integralz656: Thank you so much for your review! Please feel welcome to always share your thoughts. Emma will bring a lot to this plot, promise!
ArganRose: Thank you! It makes me really happy that you like Emma s2, creating an OC is being a challenge for me, so it makes me happy that she's being well received. Please feel free to always comment.
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Tumbling dice
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Emma woke up just as tired as she had gone to sleep the night before, so she decided to change her routine a little to see if she could lift some spirits. She put on a gym outfit she hadn't worn in ages, had a good coffee, and went for a run. She'd forgotten how much she liked to run while listening to music, even if her occasional smoker's breath didn't allow her to travel long distances. When she returned to the apartment, she showered, dried her hair, corrected some tests her students had taken that week, and when the church clock struck noon, the young woman decided to have lunch at the Grill.
As soon as she crossed the street, she found Jenna and Elijah talking animatedly in front of the door of the place. Emma felt her spine stiffen and approached the two of them.
"Oh, hi Emma!", Jenna greeted her niece. "This is..."
"Elijah", Emma replied, and the vampire smiled, looking frighteningly sympathetic. The girl hoped she had managed to hide the grimace that wanted to form on her face. Jenna stared at the two of them with furrowed brows.
"We met at the Society Tee", Elijah hastened to reply, and held out his hand in greeting. Emma accepted. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Emma".
"The pleasure is mine", the girl replied and, sighing, turned to her aunt, "You're here for lunch?"
"Yeah, it was supposed to be a double date, but... Well, I was showing some historical places to Elijah and invited him too. You're welcome to join us".
"I think I'll accept" Emma replied, wanting to keep an eye on Elijah. The vampire politely opened the Grill door for the two to enter first, and Jenna quickly spotted the table at which they would sit. Emma, distracted, didn't even realize where they were walking to. "You said double date, who's the other..." the girl's voice died as soon as she spotted Alaric sitting across from a couple exchanging kisses. And the couple was Damon and Andy.
"Hey guys", Jenna greeted everyone at the table with a smile. Emma suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Discomfort that was shared with Damon, who had fidgeted nervously on the Grill bench.
Emma didn't stop to rationalize why she was so uncomfortable with Damon kissing Andy in public, with his arm stretched over the reporter's shoulder as if the two were a long-time couple in love, she only concentrated on keeping a fake smile stamped on her face. Because, if she really stopped to rationalize, Andy should just be a woman Damon had sex with, after all, the vampire didn't seem like the serious dating type.
The Salvatore really wanted to use the opportunity to tease Ric, saying something about Elijah being 'Jenna's new boyfriend' or some other tease of how much the two seemed to be enjoying their time together, but he was too busy feeling kind of weird himself. Like he was caught doing something he shouldn't.
"Emma, I don't think I introduced you before" Jenna amiably pulled her niece closer to the table, and Emma stiffened her shoulders. "This is Andy Starr, my dear friend and Damon's girlfriend, isn't it nice?".
"Girlfriend, huh?", Emma couldn't keep the comment from leaving her tongue with a bitter undertone, and forced a smile at the reporter. Damon stared at her looking curious and sketched the smirk that was already his trademark. Suddenly, he didn't felt so weird at all. "It's very nice to finally meet you Andy, Damon talks so much about you".
Something inside Emma churned and she could feel the irritation creeping up her spine and settling in the back of her neck, making it warm. The vampire, unlike the girl, seemed to be enjoying the situation and was the only one to notice the ironic tone in which Emma had made the comment.
"Well, as much as I'd like to continue this, I have papers to grade", Alaric announced, getting up from the table. Emma saw an opportunity to get out of that awkward moment too.
"Me too" Emma hastened to say.
"But I thought you were having lunch with us" Jenna complained.
"I completely forgot that I have ready-made noodles in the fridge and, you know, teacher's life...".
"You know what?" Andy's voice was heard, and Emma fought to keep from rolling her eyes. It wasn't the woman's fault that Emma was feeling…well, whatever she was feeling at the moment. "We should continue this. Let's have a dinner party!", she said the last sentence turning to Damon and holding his hand.
"Ooh, my girl full of good ideas. I'll be happy to host", Damon replied smiling.
My girl? M-y g-i-r-l? Emma thought. Damon was excited, amused by the younger Sommers' discomfort. The girl was jealous, and it ignited something inside the vampire. He felt like he'd won the lottery, and he liked the feeling. He liked the feeling of being the object of someone's jealousy, since he had always been the one who was jealous and possessive. He watched, feeling the area below his navel pulsing, Emma closing her hands tightly and digging her nails into her palms. Feeling his own pupils dilate and his fangs itch at his gums, Damon forced his attention back to Andy. Yeah, definitely jealousy Emma was extremely hot, and he didn't intend to stop. He was more than willing to keep up the teasing until Emma snapped.
"So, tonight, maybe?" Damon asked the others.
"It's good for me, Jenna?" Andy asked, and everyone turned to Jenna.
"No, I don't know if tonight works..." Alaric tried to wriggle out of the commitment, but Jenna, looking annoyed, took the reins of the situation, confirming that that night she was free.
"It would be a pleasure" Elijah confirmed, paying close attention to all the dynamics among those present. Something there had made the Original quite interested.
"Great, Emma?" Damon asked, looking at the girl with a mocking smile and wetting his lips with his tongue. Emma glared at the vampire and his smile widened.
"I already have plans, sorry" she shrugged, trying to look relaxed, but her lips forming a rigid line betrayed her. "Ric? Shall we go?".
