Crying Wolf
In the middle of the night, Louise jerked awake as something touched her face, but a cool finger over her lips and a pair of bright eyes informed her it was Damon.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered to him, but he hushed her and pointed at Elena, Bonnie and Caroline asleep beside her on Caroline's bed. She titled her head slightly, it amazed her how all four of them managed to fit.
Carefully, Louise extracted herself from the two and followed him out into the hallway. Sherriff Forbes was long asleep so there was no chance of being caught.
"What are you-?" Louise began her question again but his kiss silenced her. Damon pulled her tight against his body, kissing her with ferocity. Louise kissed him back, every part of her body rippling with fire as his hands crawled over every part of her back. The vampire backed her against the wall and pinned her there, not relenting in his onslaught.
"Damon." Louise gasped out as quietly as possible as she fought to catch her breath between kisses. "We can't- here-"
"Mmph." he mumbled against her neck, his tongue tickling the skin there. Louise stifled an involuntary giggle.
"I'm serious! What are you doing?" he finally gave in and stopped, though he didn't move apart from her at all.
"I want you." He growled in a way that made her shiver. It took every ounce of her willpower not to pick up where they'd left off, but Louise was wary of being overheard, especially with Caroline in the house.
"You do pick your moments." Louise sighed. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. Just...your aunt must be really keen to drive me away. She gave me the news woman's number." he admitted with a chuckle. Louise felt a flicker of annoyance.
"Did you...?"
"Call her?" He laughed then, and Louise hit him to warn him to lower his volume. "No, Louise. I was taking a bath and all I could think about was how much I wanted you there in the tub with me..." He could be so seductive when he wanted to be. It was almost impossible to resist any vampire's charm when they wanted you to be charmed; it was a part of what they were. But when it came to Damon...Louise steeled herself.
"Damon." she said his name.
"Louise." he said hers back, teasingly.
"We will talk in the daytime, okay?"
"Okay." He sighed, exaggerating his disappointment with a slump of the shoulders as he turned away. Louise grabbed his arm gently, spinning and planted her lips onto his. The kiss didn't last long for his liking, as the brunette pulled away and began to usher him out.
He gave her one last ravishing look before vamping off into the night. Louise sighed, feeling her heart rate finally beginning to slow, before re-entering Caroline's room and crawling back into bed.
It was not the morning sunshine peeking through the curtains that woke the girls but the blaring ringtone that came from Elena's phone. Caroline promptly pushed the elder Gilbert girl out of bed. With a loud thud, Elena fell to the floor, waking her immediately. Soft moaning, the brunette opened her eyes and ignored her heavy bones. She crawled across the floor towards her phone and took it off the dresser.
She put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
Once those words slipped from her mouth, there was a choir of groans from the three sleepy girls on the bed, all incredibly annoyed with being awaken.
"Shhh." Bonnie scowled.
"Elena!" Caroline sleepily groaned.
"Go away!" Louise pulled the pillow from under her and hurled it at her sister who luckily dodged it.
Elena dragged herself out of Caroline's room to continue her conversation in the hallway.
"How was the slumber party?" Stefan questioned through the phone.
"Good and much needed." Elena replied. Her voice was flirtatious as she added. "When can you and I have one?"
"Mmm." The vampire's husky voice hummed over the phone. "That can be arranged."
"Okay. Now. Today. Take me far, far away."
Damon held the dagger up to the morning sunlight which streamed in through the window. It was made of some sort of dark metal and was also clearly very old, an antique. He wasn't sure what to make of John Gilbert's visit and he hadn't told Louise yet, so he had called the only other person who might be able to shed some sort of rational light on this.
Alaric arrived, letting himself into the house and entering the parlour where Damon was waiting. "What was it you wanted to show me?" The teacher asked expectantly.
"This." Damon held the dagger out. "John Gilbert gave me it to kill Elijah." Damon wasn't keen on trusting John's word, that was for sure. Damon had seen the kind of things Elijah was capable of, both himself and his allies. The witches he had working with him had demonstrated enormous power in ending the werewolves attack on himself and Stefan hen they had gone to rescue Caroline. "He said you have to dip the dagger in the remains of an old white ash tree that dates back to the Originals, if there's any truth in that."
