Chapter Seventeen
Rebecca was proud of Caroline. She'd brought Katherine to the room like she'd been asked to do. Stefan was now standing by Katherine with a very sharp stake in his hand, but he wouldn't have been able to do that if Caroline hadn't done her part so well.
"You don't really think that you can kill me with that, now, do you?" Katherine asked him.
Stefan looked down at the weapon in his hand and calmly said, "No, but he can."
Damon had quietly opened the closet door and was grinning wickedly. He had the stake gun in his hand and Rebecca knew he wasn't afraid to use it. He let one loose and it caught Katherine in the middle of her back. She didn't scream, but a look of pain came over her face. Katherine fell to her knees and Rebecca had to admit she didn't feel any guilt at all for Katherine being in pain.
Stefan went after her, too, but only got her in the arm. Still, it was better than nothing. When he tried again, Katherine blocked him and tossed him onto the coffee table, breaking it with the impact. Damon pulled the stake out of her back and tried to use it again but was tossed into the wall for his efforts.
Rebecca had never realized how strong Katherine was until that moment. All she'd known was that she was stronger than Katherine, so Rebecca was extremely strong.
Stefan, who had the brace strapped to his wrist, triggered one stake and tossed it at Katherine, but she ducked and the stake became embedded into the wall. He triggered the second stake and threw it at her, but she caught it and threw it back at him. This time he ducked and, again, the stake became embedded in the wall, only this one was on the opposite side of the room.
Damon pulled one of the stakes free, but again got tossed around when he went after Katherine.
Rebecca could've helped, but she figured as long as the two guys didn't get hurt then she would let them handle this. This was probably cathartic for them. They were finally able to fight the vampire who had ruined their lives in 1864
Rebecca's thinking changed when Damon went after Katherine again and Katherine grabbed his hand and twisted his wrist to the point where the stake was pointed at him. Damon fought, of course, but Katherine was older and stronger. He needed help.
Rebecca grabbed Katherine and threw her toward Stefan, who grasped her into a headlock. She fought and they both ended up on the floor with Stefan on the bottom with Katherine's back to his chest and Katherine looking up at Damon and Rebecca. She actually seemed afraid.
Good.
Damon actually had the stake raised and was ready to stab Katherine with it when Jeremy came bursting in. The spell to lock people in this room was vampire-specific, so Jeremy could come and go as he pleased.
"Stop! You're hurting Elena. Everything you're doing to her is hurting Elena!"
Katherine tugged free and got up, yanking the stake out of Damon's hands.
"You think you guys are the only ones with a witch on your side? Wrong." Katherine grinned. "And something tells me that my witch is better than your witch."
"Jeremy, go check on Elena, make sure she's okay," Stefan said.
Rebecca's instincts told her to follow Jeremy because if Jeremy knew that Elena was feeling all of what had happened, then she was obviously here. She'd snuck out of her house, apparently. But Rebecca was stuck in this room and wasn't able to follow.
"Yes, let's all make sure poor Elena's okay," Katherine seethed. She brought the stake up and sliced her open palm. "Just a little bit more pressure and –"
Catching them all off guard, Katherine swung the stake around and stabbed it right into Rebecca's stomach.
"No!" Damon shouted, rushing forward as Rebecca screamed.
"Just keeping with the theme of the evening," Katherine snarked. "I could always get another one and do the same to myself. I'll heal, but Elena . . ."
"Wait," Damon said.
"Okay. So, how 'bout that moonstone?"
Rebecca didn't know how she was actually still paying attention since she was in so much pain, but paying attention she was.
Katherine had settled onto the sofa and was looking as nonchalant as ever. Rebecca wanted to rip her head off.
Damon had knelt beside her. Rebecca hadn't realized she'd fallen down, but she had; she was on her knees. He looked absolutely livid. He was probably plotting Katherine's murder as they were sitting there. Keeping Katherine alive had probably fled his mind as soon as the stake had entered Rebecca's stomach.
Outside, Bonnie had helped take some of Elena's pain away. It hadn't taken long to realize that Katherine had linked herself to Elena somehow. The fact that Elena had spontaneously begun to be hurt had been the first clue.