Alaric said goodbye to everyone and followed Emma out of the Grill. The girl was walking irritably along the sidewalk, and the man had trouble keeping up with his hands in his pockets.
"Great, Imma?," Emma scoffed, mimicking Damon's voice, and Alaric would have laughed if he wasn't annoyed too. "Since when does Damon have a girlfriend?"
"A week, maybe?" Alaric replied with a shrug.
"A week?" Emma exclaimed, and her friend looked at her with raised eyebrows. "He just... He never told me", the girl complained.
"Damon doesn't share much," Alaric commented and turned his attention to the sidewalk.
"He shared this information with you", she answered and he let out a deep breath.
"Do you really have noodles in the freezer?", the man asked.
"No, I haven't shopped in weeks. And I'm starving", she complained and Alaric laughed low.
"You know, Mystic Falls has other places than the Grill. Wanna grab luch?" the man asked.
"Please!" she replied, sighing. "I knew you didn't have papers to grade" she added in a playful tone.
"Pot calling the kettle back", Alaric replied just as the two arrived at a small coffee shop, quite a bit smaller and less upscale than the Grill, and Emma giggled. The man opened the door for Emma to enter the place, and followed her to a small table. The girl called a waiter with her hand and asked for the menu, and was quite pleased with the options available. The two of them placed their orders and waited in silence, each trapped in his own thoughts. Only when the plates were dropped with a thud on the table, bringing them both out of their reveries, did Alaric stare at his friend. "Is it me or is Jenna pissed about something?"
"What do you mean?", Emma asked frowning.
"Things have been... Weird between us. And now Elijah..." he complained.
"John was trying to turn her against you yesterday. From the looks of it he had some success"
"What?"
"We have to tell Jenna. About everything. I mean, at least about the important things", Emma explained. "John is trying to get in Jenna's head about Isobel, she thinks you are hiding something".
"Yeah, and I am!", Alaric huffed and threw himself against the back of the chair. Emma shoved a fork of food into her mouth.
"I hate him" the girl confessed with her mouth full.
"John or Damon?"
"Why would I hate Damon?" she asked sounding offended and wiping her lips with a napkin, and Alaric arched an eyebrow. "John, obviously. Ever since he arrived in this town everything has been getting worse and worse! Elijah too".
"I think Damon will try to end him at this Dinner Party, I'll have to convince him otherwise", Alaric said and Emma laugh through her nose.
"Good luck with that".
"Jenna will be there... So, you're not going?", Alaric asked for confirmation.
"I wouldn't go if they tied me up and took me by force" she replied with a grimace. "Are you considering going?"
"Well, I don't trust Elijah near Jenna" Alaric sighed. "And I don't trust Damon to act wisely, he has a thing for killing by impulse".
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There was one good thing about 'dating' Andy. As a reporter, she had hardly any days off, which made Damon quite comfortable going about his life without being bothered. After the lunch at the Grill, the vampire sneaked over to the tomb below the church. He needed to confirm John's story, because if it were true, he could finish Elijah off that very night. Half of his problems would be solved. With Elijah off the map and Katherine trapped in the tomb, Elena would be safe.
He couldn't restrain a mocking smile as he found the vampire almost completely dry against the wall. She looked much smaller than she had in her healthy state, and the vengeful part of Damon liked to see her like that. He took from the small backpack he carried a vial of blood, opened the lid, and crouched beside the carcass that had once been the woman he loved. Remembering that he had spent so many years loving Katherine made the vampire's face involuntarily contort into a grimace.
As soon as she smelled blood, Katherine moved minimally and grabbed the flask, pouring the liquid into his throat eagerly.
"Drink up, good girl", Damon teased. "I came bearing gifts. Didn't have time to properly shop, but I did get a couple things".
Getting up, Damon removed a bag from his backpack, and from inside the bag, a clean dress. He didn't know exactly why he bothered buying Katherine a new outfit, but he liked to tell himself that it was to remind her of how miserable and dirty she was. After all, she looked exactly as she deserved to look. He watched the wrinkles fade from the vampire's face and her skin regain its normal tone.
"Wow, that blood did the trick. You're almost pretty again", Damon commented in a bored tone.
"What is it you want, Damon?", Katherine asked, still panting and tired.
"Guess who's back in town?" he retorted with another question, but didn't wait for the answer. "Your old friend, John Gilbert".
"Really?", Katherine didn't seem surprised. "Why?"
"He said he loves his daughter, wants to protect her from Elijah and big bad Klaus".
"Touching", Katherine replied rolling her eyes, and leaned against the wall to get herself upright.
"Yeah, right?", Damon tried to keep his tone casual, hiding that he was actually anxious to know if everything John had said was true. "Told me about this old wive's tale about how to kill an Original".
"And you wanna know if it's true" the vamp replied debauchedly, as she stripped off her own clothes. "If it was, I wouldn't tell you". Damon grimaced.
"Now, why not? I mean, you want Elijah and Klaus dead as much as I do", Damon tried to convince her, and watched Katherine walk over to where he had dropped the new dress. She picked up the garment carefully and slipped it over her head.
"Klaus, yes. Elijah, no". Okay, this answer took Damon by surprise, but he did his best not to show it. "He's compelled me to stay in here. If he dies, I'm stuck forever".
"Sucks for you", Damon grinned.
"Forget it, Damon. Killing Elijah would be a suicide mission, you can't do it", Katherine said in defiance.
