A/N: Sorry! I know, it took me a while to get this up…I had a bit of a block on this one. I also got caught up with a couple other stories that I've been working on. Misery Chain – Litost (which I posted a music fan video for on youtube under my channel vanessasymone. Lots of others there too 😊) & The Doppelganger's Keeper, if you're interested!
Anyways…Onward! Thank you for hanging in there with me - V
Chapter 9: What Happens Now?
Damon crossed the cabin floor with haste, engulfing Mia in his arms. He was alarmed by how cold she was; it was like he was hugging a human shaped block of ice. He put it out of his head, and smiled when she hugged him back even tighter, her forehead burying into his shoulder. "Mia…" he rasped. "my ribs…" he tried to laugh it off, but he was growing concerned about how much pressure his bones could take.
She pulled away quickly, hold him by the shoulder at arms length. "I'm sorry! God, I missed you!" She gave him a once over. "You look…"
Damon raised a brow. "You better watch how you finish that sentence." He warned. He knew he probably looked a little worn around the eyes, and there was a sprinkling of white in his stubbled beard.
"like you need a drink!" She bounced over to a cabinet with a small bar and glasses.
She wasn't wrong about that. He was so on edge he felt he might fall over. He cast a glance towards Elena, who just smiled reassuringly and he felt that panic start to dissipate. He held her gaze and smiled back. "Thanks, but I'm okay." He felt the other two sets of eyes turn to him with disbelief. "Would you believe I'm trying to cut back?" Drinking and Damon pretty much went hand in hand; rarely would you see one without the other…especially as of late.
"Well…I guess Hell has finally froze over." Kat took one last peek out the door, making sure there was no one that followed them, before shutting the door and locking it behind her. She let her eyes fall on her sister. "Your influence, I assume?" she couldn't help the sarcastic undertone. In the short time that she had been following them, and their brief reunion in the cabin caused incredible jealously rise within her.
The sarcasm wasn't lost on Elena, and she slipped easily into a sibling banter with Katherine. Elena crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "The way I remember it, I was the one to drink you under the table." Katherine had the decency to shut her mouth in shame, turning her head away. Mia offered a glass of wine to her friend, then Elena, but she just shook her head.
Damon took a minute to dart his eyes between his sister and Katherine. "What's going on? Why are we here?"
"You took a risk looking for us." Katherine started, pinning a stare on her sister. "Now you're in danger."
Damon frowned. "In danger of what?"
"The big bad. Klaus Mikaelson." Mia shuddered. "He's one of the oldest vampires in the history of time, and we've been running from him since we turned."
Elena turned to Damon. "Apparently Katherine and I come from a long line of doppelgangers. Our blood breaks a curse. Klaus is the vampire I saw kill that woman years ago."
"And right now, he thinks I'm the one he saw that night." Katherine finished for her. "I'd like to keep it that way." She took a healthy sip of her wine.
"What curse?" Damon asked staring at his sister, almost in amazement. He thought he'd never see her again and yet here she was, completely unchanged, except for her hair, which fell to her shoulders in beachy waves. He noticed when Elena and Katherine both dropped their gaze to the floor simultaneously, with a somber purse of their lips. They looked so similar right now; their hair curled, black jeans, and heeled boots. Their only difference was their tops, which they must have switched back at the loft, and Katherine's darker make up.
Mia piped up. "Klaus is a hybrid. He's a vampire and a werewolf; basically indestructible. But his mother, a witch, put a curse on him supressing his werewolf side. It weakened him, but ever since he's been hunting down the bloodline of the woman his mother killed as a sacrifice." She gestured to Katherine and Elena. "Katherine turning in a vampire ruined his chances, but if he finds out Elena is alive…it's back on the table. That's why, it was incredibly stupid for you guys to come looking for us." She sighed deeply.
Damon stared blankly ahead. "I'll have that drink now." His sister bounced into action, pouring him a glass of bourbon from the mini bar. "Thanks." He mumbled tossing it back quickly, and handing it back to her for another one.
