BrookeWorm3: I burst out with laugh at this comment! I HATE that Elena kisses Damon, I mean... Wtf? Thank you for your review s2
Casual Cosmophile: Hahahaha, I'm so sorry! But I'm glad I could make the readers believe that, because it means that I'm doing a good job with Emma. Thank you so much for always reviewing this fic s2s2s2
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Memory hotel
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It had been two days since Jenna's death, and Emma had finally finished loading the last box of her belongings into the Gilbert house. The young woman was not very happy with the arrangement, let alone the fact that she would be occupying her late aunt's room. Alaric had not found the strength to help with the move, as it was too painful for the man to enter the house that had once belonged to his ex-girlfriend. And, besides, he was drinking too much. Damon hadn't shown up either, which was making Emma uncomfortable.
The vampire wasn't returning the girl's calls and, according to Stefan, was going through a 'troubled' moment. Emma wondered if she had done something to make Damon not want to see her at a time when she needed him, but couldn't find an answer. The girl placed the last folded piece of clothing inside the drawer.
"Emma, dinner is ready. Ric is here" Jeremy announced, poking his head into the room.
"Thank God! I'm starving!" the girl exclaimed and walked out of the room next to her cousin. Emma looked at Jeremy as the two walked down the stairs side by side. "I'm glad Alaric came".
"Yeah, me too" Jeremy replied. "I like having him around".
When the two reached the kitchen, Alaric and Elena were already seated at the table. The girl seemed to be endeavoring to stay strong, which Emma admired greatly. Alaric, on the other hand, was miserable. The man had large dark circles under his eyes and his appearance was tired. It was noticeable that he had been drinking more than was healthy.
The four of them ate in silence, Elena every now and then making small talk to try to lift their spirits. Emma was the only one who engaged Elena, and in the end, the two cousins gave up and exchanged one last complicit look before turning their attention back to their food in complete silence. As soon as they were done, Alaric collected the dishes and was already preparing to wash the dishes.
"I wanted to take advantage of you all being here so we could talk about the more...practical stuff" Emma announced, and Elena and Jeremy sat down facing their cousin. Alaric put down the pot he was washing and also turned to the young woman. "We have to decide what to do about that house"
"What do you mean?", Elena asked.
"This house was Miranda and Grayson's" Emma explained. "Jon is the only adult Gilbert alive and because of that, he's kind of the owner until one of you becomes of age. We know that you, Elena, is Jon's daughter, so theoretically Jeremy's the heir of this house. But legally you're Grayson's daughter as well. You'll be eighteen very soon, and the house will be yours".
"So?", Elena arched an eyebrow.
"A lot of vampires, including Elijah, can enter this house because of some very dumb choices" Emma continued. "As soon as you turn eighteen, the house will be in your name. And I would like very much that you talked to me before inviting someone in".
"By dumb choices you mean my choices, is that right?", Elena asked, assuming a defensive posture.
"In part, yes" Emma shrugged.
"Because you made very smart choices" Elena debauched.
"Girls, just breathe..." Alaric tried to intervene.
"Everything was made your way so far" Emma accused. "The deal with Elijah, the taking the dagger off of him, everything, and those very poor choices had consequences..."
"You blame me for Jenna's death, don't you?", Elena accused, her eyes filled with tears.
"I don't blame you, I blame Klaus" Emma explained. "But we have to be smarter this time, Elena. You can't just make everything your way and leave us all in the dark!"
"You're a terrible liar, Emma", Elena snorted, "You blame me, I know you do".
"Elena, I don't..."
"STOP LYING!", Elena shouted, and the doorbell was heard. The girl left the kitchen like a hurricane. Jeremy, who had stayed behind, stared at Emma completely disappointed, and left the kitchen behind his sister.
Emma sat down and propped her elbows on the table. She hid her face between her hands and sighed. Alaric dropped what he was doing and sat down next to his friend, stroking her back affectionately.
"I do blame her" Emma whispered. And it was true. She blamed Elena, even though she knew, rationally, that Elena was just a child and had acted with everyone's best interests in mind. But that didn't change the fact that she had trusted Elijah with everyone's life, and that this deal with the original vampire had cost Jenna her life. So, yes, Emma blamed Elena. "I don't want to, but I do".