Alaric took the dagger and examined it, frowning. "So, you think it's a setup?"
"It could be." Damon replied. "Guy's a weasel. Wouldn't put anything past him." Alaric nodded, still examining the dagger, apparently just as at a loss as to what to believe as Damon for the moment. Sighing, the vampire headed over to pour himself a drink, changing the subject. "What are you up to today, Mr. Saltzman?"
"Well, Jenna and I were supposed to go to her family's lake house, but somehow, we both got roped into doing this Historical Society thing at the Lockwoods." Alaric grimaced, joining Damon at the bar.
"Where Elijah's the guest of honour." Damon recalled, smirking. The original had ingratiated himself into the highest circles of Mystic Falls with eases under the guise of historical writer researching small-town Virginian history. The council were eating out of his palm.
Alaric was scrutinising him carefully. He frowned. "Tell me you're not gonna kill him at the tea party."
"No. That would be stupid." Alaric gave the vampire a sceptical look. " I want to know his endgame before I kill him, but I do think it's time Elijah and I officially met." Damon annoyingly tapped Alaric with the dagger and the hunter looked at him, clearly not amused.
Driving home the next morning after the sleepover with the girls, Louise couldn't help but smile. Although Caroline was very shaken up and needed some comforting, over all it felt really good for them to be all together again. She couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of sadness because it took a sleepover to realise how much things had really changed. They had truly grown in many different ways. Sometimes she felt like there was nothing but trouble on the horizon for them these days and that might be completely true. Somehow, she still felt happy. She had Damon, her family and friends.
Speaking of Damon, she currently had him on loud speaker as she drove home. She was telling him about her night with the girls. "I wish it could always be like this." The brunette admitted. "That we didn't have to think about moonstones or doppelgangers."
"What would we do with our lives then?" Damon half joked.
"Normal stuff." Louise shrugged before she smiled a little as she added. "I want to do normal stuff with my vampire boyfriend."
"Normal is overrated."
"And what would you have us do, Damon? Wear black, night-vision goggles and break into a blood bank?" Louise replied, her face a mask of indifference as she stared at the road ahead.
"I don't need night-vision goggles."
Louise rolled her eyes playfully with a shake of her head. "Anyways..." she trailed off, changing the subject. "Stefan is whisking Elena off on romantic getaway, which means we have the boarding house all to ourselves this weekend." A huge grin spread across her face as she explained. "So, I'm thinking of coming over now and-"
"Actually," Damon began as he cut her off. "I have some business to take care of first but I'll all yours after."
Louise frowned and her brows furrowed. "What business."
"I promise I'll explain everything later. Okay?" Damon said. Louise reluctantly agreed. "Alright. Got to go. I love you."
"I love you too." Louise replied and the call ended.
Damon entered the Lockwood mansion and before he was even in the same room as the rest of the guests, he could hear Elijah and Carol Lockwood speaking. Elijah was being very convincing in his interest in researching small towns in Virginia, in all fairness. Damon could only imagine Carol's reaction if she knew who she was really speaking to - and Original vampire, one of the most dangerous people in history.
Before he could make it over to them however, he was intercepted by Jenna. He looked confusedly at Louise's aunt - he was still curious as to why she'd wanted to set him up with the news lady given his relationship and history with her niece. It was strange.
"Damon, what are you doing here?" she asked him, seeming surprised to see him there.
"I'm from a Founding family. " He shrugged. "I'm very interested in the history of our town." He was also very much a part of it.
"Hi," A voice said, and he turned to find Andie Star, the news reporter, standing there with wide eyes, holding a notepad. Damon groaned inwardly - he really didn't need this right now. His plan was to get in, meet Elijah, and then get out of here to spend time with Louise. "I wasn't expecting to see you here." Andie gushed.
"I'm full of surprises." he said shortly. Andie looked a little hurt at his coldness and Jenna frowned. Damon sighed and decide to tackle the problem right then. "Jenna, can I speak to you?" He pulled her to the side, hating that such trivial matters were getting in the way of things which were much more important - like the safety of Louise, for example, or the presence of an Original he didn't trust one bit.