Mia smiled fondly, and just handed him the bottle. "I miss you, Damon. But you shouldn't have put yourself in danger like this." She grabbed his hand, and squeezed it gently. "I'm sorry that I scared you…but I'm okay." He noticed that there was a light in her eyes that seemed brighter than ever. "You know how I had it with dad…now I can finally be free." Her eyes glazed over with tears.
A pained look pulled on Damon's face. Their father always had Mia heavily under his thumb. Their mother died when she was five, and Giuseppe's fear of losing his little girl turned him onto a controlling and overbearing parent. But over time, she rebelled, and her disobedience made him bitter and angry. She vowed the first time he laid a hand on her that she would do whatever she had to escape him. Mia would never forget the day Damon found out, and stormed over, ripping him out of his lounger in the living room and slamming him against the wall, promising the next time he'd be swallowing his teeth. While Giuseppe never hit her again, although he was still rough with her, and sometimes the bruises would last for days; she was able to hide it from her brother for his own sake.
She beamed at him. "I've never been happier. I wanted this. So don't worry about me, okay?" He nodded as he looked her over, a genuine grin cracking his lips and quickly pulled her back into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head.
Elena watched the siblings embrace from across the room with a smile. This was the first time she got to see this kind of happiness on his face; and it was kind of beautiful. So much pain and loss had worn him down, and now that loss was evaporating. She couldn't help but feel proud and helping him get this piece of him back. Damon's blue eyes seemed to snap up to meet hers, and he mouthed a thank you, as if he was reading her mind. She smiled back, and walked into the kitchen, needing to catch her breath.
While Damon's journey was likely ending, she felt like hers was just beginning. He found his sister, he got his answers, he didn't need to get anymore involved in this. A part of her was sad that this person she had bonded with, shared this deep secret with over the last little while no longer needed her help.
She poured herself a glass of water with shaky hands, wondering what was next. Elena downed the whole glass, and rested her hands on the counter. The sound of heels clicking on the hardwood coming up behind her snapped her out of her thoughts.
"You know this isn't over, right?" Katherine started forebodingly. "You don't just get back to your normal life when all is said and done."
Elena laughed sarcastically, before turning to face her sister. "You think I have a normal life to go back to? A few months ago I was in an 8 by 8 room getting forced fed meds every 6 hours. What is normal, Katherine?" she bit out sourly.
Katherine pursed her lips uncomfortably and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. Honestly, you were probably safer there."
Elena narrowed her eyes spitefully. "Why did you pretend like I didn't exist?" She could see the surprise on Kat's face. "Why would you not tell Damon that you had a twin? Or that you had a sister at all. Am I that much of an embarrassment to you?"
Katherine dropped her arms to her sides. "I wasn't embarrassed of you, Elena. You're my sister." She stepped further into the kitchen, and leaned against the counter opposite Elena. "Damon knew everything about you. When I turned, I was worried that if a vampire came looking for me they'd end up finding you, so I compelled him to forget. Took away any memory he had of you." She explained. "What I didn't expect, was for you to find him." She rolled her eyes. "I specifically told Isobel to keep you as far from him as possible, but you and I both know how useless she is." She scoffed.
They shared a laugh at their common dislike of their mother. "You know better than to think she'd be my first call."
There was a long silence between them. "You need to stay here for a while. I can't risk you getting spotted." Katherine explained. "There's enough to hold you over for a week or two, and I'll be a call away if you need anything."
Elena felt panic rise within her. "You're just going to leave me here by myself? What if someone finds me here?"
Her sister smirked. "I'll make sure someone keeps an eye on you. Vampires need to be invited in by the owner of the house, and the owner of this place is on the other side of the country. You're safe here." She turned to walk back into the main room.
"What about Damon?" Elena asked quickly, stopping her from leaving.
Katherine let a snide smile pull on her lips. The concern in her sister's voice pulled on something inside her, and it left a bitter taste in her mouth. She turned back to face Elena; her eyes cold and her chin high. "What about Damon?" she snapped, attitude oozing off her.
"What's going to happen to him?"
Kat rolled her eyes, lolling her head to the side. "He's going home; he'll forget any of this happened and live the rest of his life like a normal person." She fixed Elena with a hard stare. "It's better this way."