"Even with the dagger and the little white oak ash?" Damon answered and watched amusedly Katherine stare at him in surprise. Gotcha.
"You can't! If you kill Elijah, I'm stuck here forever!", she shouted, and he grinned even more. "Get me out of here first, and then I'll help you! I'll help you kill Elijah or protect Elena, whatever you want!"
"I get you out and your ass is sipping Klaus-free margaritas on some unknown island somewhere. No way," he replied in a debauched tone.
"That's not true, I'll stay!", Katherine stammered, she looked scared. Damon couldn't shake the smile that came over her face. "Damon, please, just don't do it!". The vampire then winked an eye at Katherine.
"Well, thank you. You told me everything I need to know," he commented, looking her over from head to toe before turning his back and walking out of the tomb, leaving a frightened and miserable Katherine behind.
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When the sun went down, Damon welcomed Jenna, Andy, and Alaric to the Boarding House. The two women volunteered to set the table, claiming that neither man would know how to prepare a fancy dinner. Damon almost laughed, after all, he was over 170 years old, he had lived his entire human life and part of his vampire life attending fancy dinners. He invited Alaric into his office, and there he poured two glasses of bourbon.
"You know, this is a bad idea", Alaric commented, referring to Damon's plan to kill Elijah over dinner.
"There's no such thing as a bad idea, just poorly executed awesome ones", Damon joked, and held out a glass to Alaric. "Here".
"I don't like the idea of Elijah being in the same house as Jenna" the man confessed.
"Jenna's safe", Damon assured his friend, even though he knew he was in no position to offer any assurance to that effect. "Besides, it's just a fact-finding mission. It's totally harmless".
"Just a fact-finding mission?", Alaric asked in disbelief.
"Yeah", Damon smirked and took a sip of his drink. Alaric stiffened his shoulders.
"Look, no sneak attacks, no surprise plans. Nothing that's gonna put Jenna in harm's way, okay?" the man wove the terms in a serious manner. Damon rolled his eyes and raised his index, middle and ring finger, crossing his pinky with his thumb.
"Scout's honor", the vampire promised, and Alaric seemed to relax a little. Damon patted his friend on the shoulder twice, and the two of them were interrupted by Andy. The vampire rolled his eyes.
"Hey, Jenna needs help with the wine", the woman informed him, and Alaric nodded before leaving the office.
Damon, pausing to reflect, decided that Andy would be quite helpful. He called the woman over and showed her the dagger and ashes, compelling the woman to convince the men to have drinks in that same place after dinner, while the women would have coffee in the kitchen. Andy tried to hug Damon and pull him in for a kiss, and the vampire mentally thanked God when he heard the doorbell ring. He indicated to the reporter that the two of them should receive the guest of honor, and left behind the woman into the living room.
To Damon's irritation - and Jenna's - it was John at the door. The vampire couldn't convince the man to leave, and soon Elijah would arrive on the scene as well, which is why the Salvatore gave in and asked Andy to put another plate on the table. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again, and Damon rushed to answer it.
As soon as he opened the door, he found himself face to face with Elijah and... Emma. Apparently the two of them had quite the timing when it came to arriving at the Boarding House. Emma was wearing a knee-length black dress with a sweetheart neckline. Her shoes were black as well, and her hair was loose in waves like the night before. She looked beautiful, and Damon smirked wondering if she had put on a dress because he had said she looked good. The vampire didn't want to miss the opportunity to pick on Emma, taking advantage that she was probably still pissed.
"Such a nice surprise! I thought you wouldn't come, doll" Damon joked, and Emma stared at him with a smile. The smile did not reach her eyes, nor was it a fake smile like the one she had sketched at the Grill earlier. Something was wrong.
"Elijah invited me to accompany him, and, well, how could I say no?" the girl replied, entwining her arm in the Original's. Damon regarded the gesture with strangeness, and Elijah smiled at him in defiance. The Salvatore then realized what that meant. He felt his shoulders stiffen, his jaw lock, and veins begin to appear around his burning eyes. The vampire stepped forward and, without even thinking about the consequences, grabbed Elijah by the collar.
"Did you compel her?", Damon grunted. Elijah smiled, unfazed.
"Only you can compel a lady then?", the Original teased and held Damon's wrist tightly, forcing him to release his collar rather easily. Elijah faced the Salvatore seriously. "If you have less than honorable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider right now".
Damon was breathing heavily through his nose and staring at Elijah with hatred, while Emma didn't seem to give a damn about the scene. The girl continued to stand in the same place, as if waiting for the next order. Damon's eyes darted away from Elijah for a few seconds, only to try to meet Emma's gaze. Why was she like that? Was the compulsion of an Original stronger in humans?
"Undo the compulsion. Now", Damon said in a hard tone.
"I don't think so", Elijah replied, wearing a fake smile as he saw Jenna waving at him in the distance. "You know, although Elena and I have this deal, if you so much as make a move to cross me, I'll kill you and I'll kill everyone in this house. Starting with this wonderful creature right here", Elijah finished his sentence by placing his hand on Emma's waist, and Damon felt his blood boil. "Are we clear?"
"Crystal" Damon begrudgingly replied. Elijah then, still holding Emma by the waist, led the girl into the house and went to greet Jenna. The older Sommers seemed surprised that the man had gone in the company of her niece, but she was happy that the younger girl was there. Damon closed the door, still feeling his jaw painfully clenched.