"What's with you trying to set me up with Andie?" he asked Jenna tiredly.
"I thought you guys might hit it off." Jenna shrugged, trying to seem casual but Damon wasn't fooled.
"Jenna, Louise and I are kind of...together." He wanted to add something sarcastic but he refrained. Jenna's eyes widened as she looked at him.
"This is news to me." she admitted. Louise evidently hadn't filled her in.
"I would appreciate it if you kind of got that through to Andie. I don't want to cause any trouble - I don't intend to hurt Louise, either." Jenna was giving him a shrewd, searching look. Finally, she sighed.
"Fine. If I'm honest I don't really want you with Louise. She's young, Damon and she lost her parents no so long ago, and honestly I think you might be a little too old for her." Jenna said bluntly. Damon had to stop himself from smirking amusedly - she had not idea just how old he was.
"I understand you're looking out for her, Jenna but so am I. " Damon said instead, sincerely. Jenna bit her lip.
"Fine. But one wrong move." She let the warning linger as she walked away.
The Salvatore breathed in relief but he could still feel Andie Star watching him and it was taking all that was in him to simply rip her head off to rid himself of this irritation. Instead, he turned and headed over to Carol and Elijah, the former of whom looked happy to see him.
"What a surprise." Carol smiled as they exchanged kisses on the cheek in greeting. "Elijah, I want you to meet Damon Salvatore. His family is one of Mystic Falls' founding families." she explained beaming at the Original. Elijah's expression was unreadable as he extended his hand to Damon, though his dark eyes seemed to twinkle.
"Mm-hm." Damon hummed as he shook Elijah's hand. "Such a pleasure to meet you." He half expected Elijah to crush his hand but didn't; his shake was controlled.
"No." Elijah's response was smooth. "Pleasure's mine."
Soon enough the Original is walking into the study which Damon held the door open to. The Salvatore followed the older vampire into the room, closing the door behind him.
"What can I do for you, Damon?" Elijah prompted and it was then that his cordial smile had worn on his face outside dropped. Now he seemed nothing short of bored.
Damon gave what he hoped was a nonchalant shrug. "I was hoping we could have a word."
"Where's Elena and Louise?"
"Louise is trying to have a normal human day and as for Elena; she's safe with Stefan. They're laying low, you know, bit of a werewolf problem."
"Oh, yeah, I heard about that." Elijah replied.
Damon gave him a pointed loo. I'm sure you did since it was your witch that saved the day.
"You are welcome." A hint of amusement crossed Elijah's' face.
Damon perched on the edge of the desk. "Which adds to my confusion on exactly why you're here."
"Why don't you just stay focused on keeping Louise safe and leave the rest to me." Elijah stated, his face betraying nothing. He moved to exit the room but Damon sped across the room, blocking his path to the door.
"Not good enough."
Elijah's face hardened as she grabbed the younger vampire by the throat and sped him into the wall. In retaliation, Damon grabbed Elijah's throat but with ease the Original grabbed Damon's hand and easily pulled if off his neck, making sure to crush his hand as he does so. Damon groaned in pain.
"You young vampires, so arrogant." Elijah stated with a shake of his head as he dropped Damon hand from his own but continued to pin him against the wall by the throat. "How dare you come in here and challenge me?"
"You can't kill me, man." Damon gasped out, his good hand clawing away at his throat. "It's not part of the deal."
"Silence." Elijah hissed as he grabbed a pencil lying on the desk and jabbed it into Damon's neck. Immediately, Damon clutched a the pencil as he yelled in pain. Elijah finally let go of the Salvatore vampire, who fell against the desk and removed the pencil painfully. Damon clapped his hand over the bloody wound. Elijah whipped out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off his hands. "I'm an Original. Show a little respect."
Elijah dangled the handkerchief in front of Damon, who grabbed it hastily, and placed it on his wound. "The moment you cease to be of use to me, you're dead, so you should do what I say. Keep Louise safe." And with that he left the room.
Later that day at the boarding house in the library, a furious Louise stood mere centimetres away from her boyfriend with folded arms and a hard face as he explained his encounter with Elijah earlier. Alaric sat on the couch nursing a bourbon. Once the Salvatore was finish, Louise shook her head as she felt her rage build. He was surprised when he felt her cold hand strike across his cheek but he didn't react understanding why she was so mad.