"It's understandable", Alaric assured her. "You're human, what you're feeling right now... Is understandable".
Emma dried her tears with the tip of her index fingers and faced the man.
"How am I gonna do this? I'm not a guardian, I'm not... I'm not fucking responsible!", Emma blurted out. "How am I supposed to take care of them?"
"You can do this, Emma. Jenna had those same doubts, and she turned out just fine" Alaric replied, swallowing dryly as he vocalized his late girlfriend's name. "Besides, you made Damon a decent guy. If you did that, you could do anything".
"Have you... Have you seen him? Talked to him?", Emma asked.
"No, I'm sorry" Alaric lied. The truth was, before arriving at the Gilbert house, Alaric had helped Stefan lock a sick Damon in the basement of the Boarding House. He hated lying to Emma, but Damon was a stubborn bastard who didn't want the girl to know that he was running out of time.
In truth, Alaric believed that the vampire would be dead by now had Tyler been fully transformed when he bit him. However, Damon was slowly wasting away, becoming completely weak, sweating cold and suffering from hallucinations. The last symptom is what forced Stefan to lock his brother in the basement. Emma stared at her friend.
"You did see him, didn't you?" she asked hesitantly. "You kept things from Jenna for months, and you had that exact face you have right now".
"I was born with this face, can't afford a plastic surgery" he joked, but Emma went on seriously.
"Ric..." Emma said in a warning tone. Alaric sighed and decided to tell them to fuck off.
"Damon's dying".
"What? That's not funny, Ric" Emma shook her head in the negative.
"Tyler bit him on the night of the ritual" Alaric explained, and Emma opened her mouth in surprise. The girl then frowned, putting a few stitches together.
"He needed blood" she whispered. "He was... bad. He was weak. But he can't die, he...".
"I'm sorry" the man whispered back, reaching for Emma's hand and squeezing it affectionately. "I know how much you like him..."
Emma didn't want to listen any longer, the girl simply got up from the table and ran to the door. She was wearing pajamas, a blue tank top and plaid pants. But she didn't care. The girl simply picked up her jacket and bag and was ready to leave the house, when Alaric ran up to her and held her by the wrist.
"Stefan's with Bonnie trying to find help, to find something..." Alaric said.
"Is it possible? To find something to prevent him from dying?", Emma asked, and Alaric contorted his face into a grimace.
"Let's hope so" he simply said.
Emma was calm. The truth was that that whole conversation didn't seem to have been real. It had been two days since she had lost Jenna, and less than 40 hours since they had buried the woman. And Damon was there. He was there and he had hugged her. So it didn't seem believable that the vampire was dying. He looked in bad shape at the ritual, but who wasn't? At the funeral he was fine. It was impossible that he had been bitten by Tyler. She would have seen a bite, no? Rose had wasted away so fast that surely Damon would have manifested some symptoms by then, too.
Emma drove to the Boarding House with trembling hands, with Alaric standing silently beside her. The man had decided to accompany her for fear that Damon had gotten much worse since that afternoon and might hurt her. Alaric knew that Emma would be against keeping the vampire locked in the basement, so he preferred not to risk losing another person important to him.
The two of them entered the house, with Alaric leading the way. Everything was unusually quiet. It was strange to walk in there and not find Damon sitting by the fireplace drinking a glass of whiskey and listening to music.
"Just so you know, it's already dark, so Damon can be a little... Agitated" the man commented. "He won't need his daylight ring".
"You took his daylight ring?", she asked.
"He took off himself" Alaric replied. "We had to lock Damon so he wouldn't hurt himself, or others".
Emma hesitantly followed Alaric to the basement, where she knew they had kept Elijah when they killed the Original. The professor opened a heavy metal door and the girl heard Damon's grumbling and coughing. She hastened her step.
"Brought something for you" Alaric tried to cheer the vampire, peering into a cold, precariously lit cell.
"I could use a glass of bourbon" Damon replied.