Bonnie didn't know how to break the spell, so she was doing the next best thing - taking the pain away.
Jeremy plopped down beside his sister and asked if she was okay
"Are they?" she asked, talking about the others.
"They're stuck in there with her. You were right. Katherine had a witch link Elena to her."
"That girl I saw," Bonnie said. "The one inside. Stay with Elena. Keep pressure on her shoulder."
"Where're you going?"
"There's another witch here. I'm gonna find her."
Inside and upstairs, Rebecca was still in pain from the stab wound she'd received, but Damon had gotten the stake out as quickly and as painlessly as he'd been able to. Rebecca wasn't healing as quickly as she should've been.
"The four of us together," Katherine said. "Just like old times. And someone isn't feeding properly."
Damon knew it was because Rebecca didn't feed straight from the vein. Blood bags were good and convenient, but for maximum strength, she needed blood straight from the source. Damon would have to see to it that she fed from someone tonight – even if Rebecca didn't like feeding on people.
"Where's the moonstone?" Katherine asked.
"What d'you want with it?" Damon asked, not expecting to get an answer. And he didn't.
"You know, this whole Mason thing has me a bit confused," Stefan said. "Why a werewolf? The moonstone can break a curse that would help them destroy all vampires. So, what's in it for you?"
"Sorry about your pet wolf," Damon said. "Probably should've kept him on a tighter leash."
"I'll have to remember that for next time," Katherine said. "He's not the only wolf in town."
Damon looked at Rebecca, who was glaring at Katherine.
"Damon, I need my phone. I'm gonna get Caroline to keep an eye on Tyler."
When Caroline got Rebecca's text she immediately sought out Matt. Matt would be wherever Tyler was. She had seen them earlier sneaking off with a bottle of Vodka.
She focused so she'd be able to hear something other than the music. All she heard was someone screaming, "Get off." That was Tyler's voice.
She followed the yells into Tyler's dad's study. Matt and Tyler were hitting each other. To be fair, though, Tyler only seemed to be defending himself.
"What is going on? Stop!"
They were being reckless, and there was a girl with them – she hoped that the girl wasn't what they were fighting over. But there was alcohol involved, so who knew?
"Stop!" Caroline repeated.
Caroline pushed Matt onto his butt and Tyler backed off. Then Matt went at him again. Caroline didn't know what the problem was; Matt wasn't usually violent even in the worst situations. He was a gentle person by nature.
"Let me go. I have to finish it!" Matt said.
Caroline put a hand on his chest to hold him in place.
"What's wrong with you?" Tyler asked.
Caroline didn't see any other way out of this situation, so she used her elbow to knock Matt out. He was the one who seemed to have a problem, though Caroline didn't know what it was.
Matt's nose was bloody, so Caroline went to make sure there was no other damage. She hoped not – she hadn't meant to make him bleed.
"Matt?"
"How did you –" Tyler started.
Caroline looked up from her spot on the floor beside Matt only to see that Sarah girl going at Tyler with a letter opener.
"Tyler, look out!"
Tyler didn't react quickly enough. She stabbed him and he instinctively pushed her away. The result was that she fell backward and hit her head on the edge of the table. Caroline saw Tyler trembling; his hand was covered in his own blood from where Sarah had stabbed him.
Tyler knelt by Sarah. "No, no, no. Come on, wake up, Sarah. Sarah! Open your eyes, wake up."
Caroline slowly stood up and walked toward Tyler. She knew what would happen if Sarah was actually dead: Tyler would become a werewolf.
"This can't happen," Tyler said. "Oh, no, this can't happen. This can't be happening. Sarah, get up. Sarah! Open your eyes! Oh, this can't be happening."
Tyler got up and Caroline took his place beside the fallen girl. When she checked for a pulse, there wasn't one. Tyler grabbed his head as if he were in pain and fell to his knees.
"Tyler?"
Tyler hit the floor with his fists, and Caroline stood up and backed away slowly.
"Tyler?" She hoped he wasn't turning now. It wasn't a full moon – did that rule not apply the first time a person with the wolf gene killed someone? "Tyler, what's happening?
