val.)
"Thanks, by the way, for helping." Stefan told him, then turned slightly in his seat. "You, too, Val."
The girl nodded, raising a stake in reply as Damon groaned. "Can we not do the whole road-trip bonding thing? The whole cliché of it all makes me itch."
Val tuned out the brothers arguing, a part of her heart aching. They sounded like her siblings whenever they fought; actually, the Salvatore's kind of reminded her of her siblings. Stefan and Hector were very alike; both people pleasers, both very empathetic. As much as it made her want to vomit, Alex and Damon were sort of the same, as well. Alex was very good at charming to get what she wanted; the girl knew how cute she was with her braids and huge brown eyes.
"Val, have you heard anything about your siblings, yet?"
The question startled her out of her thoughts as she looked back to see both brothers looking at her in the rearview mirror. "Um, no, nothing." She shrugged them off, not wanting to give any details. She knew it wasn't that they couldn't help, but she didn't want anyone to think she couldn't take care of the kids on her own, that was the whole point.
"How's it going getting into a new apartment?" Damon asked her, and her lips parted in shock.
"How did you-?" She started asking, then stopped, closing her eyes and sighing. "You compelled the social worker after she left my place, didn't you?"
"Close, I took a peek at the papers. That place on Harrington, right? The one with the pool and big playground?" Val remained silent, not wanting to really admit that he was right. "They won't give the kids to you unless you get somewhere that swanky, or-?"
"Ok, I agree with your previous statement, let's skip the bonding." She cut him off, snapping unintentionally.
The brothers both stopped talking and Val looked out the window, trying to distract herself and not noticing the look they both sent each other.
They were surrounded by woods, and the heat was definitely more intense than in Virginia. As they got out of the car, Val charged her gun and holstered it, eyes roving the grounds for signs of vampires or anything that would be less than friendly. The boys followed her out of the car, and Damon spoke up as Stefan grabbed the bag of weapons. "House should be just beyond those trees. Now, look, I've got more experience than you do with this sort of thing." He told his brother as the three converged.
"What's your point?"
"My point is whoever has Elena is probably whoever was after Katherine in 1864 and before that."
Stefan still didn't look concerned, and shook his head, looking unimpressed. "And?"
"And that puts him at, what? Five hundred years old at least?" Val spoke up, the stress of situation starting to weigh on her. Who the hell knew how old this guy was?
"Yeah, are you sure you wanna do this?" Damon asked his little brother, and if it had been a different situation than life or death, Val would've found the concerned look on his face for his brother adorable.
"Yeah, I'm certain I wanna do it." Stefan responded confidently. Damon looked at both of them.
"'Cause, if we go in that house, we might not come back out."
Both vampires looked to Val, and she shook her head, unafraid. "Oh, I'm coming back out. I've got shit to do with my life." She told them firmly, and that seemed to be enough for them.
"Then I guess I won't come out." Stefan shrugged, and Damon stared at him, shocked.
"So noble, Stefan."
"I can't think of a better reason to die, alright?" Stefan told his brother, now beginning to fidget where he stood. "But if you want to stay here, I'll totally understand." He started walking off, and Val smiled, shaking her head as she and Damon followed.
Once at the house, Stefan jumped up and through an open window into the second floor of the second floor of the house. Damon turned to her, interlacing his fingers. "Let's go, peanut."
"Wait, you're going to throw me?" She asked incredulously, shaking her head. "No, no way, what if Stefan doesn't catch me?!"
"If Stefan doesn't, I will." He told her, and the huntress actually paused at the tone in his voice. He sounded so, sincere. And he was being sincere about helping her, which was strange. Taking a deep breath, she nodded and placed her foot on his hands, balancing herself on his shoulders. Looking at his face, he gave her a reassuring glance before counting quietly. "Ok, ready? One, two, three!"
She was airborne for a terrifying moment, and then hands enclosed around her arms, pulling her so quickly to the right it threw off her equilibrium. As Stefan set her in the room, she stumbled and accidentally hit a very old vase-
-and they both watched in horror as it hit the ground, shattering loudly.
Damon was at the window in a second, and Val hissed a "Sorry!" before they all rushed to position. Val ducked behind the main railing of the staircase, gun in hand.
Not even thirty seconds later, she heard the sound of footsteps, at least three people.
"Rose." A man's voice, authoritative and dark, clearly a warning to whoever he was speaking to. And then a woman's voice, slightly more panicked as she swore vehemently she didn't know who was in the house.
"Up here." Val called softly, tauntingly, and soon Damon was near her, the two of them smiling at each other before he whooshed away and she heard the sound of footsteps up the stairs, too fast to be human, before Damon called out, "Down here!"