Over dinner, Damon had learned that Elijah's interest in finding the supposed places where witches had been slaughtered had something to do with the ritual for breaking the curse, and he made a mental note to research the subject later. Every now and then the vampire glanced in Emma's direction, feeling uncomfortable with her completely oblivious posture, participating in affairs in an unnatural way. He was surprised that Jenna hadn't noticed anything wrong, after all, if even Damon, who had only known Emma for a few months, could tell that she wasn't acting her usual self, why couldn't Jenna?
"So Elijah, how did you and Emma meet?", Andy asked and Damon, who was cutting his steak, nearly broke the plate with his knife. He never wanted to wring the reporter's neck as much as he did at that moment. Everyone looked at Elijah expectantly, only Damon fixed his eyes on Emma and stared at her with knitted brows. What if he tried to compel her out of Elijah's compulsion?
"During the Historical Society High Tea and then through Jenna earlier today", the Original replied with a sympathetic smile.
"Love at first sight?" Andy asked, completely oblivious to Damon's discomfort, and the vampire rolled his eyes and swallowed his food, his throat feeling dry. Why don't you shut the fuck up, Andy?, he thought.
"I'm sure it's not like that at all" Jenna interjected, joking. "No offense to you, Elijah".
"Not taken, Jenna. Emma has been great company today" Elijah continued and led his hand to Emma's, who was holding the wine glass. "We're just friends, but you never know, do you?". Damon glared at the vampire.
"Would anyone care for some cognac? I have a bottle I've been saving for ages", the Salvatore asked, getting up from the table and calling dinner over. It was apparent how annoyed he was, and Elijah seemed to revel in it.
"None for me, thanks" Alaric replied. "Nine bottles of wine is my limit".
Damon looked at Andy, hoping that the woman would go along with the arrangement.
"The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study", Andy suggested, and Elijah faced her with a smile.
"I have to say the food was almost as wonderful as the company", the Original replied to Andy, and soon after turned to Emma, "Would you mind, darling?"
He was teasing Damon, and he knew he was succeeding. Elijah had been curious about the relationship between the two ever since he met the girl outside that very house. The vampire was obviously dating the reporter, but it had been the young woman with the golden-brown hair who ran worriedly to get him off a torture collar. Elijah was not adept at games like Klaus, but he had to confess that stepping on Damon's toes was being quite entertaining.
"Not at all", Emma replied and smiled at the Original, who kissed the back of her hand in farewell. Jenna and Alaric disappeared towards the kitchen carrying the dishes, but not before the woman dropped a large pile of dirty dishes in John's arms, indicating that since he wasn't a gentleman, he could help clean up the mess.
"He's such a gentleman!" Andy exclaimed, and Damon turned angrily to the journalist.
"Andy, darling, zip up".
Damon invited Elijah into the study, where he poured two shots of cognac and handed the Original a glass. He tried to make small talk about the ritual, in order to try to extract some more information and try to distract himself from the urge to rip his head off. If he killed Elijah, would Emma forever be under his compulsion? Or could Damon compel her out of the compulsion? He deeply hoped that the second option was the right one, because he needed to kill Elijah, he would hardly get another chance if he didn't do it that night. But he didn't want Emma to suffer the consequences. The possibility that Emma would forever be in an almost catatonic state left him in doubt about the plan he had constructed for that Dinner Party.
"Do you know where it is?", Elijah asked, referring to the Salem witches' slaughter place.
"Maybe" Damon replied, inviting the vampire to sit at a small table. The Original however, remained standing. "Tell me why it's so important".
"We're not that close", Elijah replied and, turning on his back, faced the bookcase against the wall. "It's a fine collection you have here. Did Emma ever give it a look? She loves books".
"I'm pretty sure you don't fucking know what she loves or not", Damon replied and took a big gulp of his cognac, feeling the liquid run dry down his throat.
"Here's a funny thing about books", Elijah commented, ignoring Damon's bitter comment. "Before they existed, people actually had memories".
Damon, who was sneakily picking up the dagger soaked in the ashes, was almost startled when Alaric entered the room pretending to trip over the door frame. Understanding that his friend wanted to say something, Damon dropped the dagger back next to the tray of drinks.
"Gentlemen" Alaric announced his presence, Andy was right behind him holding a glass of wine. "We forgot about dessert!"
Damon watched with knitted eyebrows as Andy invited Elijah to head to the next room for dessert, and stayed behind to find out what that was all about. As soon as the two left the room, Damon stared at Alaric. The man, knowing that Elijah could hear them, wrote on a piece of paper that the dagger should be handled by a human being, otherwise the vampire who wielded it would die.
And there it was. John knew, of course he knew. He didn't just want to kill Elijah, he wanted to win the lottery and kill Damon too. The Salvatore gritted his teeth and walked angrily into the room, nodding for Ric to take care of the dagger. Once the vampire and the man arrived back in the room, they found Jenna pouring herself more wine. Elijah was sitting at the table.
Damon saw Emma returning from the kitchen with a glass in hand and discreetly approached her midway, cornering her against the wall. The girl didn't look him in the eye, and he held her face between his hands.
"Emma, look at me" he ordered and turned her face so that she would look at him, but she kept her eyes on some distant point. Damon was more worried than he already was, "Fuck, Emma, look at my fucking eyes".
"Sorry guys, dessert is taking longer than I thought. Usually I just unrap food", Jenna's voice rang out from the dining room and Damon heard the approaching woman's footsteps, and let go of Emma's face. The vampire needed to undo the compulsion, but he needed to be alone with her so he could make her look him in the eye. Katherine's words kept floating in her mind: if Elijah died, she would be compelled forever. But surely it was because she was a vampire and only an Original could compel vampires. Emma was human. If Elijah died, Damon would be able to get Emma out of the compulsion, right? Jenna approached them and looked at her niece "Emma, can you help me check the pie?".