"Get away!" he growled.
"What's happening?" she yelled, her voice breaking at the end.
Tyler looked up at her and she noticed his usually brown eyes were now a deep amber color. The color wasn't natural; he had triggered the curse. Caroline had failed. Rebecca was going to be so angry at her – or maybe disappointed would be the better word.
"Where is that witch?" Damon asked impatiently. He had texted Bonnie with the intention of getting her to lift the spell she'd put on the room. Damon wanted to get Rebecca out of there so she could feed, but Bonnie hadn't texted back and she hadn't shown up either.
"You bargained the moonstone," Stefan suddenly said.
"What're you mumblin' about over there?"
Stefan didn't answer his brother. He was too absorbed in trying to figure Katherine out.
"When you struck a deal with George Lockwood to help you fake your death . . . You told me that you gave George something that he needed," Stefan said. "It was the moonstone, wasn't it?"
"Good for you, Stefan. Two plus two," Katherine teased. "And it would've worked, except that people found out that I wasn't in the tomb." Katherine looked at Rebecca. "Thanks to you, by the way."
Damon knew she meant that when Rebecca had helped Anna free her mother from the tomb, it had become public knowledge that Katherine Pierce – or Katerina Petrova – hadn't actually been locked in there.
"But why do you – why do you need it back?" Stefan asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"I love you in a suit," Katherine deflected. "So dashing."
She obviously didn't want to talk about this anymore, but Damon could actually see where Stefan was going with this. Maybe they could just judge by the brunette's actions . . .
"What were you doing with it in the first place? Because it wasn't yours to begin with," Stefan theorized. "In 1864 you faked your death. Who were you running from, Katherine?"
"In 1987, you were in Chicago, at a concert of all places with that wench, Lexi," Katherine said.
Damon noticed that Rebecca rolled her eyes while Stefan didn't have much of a reaction; he apparently didn't think Katherine was telling the truth.
"Come on, Stefan. Don't look so surprised. Of curse I checked in on you over the years. You were standing in the front row, dancing all night. You were watching Bon Jovi and I was watching you."
"Who were you running from?" Damon was glad Stefan didn't let her words faze him.
Damon watched as Rebecca picked herself up off the floor and made her way to one of the chairs. She sat down gingerly and sighed. Damon could tell this night was getting her down. So many things had gone wrong.
Nobody had expected Katherine to have consulted a witch to have herself linked to Elena. That's where the trouble had started.
Bonnie had finally found the woman from earlier. The woman's name was Lucy and she knew about the Bennett line of witches.
"How do you know me?" she asked Lucy
"You figure it out. Look, I have no interest in fighting you."
"Then stop the spell you put on my friend."
Bonnie was mad at herself for not being able to do it on her own. Elena could die because of her not being able to do anything.
"Give Katherine the moonstone, and I will."
"Why are you helping Katherine? Don't you know what she is?"
"Tell your friends to hand over the moonstone, and all will be groovy."
Lucy, who was maybe a head taller than Bonnie, tried to go around her, but she got right in Lucy's path.
"You're not leaving this room until you stop the spell."
Bonnie was just glad she'd been able to corner Lucy in the dining room where no one was.
"Look, I don't wanna hurt you," Lucy claimed.
"And I don't wanna hurt you."
"Look, I don't have a choice. Katherine saved my life and now I owe her. I have to pay up."
Bonnie grabbed Lucy's arm just in case she tried to go anywhere, but she realized she'd done the wrong thing when Lucy's eyes locked on hers.
"You don't have the moonstone, but you know where it is. I can sense that."
Lucy grabbed Bonnie's hands and the lights began to flicker. A weird sense of safety and comfort filled Bonnie and it was coming from the woman in front of her.
"You feel that? You can trust me. Tell me where it is. It's okay."
Bonnie didn't know why, but she trusted this woman.
"We're missing the party," Katherine complained.
Damon had noticed Rebecca having to concentrate not to let her vampire visage take over. She had been hurt and had lost a lot of blood; she needed to feed, but she couldn't because she was stuck in this room. So . . . Damon gave her the next best thing: alcohol.