"Maybe later, for now it's just Emma" the man punctuated. Damon, who was sitting on the floor, got to his feet quickly, feeling a little dizzy.
"Emma?"
Alaric gestured for Emma to approach the still locked cell and whispered in the girl's ear that he would be on the upper floor, but that if she could scream if she needed help. She nodded positively and waited for Alaric to disappear through the door to approach the metal door hatch. Emma met Damon's blue eyes, showing fatigue. He was paler than usual, his face covered in sweat, and he looked weak.
"Why didn't you answer my calls?", Emma asked. Damon let out a low laugh.
"In case you didn't notice, I'm kinda stuck here with no phone around" he teased.
"They locked you here this afternoon, I've been calling you for two days" she insisted, but Damon didn't answer.
He didn't know how he would say that he didn't want her to watch him wither away, that he didn't want her to feel sorry for him, as he had felt sorry for Rose. And he definitely didn't want all that to be real. Somehow, keeping Emma out of it made it all less real.
"How are you feeling?", Emma questioned, concerned.
"Never better" Damon joked, propping himself up with his elbow by the door. He could see her face through the small hatch. She looked worried and tired, and yet she looked like a ray of sunshine amidst that dark basement. Emma rolled her eyes. "My mind is playing me tricks, I'm so fucking hungry, and I feel cold and tired, and pissed" the vampire confessed.
"You shouldn't be here, it's cold and you don't have a blanket" Emma said, frowning. Damon laughed low, and his eyes softened as they met her pools of whiskey. He watched her wander off to the side, looking for something. The girl seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, but then assumed a determined expression and turned the key, opening the cell door.
Damon hesitated before taking long steps back, keeping his distance from the girl, who was now standing in the open doorway. He tried to tell her that he should stay locked in there, that he was hungry and might hurt her, but the girl just didn't care. She ran to him and supported him, throwing an arm over his shoulder and holding him by the waist.
"You shouldn't..."
"Shut up" Emma cut him off. Damon felt her scent invading his nostrils and closed his eyes, feeling his whole body begging for blood, begging for her. Then, at vampire speed, Damon pushed Emma against the wall, grabbed her arms, and stuck his nose into her neck. He took a deep breath of her scent and sighed. Emma swallowed dryly, and the vampire found himself mesmerized by the movement of her throat.
"You smell too good, too sweet" he said, rubbing his nose against her neck. "I could hurt you, I'm not...I'm not myself, my mind is dizzy".
"I'm not leaving you here" Emma simply replied.
"You wanna give me a decent death" Damon said, smirking. "Are you going to get inside my head somehow, lead me to a beautiful place and stab my chest to spare me, like I did to Rose?"
Damon's tone was playful, but the words that left his lips made Emma almost flinch. She remembered when Rose died, how much the vampire had suffered, and especially how much Damon had suffered from losing her. Emma didn't want to lose Damon, she couldn't, she wasn't prepared to lose one more important person, one more person she lov... Damon was too important, and she didn't want to lose him. That was it. She wouldn't lose him. Stefan would find an answer.
"You're not dying" Emma replied, and Damon smiled.
"You're in denial, that's so cute" he joked.
"And you're being an ass" Emma complained.
"You shouldn't have come here, Emma", Damon said, the mocking smile dying and his face taking on a serious expression. "I don't wanna hurt you".
"And I don't want you to stay here alone. I'm not leaving you" she whispered back, and Damon's eyes softened. He stared at her fondly.
"You shouldn't say things like that when I'm emotional", he replied.
"You're always emotional".
"Touché" Damon teased, but his gaze immediately softened again. He brought his hands up to Emma's face and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "You have whiskey eyes. Whiskey is my favorite drink".
"Does that make me your favorite person?" she asked, bringing her hands to his wrists and holding them lovingly.
"That..." Damon whispered and moved his gaze down from Emma's eyes to her lips. The girl watched as the vampire moistened his own pale lips. He was so pale. "That and everything else attached to your face".
Damon stared at Emma's lips and brought his face closer to her, sticking his nose to the tip of her nose. The girl closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. The vampire allowed himself to close his eyes as well.