Emma nodded positively with a smile and the two returned to the kitchen. The vampire then sat at the end of the table and watched as Andy proposed to interview Elijah and asked Alaric to fetch her notebook. That was exactly what Alaric needed to get out of the room and get the dagger without arousing suspicion, the situation had played out perfectly. But then why was Damon in doubt? Why did this feeling of dread grip him? The vampire leaned back and stared at John, who was at the other end of the table, and decided to bring up something to distract himself.
"Elijah, did John tell you that he's Elena's uncle/father?" the vampire teased. John was a son of a bitch who wanted to kill him. But if the bastard expected to see him dead, he would be deeply disappointed.
"Yes, I'm well aware of that", Elijah replied seriously.
"Of course, she hates him, so there's no need to keep him on the endangered species list".
Andy excused herself and announced that she would help Ric get her notebook, getting up from the table. John stared at Elijah.
"What I would like to know, Elijah, is how you intend on killing Klaus?" the man asked. John knew they had to distract Elijah, he just had no idea that it wouldn't be Damon who would drive the dagger into the Original's chest. Before the millennial vampire could finish threatening everyone at the table, Ric drove the dagger into his chest through the chair, taking John and Andy by surprise. Damon, however, calmly took one last sip of his cognac and slowly approached Elijah, his eyes burning with hatred.
"You shouldn't have compelled her, or tried to get past me about the curse. You got on my bad side", Damon whispered in the Original's ear as he watched him choke and dry up. Alaric removed the dagger and placed it on the table, and faced Damon.
"Now get rid of him, before Jenna and Emma come back with dessert".
.
In the kitchen, Jenna was mumbling about how annoyed she was that Alaric was keeping something about his dead wife from her, about how annoyed she was that John seemed to know her boyfriend more than she knew him herself, and about how weird she thought it was that Andy was so in love with Damon, since the man didn't seem to be the affectionate type. The woman sipped from her wine while Emma opened the oven and took out a hot pie. Halfway between the oven and the kitchen counter, Emma seemed to freeze in place.
"Emma? Are you okay?", Jenna asked, dropping her wine glass on top of the sink and heading toward her niece with a frown. Before she could get closer, Emma dropped the dish on the floor and began breathing heavily looking around, completely startled. "Oh my God, Emma. Are you okay?"
"I... I don't know", the girl muttered staring at her own hands. Her shoes were completely dirty with raspberry jam and she felt bits of the hot pie fly into her shins, burning her skin a little, but she remained completely disoriented, standing in the middle of the kitchen staring at her palms.
Where the hell was she? When had she put on those clothes? How did she get there? How was it possible that one minute she was coming home and the next she was simply standing in the middle of a kitchen she only vaguely recognized? She looked startled at Jenna.
"Jenna, where am I?" she asked, and Jenna's eyes widened and she cradled her niece by the shoulders.
"Emma, what's going on? What do you mean where are you? You're here, we came to dinner at Damon's house, remember?" The woman talked on and on, startled by her niece's behavior.
Emma's eyes widened and she held her breath. She remembered coming home after lunch with Alaric and finding Elijah in front of her building. She remembered him saying something about a dinner party, and after that she couldn't remember anything else. That had never happened before. Her not remembering half her day since she had met an original vampire could only mean that she had been compelled, as she had seen Damon do with Matt. She felt thick tears streaming down her face and frantically checked her arms, legs, and face with her hands. How could no one notice that there was something wrong with her?
She wasn't sure what she was looking for, whether it was a bruise or any other mark that would indicate what had happened to her during the time she had been completely out of it. She felt her heart beating fast and hard, so hard that her chest hurt, it was as if her ribs would not be able to hold her heart in place and it would come out of her chest. Her breathing was no longer full and the air was not getting entirely into her lungs, she felt dizzy and nauseous.
"I ne-need to go", she stammered, and ran out of the kitchen. She didn't know if she had brought a coat or a purse, and at the moment that was the last thing on her mind. She just wanted to leave, she needed to leave. She wanted to run home, lock the doors and windows, and curl up in a corner somewhere. Maybe use her inhaler. Yes, it would be good to use her inhaler. God, why couldn't she breathe?
Emma crossed the distance from the kitchen to the front door of the house on automatic, very fast, and without paying attention to any person or object around her. She just ran and ran and ran until her breathing stopped, her vision blurred, and the only thing she could do was stop at a flowerbed, kneel down on the grass, and throw up. As soon as she had put everything in her stomach out, she began to cry.
"You seem to be in worse shape than I am", Emma heard Elena's voice, but she couldn't get up, she was too busy trying to breathe between sobs, "What the hell happened to you?"
She wanted to say that she thought Elijah had used compulsion on her, that she woke up from a blackout at the Boarding House, that all the people who knew her were there, but no one noticed anything different, no one realized she wasn't there, no one realized there was something wrong with her. Nobody. It was as if she was invisible. Jenna didn't notice, Alaric didn't notice. "Da-damon di-din't notice", was the only thing that came out of Emma's lips, between sobs and tears.
"Damon, huh?" Elena asked. "So you know Damon".