As he was pouring some bourbon into a glass for Rebecca, Katherine said she wanted one.
"You have two hands, two feet, no apparent disability that we know of," Rebecca said. "You can get it yourself."
Katherine glared at Rebecca, and Damon was sure that if Katherine had had a stake in her hand she would've stabbed Rebecca again. As it was, Katherine did rush toward Rebecca and yank her out of the chair. Rebecca grunted, but otherwise had no reaction. Damon realized now why Katherine had stabbed Rebecca. Katherine had wanted them on an even playing field.
Damon was quick to get Katherine away from Rebecca. He pinned the brunette up against the wall. He didn't know when he'd picked up a stake, but he had and he intended on using it until his brother pleaded with him not to.
"The second the spell is lifted, I'm gonna drive this stake right through your heart!"
Damon didn't care about leaving Katherine alive anymore. She'd gone after Rebecca twice. Everyone knew going after the people Damon cared about was as good as writing one's self a death sentence.
"Katherine," a female voice came from the doorway. "The spell in this room has been broken. You're free to leave."
"Thank God," Katherine said. "Where's my moonstone?"
"If I hand it over, my debt to you is paid."
"Done."
"I owe you nothing."
"I said done. Give it."
The woman, who Damon assumed was Katherine's witch, looked at Rebecca. Damon put her behind him so he could protect her if need be. Turns out, there was no need.
Rebecca had a cell phone holder strapped to her thigh, but since Damon had had her phone – for this very reason – she'd had the stone encased in her phone holder. Now the stone was being summoned by this witch.
"I wouldn't do that," Damon said, but the witch gave it to Katherine anyway.
Katherine started choking as soon as her hand touched the stone – the witch must've done something to it.
"You should've told me another witch was involved. She's a Bennett witch, Katherine, but I'm sure you already knew that."
Katherine fell to the floor and started to convulse. This was some powerful magic that this witch was dealing out.
"Elena!" both Stefan and Rebecca exclaimed.
"Elena's fine. The spell is broken. She'll heal quickly. Bonnie's with her. I apologize for my involvement."
When Katherine fell unconscious, the witch turned and strode away.
"Okay, then . . ." Damon muttered.
"I'm gonna check on Elena," Stefan said as he went to the door.
"I'm gonna get Katherine to the car. Who knows how long this spell will last?"
"I'm gonna –" Rebecca began.
"Feed. You're gonna feed," Damon interrupted. "Then you can do whatever you were going to say."
"Check on Caroline. I haven't heard anything back from her."
Once downstairs Rebecca ran into Jeremy and Bonnie and the witch who'd taken down Katherine. Rebecca had on Damon's suit jacket so she could cover the bloodstains on her dress – and she'd liked this dress, too! Of course Jeremy knew the trick she was trying to pull, so he knew something was wrong.
"Hey," she said to all three of them. "Um, have you guys seen -"
"What happened to you?" Jeremy asked.
Rebecca couldn't talk about it in the Lockwood mansion because someone might hear. Jeremy understood, so he excused himself and led Rebecca outside. She showed him her blood-covered dress with a hole in it from where she'd been stabbed, and he gaped at her for a moment.
"Becca . . ."
"I'm okay. I just need to feed and I'll be as good as new."
"Are you going home right now? You need blood right now, Becca."
"Geez, you're as bad as Damon. No, I'm not going right now. I'm going to look for Caroline and then help Damon with Katherine."
Jeremy began undoing the cuff links on his right sleeve and Rebecca knew what he was getting ready to offer.
"Jer . . ."
"Drink," he said, offering her his wrist. "I don't mind as long as you don't take too much."
"Promise you won't hate me?" she asked, because she really was tempted to drink from him.
"Promise, now drink and heal yourself."
Rebecca was tentative at first. She didn't want to hurt Jeremy by being rough. He was helping her, so she returned the favor by making this as pleasant as she knew how to. She didn't try to make this sexual at all; unlike when she'd done this with Ric, she knew how to balance the scale between pain and pleasure now. She only made the people she fed from feel a little tipsy and a little pleasure, but nothing that got anywhere near sexual arousal. It was awkward for her if she turned anyone other than Damon on when she was biting.