"Louise-"
"You're such an idiot." Louise spat cutting him off and Alaric laughed from where he sat. "You don't get to laugh!" she told the history teacher firmly.
"Sorry." Alaric muttered putting his head down.
"Listen." Damon grabbed her hands in his and stared into her doe eyes. "I just wanted information."
"You could have been killed. He could have killed you!" Louise hissed, snatching her hands from his. The vampire opened his mouth to speak but Louise beat him to it. "I'm going upstairs to cool down." She walked away from him.
Damon sighed heavily. "Louise-"
The brunette ignored him as she moved up the many stairs. Just as she reached the top, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out to see a text message. Her finger scrolled on her phone as she flicked through the pictures that Elena just sent her. The text connected to the pictures read: Found this secret room in the cabin, look like mum and dad had a whole double life.
The pictures showed various weapons of every shape and kind, most of them wooden though. Tailored to killing vampires. She continued her journey through the halls as her eyes widened slightly and she took in a deep breath. It was all so surreal, her dad had this whole other side of him that she, Elena or Jeremy - or Jenna, really - knew nothing about.
John was right. Jeremy said that John told him dad was against vampires too, I guess I never really thought about it until now. She hit send on the text.
As Louise began making her way to Damon's room, she halted in her tracks once again when heard a loud crashing noise coming from downstairs. She rushed back downstairs only to see an unconscious Alaric on the floor with a large knife plunged into his stomach. A man stabbed Damon in his neck with a syringe that Louise guessed was full of vervain. The vampire grunted, not completely affected by the vervain and vamp sped across the room, crashing the man into several walls.
Damon's eyes met with Louise's as she ordered. "Run!" With that he fell to the floor and the man removed the syringe from his neck, standing up.
"Whew! Damn, you're strong. It took the whole syringe." The man commented, his head turning to look at the wide eyed brunette frozen in her spot.
Louise took this opportunity to follow Damon's orders as she turned to face a woman with a shotgun over her shoulder. The lady wacked Louise upside the head with the weapon and the seer swayed before she fell limply into her arms.
Damon was the first to wake up. He tried to move his body but he was chained to a chair by his wrists and waist. He spotted Louise and Alaric on the floor. The vampire looked worried for a moment before he saw Louise's chest rise and fall, indicating she's alive and the Gilbert ring on the history teacher's finger. Damon sighed with relief before he raised his gaze and saw Jules with her werewolf pack. One of the males explained about the spike collar around his neck; pulling it to illustrate his point. The spikes insert themselves into Damon's neck; he seethed and hissed until released.
"So I hear you have the moonstone." Jules stated and two other werewolves walked further into the room.
Damon laughed. "Oh, if you only knew the irony of this moment right now. Let me tell you how this is gonna go. You're gonna torture me, I don't talk, someone loses a heart. Last time, it was your boy Mason." The entire clan tensed at his harsh words about their fallen comrade.
Jules inched closer to Damon. "This time, it'll be you."
A groaning sound from the floor made her turn. Louise stirred on the floor and a look of fear ran across Damon's face. He had hoped she would have stayed quite so no one else would get hurt. Jules noticed this and hoisted Louise up by her hair. "Or better yet, her." Jules handed her off to the pack and the put her limp body and chained her to a chair much like Damon, but without the collar. Louise groaned, finally opening her eyes to take in the scene but was startled with how close Jules was to her.
Damon looked at her with feigned intrigue. Jules lifted the shotgun up and pointed it at Louise. "Where's the moonstone?"
"Get over it, honey. You're never gonna get it." Damon smirked. "And you can't kill her because you won't be able to break the curse."
"You looking for this?" Everyone turned to see Elijah leaning against a banister, twirling the moonstone in his hand. The original walked down the stairs and placed the moonstone on an end table. He casually backed away as she challenged. "Go ahead. Take it."