The harsh sound of a stake launching pierced the air, and then the sound of it meeting flesh. She knew they weren't lucky enough to get his heart, but she prayed it was something like a shoulder to slow him down. Before she could think more about it, Stefan was across the hall from her, Elena in front of him, as he whispered quietly and reassuringly to her. Looking up, she saw on the next landing Damon had another woman pinned to the wall, a hand over her mouth. The man's voice again made her muscles tense, and she got in position as she watched Stefan hand the vervain grenade to Elena.
"Excuse me! To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me: you can't. Do you hear that?" There was the loud, unmistakable sound of splintering wood, and Val knew he was armed. "You cannot beat me. Now, I want the girl on the count of three, or heads will roll." A loud snapping noise almost made the girl flinch, that sounded…sharp. "Do we understand each other?"
Elena nodded to the huntress before jumping from her position and onto the landing. "I'll come with you! Please don't hurt my friends. They were just trying to help me out." She begged.
The man was suddenly in front of her, and Val could see brown hair with a suit.
"What game are you playing with me?" He asked, not sounding at all amused, and that was when Elena acted.
Pulling the pin, she launched it into the air. The vervain and the shrapnel boomed in midair, hitting his face. The man shouted in pain, almost falling down the stairs. Growling, he straightened, his burnt and disfigured face already beginning to heal. Taking her que, Val ran down the stairs as he started for Elena, and he looked up at the new sounds of footsteps.
Val smirked.
"Hi, there."
Then started shooting.
Her bullets slammed into his chest repeatedly, causing him to move, but not enough to knock him backwards. He continued up the stairs, staring at her in anger and dark amusement. Finally, she ran out of bullets, and yanked out a stake, lunging for his heart. He grabbed her wrist and a hand wrapped around her neck, slamming her against the wall behind her. Val gasped in pain, and his eyes fell to a flash of gold; her crucifix had come out of her shirt at the impact.
His eyes flew back up to hers widening in shock. "And just who are you?" He asked curiously, and a flash out of the corner of her eye made her smirk again.
Stefan slammed into the man, sending them both tumbling down the stairs. Barely able to take a breath, she ran to Elena and pulled her to her feet, ready to fight if for some reason the brothers failed. But she was not disappointed. Damon snatched up the broken coat rack and skewered it through the mans heart, walking him back until his back hit the wall, the large make-shift stake hitting the wall behind him and effectively killing him.
He stared at Damon for a second before his skin greyed, and then his head dropped.
Dead. Finally.
Once they were finally home, she didn't even have the energy to turn down Damon's offer for a ride back to her apartment building. They drove in silence, both coming down from the high of the rescue mission. Once they had stopped, she gave him a tired but sincere "Thank you," before hopping out of the car, throwing her bag over her shoulder and starting for the door.
"You know, we make a pretty good team." Damon's voice made her turn, and she smiled slightly.
"Yeah, well, I guess our mutual appreciation for weapons and violence makes us semi-compatible."
They shared a chuckle, and she looked at him gently. "That was pretty sweet, going back for her necklace."
Damon looked at her in, face dropping in shock, before he played it off and smiled, shaking his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about, short stack."
Val smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure you don't. Goodnight, Damon." She started to turn around, but Damon's voice stopped her.
"Hey, Val." She turned, actually surprised to hear her name, and saw that he was staring at her with a different look on his face, one he'd never seen before.
"I can help you, y'know. Me, Stefan, Caroline, we all can. We can help you get our siblings."
Now it was Val's turn. She felt that familiar feeling of being offered help, of being told that she had someone in her corner that she could trust, that they had her best interest at heart. Her chest closed off, and she shook her head, smiling tightly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
They stared at each other for a few more seconds before she bid him goodnight again and walked inside her apartment, feeling his eyes on her the whole time.
The mansion…dark…nighttime…
Elijah's body pinned to the door…his grey skin…the veins…
Was that greyness lifting?...
Receding…slowly…his skin was normal again…the air was cold now, terrifyingly cold…he reached down and pulled out the stake in his heart…he looked furious…
Val gasped, shooting awake. A sharp, burning sensation was searing into her chest, her skin, and she reached up, fumbling with a burning hot object. For a second, she thought she was in danger, and her hands flew for her gun at the bedside table before awareness came back to her.
She was in her room, her bare legs tangled in her sheets, skin covered in a cold sweat. One hand was wrapped around her 9mm, the other her crucifix. It was only warm, now, but she knew that it had been the source of the extreme heat that had awakened her. She was panting like she'd just gotten done with a training session, and she rubbed the rubies on her necklace, the warmth beginning to recede.
What the hell was that?