When she'd taken enough to at least make the ache go away, she pulled away and bit into her own wrist and offered it to Jeremy.
"Here. Don't die with this in your system. And don't tell Elena or Bonnie I did this. They won't understand."
Jeremy grabbed her wrist gently and brought it to his mouth. When he began to suck, Rebecca had to keep inside the gasp she wanted to let out. She knew sharing blood with Damon was intimate, but sharing blood with Jeremy had its own unique way of being personal and intimate.
There was nothing sexual, but there was a closeness, a bond, forming now. Jeremy was one of her humans now; she'd feel a profound loss if something were to happen to either of them.
"Okay. I have to find Caroline. I told her to watch out for Tyler and I haven't heard from her, so . . ." Rebecca trailed off because she'd seen Jeremy wince. Had she hurt him when she'd bitten him? Had he not healed?
"Becca . . . Tyler killed someone. Sarah."
"What?"
"Yeah. Carol called the sheriff and everything."
"No. I . . ." Rebecca groaned, thinking about how much this was going to complicate things.
If Tyler had killed Sarah then . . . Tyler was no longer a person with just the werewolf gene; he was actually a werewolf.
"I still have to find her. She's probably freaking out."
Rebecca found Caroline in Tyler's dad's old study. Carol was there too.
"Matt and I were fighting. We broke up, you know?" Caroline was explaining. "And Sarah was drunk and dancing, and she – she just tripped. Then she wasn't breathing."
"Okay. Your mom's on her way, and – and we called Sarah's parents," Carol said. She didn't seem to be compelled in any way. "It was – it was an accident. It was a terrible, tragic accident."
"Care?" Rebecca said, announcing her presence. "I'm so sorry. I heard what happened and I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Carol looked relieved to have someone else in the room. "I'll prepare Liz when she gets here. Just don't leave. Just stay here, okay?" Carole looked at Caroline. "She's going to want to hear the story from you."
After Carol left, Caroline explained the scene she'd walked in on earlier. Matt had been fighting Tyler. Caroline had broken them apart, but had had to knock Matt out to keep him from going after Tyler again.
"Matt's sleeping it off in the car."
Matt Donovan had become violent? What was the world coming to? Matt wasn't like that, so what had caused it? He was the one who broke up fights, not the one that got into them. Then again . . . where Tyler was involved anyone could lose their cool
"I'll deal with him," Caroline said. "I don't want him involved in any of this."
"What happened with Sarah?"
"She stabbed Tyler. I don't think she was acting on her own. Katherine compelled them, maybe? She needed a werewolf and now she has one, but neither Sarah nor Matt were acting like themselves."
"It probably was Katherine – she seemed almost smug about there being another werewolf in town, like she knew there would be," Rebecca said.
"Becca, I'm sorry," Caroline said. "You told me that . . . that I needed to look out for him and I failed."
"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known Katherine had compelled someone to go after Tyler. But I have to go before Liz gets here, okay? Plus, I think Damon's going to need me."
Tyler came into the study just as Rebecca was walking out. He knew the story Caroline had come up with, but he didn't understand why she had come up with it.
"Care, your mom's here." Tyler didn't let the blonde leave yet, however. "What are you doing?"
"I'm fixing a very bad situation."
She was lying for him, but he couldn't lie to himself. Someone was dead because of him. An innocent girl had died by his hands and now . . . now he was a monster and would turn into one every time there was a full moon. He would kill again probably and he didn't want that life. No sane person would.
"Why?" he asked her. "I did this. I killed her."
"No," Caroline said. "You didn't mean to."
Caroline was looking at him like those words made a difference. No, he hadn't meant to, but it didn't make Sarah any less dead.
"I think it's best for everyone –" the blonde started.
"But she's dead," Tyler said firmly. "You don't know what that means."
"Actually . . . Tyler, I think I do."
"No, you don't, Caroline," Tyler said gently. This girl was just trying to help him. He could give her props for that.
Caroline looked down at his suit jacket and looked back up. "Has your wound healed?"
It had. Tyler had checked earlier because he hadn't felt any pain after Sarah had stabbed him, but he didn't understand how Caroline knew about his wound healing fast.