"Wha-what?" Emma asked, turning with difficulty to Elena. Emma was still clutching the grass between the fingers of her hands, and couldn't find the strength to stand, she just fell down sitting, a little crooked, against a rock, and looked at her cousin. Elena was different, she looked tired, and cold, and angry. The girl crouched down in front of Emma and brushed a dirty lock of hair out of the older girl's face, making a disgusted face.
"Honestly, as hungry as I am, you look disgusting" Elena commented and tilted her head to the side, as if considering something. The girl cracked a smile. "But since you're apparently Damon's new pet and I'm not in my best shape yet to hurt him myself, you wouldn't mind to leave a small token for him, would you? After all, he left me rotting in that tomb for weeks".
Elena stood up, wiped her hands on the hem of the dress she was wearing, and seemed to think for a few seconds before she stomped hard on Emma's left shin, eliciting a painful scream from the woman. Emma heard it as her bones broke, and nothing, nothing, compared to the stabbing yet numbing pain that coursed through the entire length of her leg.
Emma felt so much pain, and was already so breathless, that she began to feel her consciousness slowly fading away. She knew she couldn't stay there, in the middle of absolute nothingness, unconscious and with a broken leg. My God, what had she done? Why was all this happening to her? She started to despair, she didn't want to faint, she didn't want to stay unconscious for who knows how many more hours. God knows what would happen to her, and she wouldn't remember. She wouldn't remember, and nobody would care, nobody would notice.
Elena was gone, and she began to cry. From pain, from despair, from everything. She didn't even know if she had really seen Elena anymore, she was beginning to doubt her own eyes, maybe her head was so fucked up again that it was playing tricks on her. Maybe she would wake up in her house, maybe this was just another very real nightmare. She heard, from a distance she couldn't tell if it was long or short, the sound of a car stopping.
"Oh my God, Emma", Alaric exclaimed, kneeling beside her. Was it Alaric or was she imagining it again? "What happened?"
Emma didn't answer, she just kept crying low. Alaric took off his own jacket and tied it around the girl's leg, which drew a scream from her. He then carefully slipped an arm under her knees, taking great care not to touch the injured leg, and with his free hand threw Emma's arms around his neck. He got up from the floor and carried her to his car, deposited her carefully in the back seat and drove hurriedly to the hospital.
.
Damon discovered, in almost lethal fashion, that the dagger should have remained in Elijah's chest. In the end, everything worked out, he arrived at the lake house in time and Elena killed the Original once and for all. He and Stefan carefully placed Elijah's parched body in the back seat of the car and the three of them drove back to the Boarding House, where the two vampires locked the body, still with the dagger, in the basement.
Elena seemed to have finally given up on her ridiculous plan to become a martyr, but she wanted things to happen her way, which simply wouldn't work for Damon. It wasn't as if he liked to follow rules, he was the one who dictated the rules. However, he was pleased enough by Elijah's death and that Elena seemed to have woken up to life.
"Seems like she's had a change of attitude", Damon commented. "How'd you get through to her?"
Stefan crossed his arms and smirked.
"Told her a little story about when I was making the wrong decisions and somebody showed me there was a better way".
"Lexi?", Damon asked, closing his face.
"Yeah, you remember her?" Stefan asked acidly and turned away, leaving his brother alone in the basement.
Of course Damon remembered Lexi, he even, though he would never admit it, regretted killing the vampire. Lexi had been good to Stefan, she had been able to do for the youngest brother what he couldn't do. She was a faithful friend, she had risked countless times for Stefan. She had died for him, in a way. His thoughts flew to Rose, and he wondered if Rose had been his Lexi. Or, maybe, Emma was his Lexi. No, it didn't feel right. Emma wasn't his Lexi, she was... something else.
Damon pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Emma's number, but the call rang and rang, and she didn't answer. He frowned. What if she was still under the compulsion? What if she never got out of the compulsion? He hurried up the stairs and kept dialing her number, but she never answered. As soon as he entered his room, he heard the sound of the shower and rolled his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with Andy, but maybe if she kept her mouth shut, a little blood wouldn't hurt. He put his cell phone away in his pocket.
"Andy, thought you left", he commented, walking toward the bathroom.
What he saw, however, took any coherent thought out of his head. At first he believed he was dreaming. Elena was completely naked and wet in the middle of his bathroom. Damon felt a tingling sensation below his navel and his pupils dilated. He was devouring her with his eyes.
"Hey Damon, do you have a robe?". Damon snapped out of shock. It was obvious it wasn't Elena, but how did Katherine get out of the tomb?
"How did you get out?" he asked frowning, and Katherine smiled.
"I knew that if I begged you not to kill Elijah, that's exactly what you'd do" she teased. "Little known fact? Originals can compel vampires, but soon as they die, compulsion wears off".
"And you knew", Damon replied, He didn't know whether to be angry or to laugh at being so easily manipulated by her again, or, again, to slam her against the shower and fuck her right then and there. His brain didn't even register the new information, which denoted that Emma had broken out of her compulsion. He simply didn't even think about it. Katherine's nudity was scrambling his senses.
"And I'm still here. I didn't run", she replied and sighed. "I meant what I said, Damon. I will help you".
Katherine walked over to him and stroked the vampire's chin with her forefinger, and he clenched his jaw and tried to think of anything that would make him angry enough not to give in to the urge to kiss her. She smiled at him.
"Especially now that I see, from the way your body reacts, that you still have good taste", she teased and bit his chin. Damon remained still and took a deep breath, only moving when he heard the door to his room close. Katherine was probably going to make Stefan's life a hell for a while, which, if Damon was honest, didn't worry him. He was so tired! It was exhausting and conflicting to deal with so many different feelings on the same day. Huffing, he pulled out his cell phone again and typed.