Elena felt the rage build up in her. "You can't do that Katherine. Do you have any idea the state I found him in? He was miserable…drinking himself stupid every night. This is the happiest he's been since we met. All he wanted was to know that Mia was okay." she reigned herself in. "You can't take that from him."
She shrugged a shoulder in response. "Fine. Then I'll just make him forget that I ever existed. All he'll remember is Mia ran off to see the world and he can start over. Maybe he can finally have a life." Her words were sharp and nasty, as if she couldn't care less.
Elena shook her head in disbelief. "What is wrong with you? You can't just, mess with someone's mind like that, Kat. He's a human being." She did her best to keep her voice down, knowing he was just in the other room.
Her sister stalked towards her like slowly. "What's wrong with me? I'm a vampire. I can do whatever I want. I don't care about silly little emotions like guilt or sadness." When Katherine was only a foot away, she looked her up and down. "I don't care about him…I care about me. And Damon is a liability."
"You obviously care about me…" she didn't falter. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now." Even as Elena stared her sister straight in the eyes, she felt like she was looking into a deep abyss.
"Yes." She responded tensely. "You're my blood…you need to be protected. But don't disillusion yourself, dear sister. I'm not the girl you once knew. That girl is dead. I suggest you stop looking for any of those redeeming qualities. You aren't going to find them." Katherine left the room, and Elena let out the breath she didn't know she was holding.
…
The four of them laid low for the night, Katherine claiming she didn't want to draw too much attention to the area. Elena settled into a room, seeing there were already clothes in the closet, undoubtedly Katherine's. Her sister's words frustrated her; how could she not care? She didn't believe it…she didn't want to. Katherine was still in there, even if she didn't want to admit it.
She dropped onto the bed, throwing herself back to look at the ceiling, when a knock snapped her out of her revere. Elena tilted her head up and smiled, seeing Damon in the doorway. "Hey."
He walked in, looking a little overwhelmed, and exhausted, and she felt it too. "Well…today has been weird." He joked, laying down on the bed to stare at the ceiling, mimicking her position. "Can't say I was expecting this."
She scoffed. "Nope. I started this looking for answers, and all I have is more questions." She glanced at him. "You and Mia seemed to be catching up well." She was almost jealous; for most of the day, Mia rambled on and on, telling Damon about all the amazing places she'd seen, and things she'd done. They seemed to pick up where they left off. She wondered how Mia could keep that part of her humanity, while her own sister turned it off.
That genuine smile broke on his face again. "Yeah...God I missed her. She's the same as I remember her…" he glanced at her. "I can't thank you enough, Elena." His eyes scanned her face. "I gave up. I didn't want to admit it, but I did. You gave me hope…so thank you." He reached over, and squeezed her hand.
Elena's breathing picked up at his touch and she had to pull her eyes away for a moment, but she didn't let go, and neither did he. "You're welcome."
He looked back up at the ceiling. "So what happens now?"
An unsettling feeling came over her, and she released his hand, pushing herself into a sitting position. "Well…seems I'm hiding out here for a while." She hugged her knees close to her chest. "Katherine said I need to be protected. So I guess I get this whole cabin to myself for the next foreseeable future. Not like I had anywhere else to go."
Damon sat up with her. "You shouldn't be here all alone. I'll stay with you." He concluded.
"I don't know if that's a good idea, Damon. Its bad enough I dragged you into the mess, the last thing I want to do is put you in danger." She expressed gently, worried by this time tomorrow, he wouldn't even remember this conversation.
His hand rested on her back, rubbing in a comforting circle, she couldn't help but let her eyes close. It had been so long since she'd had this kind of comfort. "If you think I can just walk away and go back to my old life, your crazy…this is far more exciting." He teased with a lopsided grin. "We started this together…I wouldn't feel right leaving you to handle the rest on your own."
She felt her eyes well up. "Thank you." He gently pulled her to lean against him, one arm around her shoulders and her head resting on his.
Katherine watched them from the crack in the door. A ripple of jealously flared up in her, but she pushed it down. She didn't have a right to feel that way. She made her choice…now she had to live with it.