Was she a werewolf too? If so, how did she deal with it? He would have to find out or talk to her about it. But he couldn't do it now. Right now all he could do was take her to her mother. Liz was waiting for an explanation.
It didn't take long for Stefan to find Elena. He knew Rebecca, Damon, Bonnie, and probably Jeremy, were dealing with Katherine, but Stefan needed to know Elena was okay. Even if they weren't together, he still loved her.
"Elena?" He'd found her standing by the pond on the property.
"I'm okay. I'm okay. Bonnie took away the pain, and I think I'm healing."
"I know. But I think – I think you should definitely see a doctor anyway."
"I will."
Elena looked tired. It was from the blood loss. He could smell the blood on her clothes, but he'd been so worried, it didn't really bother him at the moment.
"I heard about Katherine. Is it true? Is she really gone?"
"Yeah." Stefan said, smiling softly. "Damon and Rebecca are locking her in the tomb. They can't kill her yet because she knows something about Chelsea, but she's gone, yeah."
"Stefan . . ."
"I was so worried about you," he said. It had been the worst feeling in the world, not being able to go to her, not being able to leave that room.
"I . . ." Elena grabbed his hand.
Stefan knew what she was going to say before she said it. Her eyes were guarded and not warm and passionate like they usually were.
"Katherine being gone doesn't change anything for you, does it?" he asked sadly.
"I wanna be with you, Stefan. You know that. But first I need to wake up and know that the people I love are safe. I need to feel safe. Do you understand?"
Stefan really didn't understand. If Elena loved him and the threat was gone then what was the problem. Sometimes Stefan thought he was more invested in their relationship than Elena was.
Rebecca and Damon had met Bonnie and Jeremy at the tomb near Fell's Church in the woods by the old cemetery. Bonnie had put a barrier up at the tomb underneath the church and now Katherine was trapped.
Rebecca and Damon had decided to wait for the wench to wake up, but Jeremy had given Bonnie a ride home. He'd told them Elena had driven her own car and had decided to head on home. She was fine but tired.
Rebecca and Damon had let Katherine keep the moonstone since she couldn't actually use it if she was locked up and starved to the point of desiccation. Damon hoped the moonstone was worth it.
When Katherine woke up and tried to get out, she found she couldn't.
"Hello, Katherine," Damon said.
"Where am I?" she asked pathetically.
"Where you should've been all along. I thought you would've learned your lesson by now, messing with a Bennett witch."
"You should've killed me," she said.
"Death would've been too kind," Damon seethed
Damon walked toward the stone door and began to lift it to close her in, but Katherine pleaded for him not to.
"Damon, don't. You need me. Elena's in danger!"
"From who?" he asked, stopping his progress. She didn't answer, of course. "You're lying. You're always lying."
"Why do you think I haven't killed her? Because she's the doppelganger. She needs to be protected."
"From what?" Rebecca asked this time. "You know we can make your stay in here more pleasant, not let you starve to death, but you have to be straight with us."
"We don't need her, Becca. We can protect Elena while she rots in hell."
"No, Damon, don't. I'll do anything," Katherine said. "Please, Damon. You need me!"
Like a hole in the head, he needed her.
"Damon! You need me – you need me!"
Damon finished closing Katherine in and Rebecca placed a hand on his back. He had all he needed right here with him outside the tomb.
"You ready to go, Damon?" she asked softly. "We need to pick Chelsea up."
He grabbed her hand and she squeezed softly. She was there for him, there to start the next chapter of their lives together – Katherine-free.
Okay, so nothing too different in this one except Rebecca getting stabbed and her drinking from Jeremy. I've had a few people point out that they think Jeremy is in love with Rebecca. Is that true? If it is, I didn't mean to write it that way, but I can definitely work with it if it seems that way to you guys. I've already worked out a plot line for that if you want me to go that way. I've got a plot line for that if it doesn't seem that way - so it's really whatever you guys want. I usually don't ask for validation before I write something, but apparently there may be feelings there that I never meant for there to be for Jeremy.
Anyway, read and review and let me know what you guys think.