Katherine came out of the tomb, Elijah's compulsion wore off.
Less than a minute later, Damon's cell phone vibrated and his eyes widened.
I know, Alaric replied. Emma is recovering, we'll talk later.
Emma. Damon was relieved to hear that she was out of the compulsion, but something was pounding in the back of his mind. He didn't know exactly what. Maybe it was the fact that the girl had always been very emphatic in asking Damon never to compel her, maybe it was the fact that she needed to recover. After all, that was what Alaric had said, wasn't it? That she was recovering. Was Alaric with her? Why? Damon typed one more message.
Where are you?
The vampire stared at the screen, and after a few minutes, the answer made Damon's heart leap out of his chest.
Hospital. Room 285.
Damon left in such a hurry that if it hadn't been for the empty streets of Mystic Falls at this early hour, he would have crashed his car. He arrived at the hospital and parked anyway, got out of the vehicle and ran to the room that Alaric had informed. He found his friend sitting on a bench beside the closed door that read 'Room 285'. Alaric looked tired, his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. Damon thought he heard a low snore. The poor man must have been tired.
"Ric, what the fuck?", Damon asked, and Alaric raised his face startled by the vampire's discreet arrival. The professor sighed and beckoned for Damon to sit the stool next to him. The Salvatore obeyed and watched the man prop himself against the bench seat and stretch his neck.
"Long story short: I had a fight with Jenna right after we dumped Elijah's body in the basement. She, John and Andy left. You were gone. I took my car to drive home and found Emma at the street with a broken leg and crying like shit".
"What?" Damon asked incredulously, frowning, and stood up from his seat. When the vampire had his hand on the bedroom doorknob, Alaric stopped him from opening the door.
"She's sleeping", the man warned. "I talked to her, she was pretty shaken. Apparently Katherine found her before I did and broke her leg to give you a message for leaving her in the tomb".
"Bitch", Damon exclaimed. Alaric put his hands in his pockets and faced the vampire with a sad and guilty expression.
"She was crying a lot, repeating that no one noticed she was compelled, that she didn't even remember how she got to the house".
"I noticed" Damon replied seriously, and Alaric beamed.
"I didn't. I thought she was just trying to get to you, because of Andy", the man replied, and Damon frowned at him, but didn't answer.
It was still a mystery to Damon why Elijah had compelled Emma. It was clear that the Original was trying to provoke him, but he didn't understand why he used Emma. Maybe it was because he saw her at the Boarding House the day Jules tried to get the moonstone, maybe it was because the girl was Elena's cousin and he wanted to find a way to prove a point without breaking his promise. The biggest mystery for Damon, however, was how much this had affected him. It was how upset and angry he had become at seeing Emma being used as a puppet. It was how completely angry it made him that she was now there in the hospital because of Elijah and Katherine.
Without answering Alaric, the vampire opened the door and entered the room, finding Emma lying in bed, already awake, still wearing the same black dress she had worn at dinner. At that moment, however, the black fabric was mud-stained and crumpled. The girl had her left leg up, immobilized by a white orthopedic plaster boot. Her arms had small scratches, as if she had been scratched by tree branches, and her knees were blackened with dirt. Damon was irritated that they didn't bother to clean her up, but he swallowed his irritation and approached the bed. Emma stared at him with those whiskey eyes, surrounded by reddened bags. From the looks of it, she had really cried a lot.
"Elijah's dead" Damon informed her, still serious.
"I figured" she replied in a low tone and looked away from him. Before Damon could respond, Alaric knocked twice on the door and entered with a nurse.
The woman reported that Emma could go home, and handed the signed hospital discharge to Alaric, after all, he was the one who had taken her there. The professor put the piece of paper in his pocket and helped the nurse get Emma out of bed. The girl indicated with her finger for Alaric to reach for the crutches he had bought earlier and left propped up on the wall, and the man did so. Damon just watched the whole thing with his arms crossed, feeling uncomfortable for a reason he didn't even feel like elaborating on yet.
The nurse said goodbye, and Emma left the hospital room between Damon and Alaric. The vampire continued walking in silence, offering no help to the girl or the professor. However, once they reached the parking lot, Damon looked at his friend.
"I'll take it from here".
"I can take her home, you've had a full night" Alaric replied shrugging.
"I'm fine. I'll take her. You go home", he pointed out, and the man nodded positively and said goodbye to the two, telling Emma that she could call him if she needed anything.
The girl thanked him and turned to the vampire, who picked up her crutches and took her on his arms. Damon led her to the car without saying a word, propped her up on one arm so that he could open the passenger seat door, and deposited her awkwardly and gently on the seat. Then he placed the crutches on the floor of the vehicle, resting them on the seat next to her. He closed the door and walked over to the driver's seat, got into the car, and started it. Glancing over at Emma, who was hugging her arms, the vampire turned on the air-conditioning to warm mode.
The drive to Emma's apartment was made in complete silence. Damon had expected her to say something, but she didn't. The girl stared out the window the entire way. Then, as soon as he parked the car in front of the brick building, he turned off the engine and looked at her.
"Aren't you going to talk to me?" he asked, and she finally faced him.
"Why didn't you tell me that Katherine looks exactly like Elena?" she asked.
"I didn't think it was relevant", Damon replied by shrugging. "I didn't know she would be able to get out of the tomb, so I didn't think it made any difference what she looks like".
"But she did get out" Emma replied.