One of the werewolves used his wolf speed to rush towards the moonstone but of course, Elijah was quicker as he plunged his hand into the wolf's chest, ripping his heart out. The wolf fell onto the couch, dead. The two other wolves rushed at Elijah and the original vampire, without any effort, plunged his arms into their chests, extracting their hearts as well. Jules wolf sped out of the house before the same happened to her. Elijah walked over to the last werewolf the controlled Damon's collar, he was crouched down, jacked over his face in fear. Elijah pulled him up from the ground.
"What about you, sweetheart, hmm? You want to take a shot? Yes? No? Yes?" The original taunted the wolf. "Where's the girl?"
Both Damon and Louise looked around but it was the Salvatore who answered. "I don't know."
"It doesn't really matter." Elijah punched the last werewolf in the face so hard he fell to the floor before he moved to remove the chains strapping Damon down on the chair. "So you realize this is the third time I've saved your life now?"
Elijah moved to Louise, removing her chains as well. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her. Her eyes furrowed for a moment till she realised there was crimson liquid running down her face from the blow to her head.
"Thank you, Elijah." Louise said, pressing the cloth to her head. Elijah doesn't respond as he turned around, grabbed the moonstone and exited the house.
"Tyler was here, Louise." Elena told her sister over the phone as Louise sat in the living room of the boarding house. Elena let out a heavy sigh. "He didn't know we had to die."
Louise let out a shaky laugh. "What part of sacrifice doesn't he get?" she questioned sarcastically. Silence fell between the two for a few moments.
"Why does it seem like something horrible happens each time I attempt to have a normal night?" The older Gilbert girl sounded tired.
"Maybe life's evil." Louise responded bluntly, staring off into nothingness. "Maybe it hates happiness. Maybe we're all in hell and this life that we have is our punishment for the sins that we did before we died. Maybe...maybe there's no such thing as normal. Who know right?"
Before Elena could reply, and angry Damon stormed into the room. "We need to talk." he announced harshly.
"Look, 'Lena. I'm gonna have to call you back. Be careful, okay? I love you."
"I love you too." Elena said from the other end before she hung up.
"What is it?" Louise questioned her boyfriend as she stood from her seat.
He crossed his arms. "We learned that Elijah's planning for you and Elena to die in the sacrifice ritual."
She tensed up, ashamed and looked down. They finally knew. She sighed. "I know the deal I made, Damon. Elijah's very careful with his words." She hated that she had to say this but he needed to know. She took a deep breath. "He promised to protect our friends...he never said a word about us. I knew what I was signing up for."
She hated the look on his face, it broke her heart. "You mean, you knew you weren't going to survive this?"
"If it comes down to the people that I love getting killed or me, I know what my choice is gonna be." she told him.
"I thought I talked you out of all this suicide crap, Louise." He growled.
"It's not suicide - it's not like I want to die." she said, her eyes falling to the floor. "I just want all of you to die even less."
"Most of the people you're talking about are technically already dead, Louise." Damon pointed out angrily. Louise looked up at him with her big brown eyes and he felt his rage abate a little, to be replaced with a strangely hollow feeling. "Why didn't you tell me?" He already knew the answer to the question, of course, but he wanted to hear her say it - just so he knew for sure that she understood.
"You wouldn't have let me out of your sight, Damon." Louise said, matter-of-factly.
"If that's what I have to do to stop you from trying to play the hero." Damon said. "I've already lived for over one hundred years, if I were to die it would be expected, but you've barely even lived for eighteen! You've hardly lived at all and you're throwing it away."
Without another word, Damon walked away from Louise. She wanted so much to go after him but she couldn't. She sighed deeply. Why couldn't he see that she was trying to save everyone?
A/N; After a million years I'm back ahaha, I went from three updates in a week to nothing for months, yikes! For that I am sorry and I hope it doesn't happen again. Anyways here's another chapter. And I just want to thank everyone who takes the time out to read and drop a review.
My responses to reviews;
anna5000: Sorry for the long wait, hope you like this chapter.
ikran . feysal: There will be more sex scenes yes but I don't want that just to be their relationship. I want to show other aspects of them you know.
wordspin: I'm happy you're enjoying the journey of Louise and Damon's relationship. Also yes, I don't want to make Damon ooc, he's still himself but with subtle changes due to Louise.