"She tricked me, she said that if Elijah was killed, she would be trapped forever because she was compelled not to leave the tomb", Damon explained and frowned as he visualized Emma's brows curving the outer corners downward. She looked sad.
"Did you notice I was compelled?" she asked.
"Of course I did", he replied quickly. It was obvious he noticed, how could anyone not? She wasn't herself, she looked like a hollow shell and not the woman who filled an entire room that he knew. Emma pressed her lips together and Damon thought he saw her whiskey eyes turn bright and moist, but he couldn't be sure as she looked away from his icy ones and stared at her own hands. The girl then leaned forward and picked up her crutches.
"Thanks for the ride home", she finally said, putting her hand on the handle and opening the door. Damon reached out and reached for her hand, pulling the door so that it closed again. Emma stared at him, and Damon saw that, yes, her eyes were bright and moist, but not quite watery.
"What's wrong?" he asked, frowning.
"You didn't tell me about Andy".
"You're mad at me because I didn't tell you about Andy?", Damon questioned incredulously, with one eyebrow raised.
"You didn't tell me Katherine was Elena's evil twin sister, you didn't tell me you were planning on killing Elijah at the dinner, you didn't tell me anything. You kept all those secrets, what else do I not know?" she asked breathing heavily and grimacing. Damon stared at her as if he was holding himself too tightly not to get angry with her.
"I don't have to tell you everything. In case you didn't notice, I'm not your boyfriend, nor anyone who owes you satisfaction", he answered teasingly, and Emma opened the car door.
"I well aware you're not my boyfriend, Damon", she replied, leaning her crutches on the ground outside the car for support to get out of the vehicle. She didn't look at him, her eyes fixed on the task at hand. "I've never thought otherwise, I just thought you were my friend".
"You're such a dramaqueen", Damon replied rolling his eyes. The vampire opened his own door and, at vampire speed, was already at Emma's side pulling her out of the car and onto her feet. She glared at him angrily and pulled away from him. Damon was annoyed and huffed. "Like you tell me everything! You hide things, I'm not stupid. So before you point your finger at me, just look at yourself".
"Yeah, because all my secrets left you with a broken leg", Emma vociferated and Damon snorted angrily.
"What do you want me to say? I didn't know Katherine was going to walk free from the tomb, she was supposed to be stuck there!"
"Exactly!", Emma almost shouted.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?", Damon asked angrily and Emma turned her back, walking awkwardly to the front of the building. The vampire quickly followed her and grabbed the doorknob, preventing her from opening it. The girl looked at him with tears in her eyes, which now streamed down her face like waterfalls. Emma looked at him with such sadness and sorrow that the vampire found himself momentarily unresponsive. She, who was the person who had never looked at him with fear, mistrust, or any other negative feelings, stared at him as if he had been the vampire who had broken her leg, as if he was to blame. As if he truly, deeply, hurted her.
"You knew I was compelled!" she replied in a lower tone, her voice broken. "You believed that once Elijah was dead, Katherine would be stuck forever, because she was under his compulsion. Just like me!". Damon stared at her unresponsively. "And you just didn't give a single fuck, you knew I was compelled and just kept with the plan. I thought I was, I don't know... Important".
Damon didn't answer, and Emma deeply hoped that he would. She wanted him to answer that he cared, that he knew a way to get her out of the compulsion, and that that was the only reason he went through with the plan to kill Elijah, she wanted him to say that she was important. But he didn't answer, he didn't even look sorry. He continued with his eyebrows drawn together, but not out of concern. Damon was annoyed, he was... bored. Emma pressed her lips together to contain the cake forming in her throat. The vampire let go of the doorknob, and Emma found herself defeated and opened the door. Damon's silence was also an answer, and it hurt her.
"Do you need help with the stairs?" the vampire asked with a hard voice and an impassive expression.
"You don't need to bother" she replied walking into the building without looking at him. "I already took up enough of your time".
Emma leaned on a single crutch and, with the other, closed the building's door. The girl, once in the hallway and in front of the stairs, completely alone, began to cry silently. She kept her mouth closed to hold back the sobs and breathed deeply through her nose.
She walked hopping with her crutch to the stairs, and started to climb the steps. She took almost a dozen breaks in the middle of the way, completely tired, and mentally cursed herself for having chosen a building without an elevator.
Emma had some time in the hospital to think about everything that had happened, and the conclusion she came to was not reassuring, on the contrary. Damon flirted with her because it was fun, she herself found it fun. Damon hadn't told her about Andy because, at the end of the day, he had fun making her jealous. Damon hadn't told her about Katherine being just like Elena because it would explain all of Jenna's comments about him not leaving Elena alone, it would explain the vampire's troubled relationship with Stefan, it would explain and make evident that he was - again - into his brother's girlfriend. Damon set up the plan to kill Elijah to protect Elena and, in addition, lock Katherine forever in the tomb to finally satiate his desire for revenge. Emma would just be another side effect and, well, nobody ever cared about side effects, right?
Nobody stops taking allergy medicine because it makes them sleepy. Nobody cares about losing some pawns or even the queen on a chess board if it means the possibility of a checkmate. By God, nobody stops sunbathing and getting the perfect tan just because they might get burned. Some side effects simply have to happen.
Emma felt like the most pathetic human being on the face of the earth. There she was, all dirty, with a broken leg, climbing four flights of stairs while crying for a man who never said he cared about her, but whom she insisted on believing that did because it was written between the lines. But the truth is that some things are not written between the lines. Some things just are what they are.