"I don't wanna die without knowing how it is to kiss you" he whispered.
"You're not going to die" Emma whispered back. How could she be so hot against that cold wall?
"I'm going to kiss you" Damon said before gently gluing his lips to Emma's. They were warm and soft, velvety like peaches. The vampire made room to let his tongue taste her lips and sighed against her mouth when she opened hers, allowing the two tongues to intertwine and dance against each other. Damon was gentle and calm, as he had never been before. He wanted to taste every bit of Emma's mouth, to taste her all. He wanted the taste of her lips to be the last thing he would feel before he finally died.
Yet, as her warm tongue sought his, Damon felt more and more alive. He felt warm, but not the feverish warmth that had plagued him for two days. It was a good heat. He could feel his heart beating against his chest, and he could feel her heart beating against his. Her body was glued to his, and Damon found himself thinking that that was the place he wanted to be. Sighing, Emma broke the kiss and glued her forehead to his, her eyes still closed.
When Emma opened her eyes and met Damon's blue ones, the only thing the vampire saw was his favorite color. The color of his favorite drink. And suddenly Damon was staring into a glass full of whiskey. Music played in the background, and he looked around, feeling his heart jump to his throat as he saw Katherine playing the piano. She was wearing a beautiful green dress, big and pompous, and had her black hair pinned up, with graceful curls brushing against her neck.
"It's ugly to stare, Damon" Katherine commented, smirking while playing the piano. "If you want me, you just have to come over".
Damon approached the piano with hesitant steps. The vampire risked a glance to the side and saw his own reflection in a large mirror. He was human. Startled and curious, he turned his attention to the vampire sitting at the piano. She smirked.
"Come here with me" she said and he obeyed. Damon sat down beside Katherine, sharing the tiny, upholstered bench with her. It had been years since Damon had played the piano, so he dropped his glass of whiskey on the top of it and positioned his long fingers on the keys, beginning to accompany the vampire.
The sound became lower, and the melody changed. Damon knew that Katherine was no longer harmonizing with him. He knew it not only from the sound, but from her hot breath against his neck. Damon closed his eyes and inhaled the air sharply, waiting for the vampire to bury her fangs in his neck. He liked it. He liked it because she always fed him afterwards. The two of them exchanged blood in an intimate way that was more sensual than sex itself. It hurt, but he liked it. However, the pain never came. He opened his eyes and stared at a small salt shaker on top of the piano tail.
"Is it so wrong that I want the two of you?", Katherine whispered in Damon's ear. He moved his fingers on automatic over the keyboard, his eyes glued to the salt shaker on top of the piano. "Why can't you just accept that you're not the only one? That you'll never be the only one for me".
The salt shaker suddenly moved on its own, and Damon frowned. Lifting his gaze, he found Emma smiling mockingly and leaning back in a chair. He was no longer in 1864; he was in a cafeteria next to the hospital in Mystic Falls, sitting facing Emma. He watched the girl lean forward, practically throwing herself on the table, and taking his face between her palms.
"Damon?" she whispered. "Damon come back".
Damon blinked his eyes twice, and suddenly he was in the basement of the Boarding House again. Emma held his face and stared at him worriedly. He could hear her rapid heartbeat, hear her blood rushing through her veins and pulsing in her jugular. Damon felt thirsty, and it was almost unbearable. Black veins appeared under the vampire's red eyes, and he hissed with his fangs out.
"Get out" Damon ordered, but Emma didn't move, "I don't wanna hurt you".
"Wait here" Emma replied, and walked away. Damon felt weak. His body felt like it was burning up, and he leaned against the wall.
He was nauseous and his vision was blurred; he felt like he was going to throw up. Before he knew it, however, Emma was back with a bag of blood in her hands. She held out the blood to the vampire, and he sipped the entire contents of the bag with gusto, closing his eyes and reveling in the taste of the drink. When he finished, he opened his eyes.
"Better?", Emma asked, staring at him worriedly. Damon forced himself to put his fangs back in.
"Yes, better" he replied tiredly.
The girl then helped him up the stairs, following the path Damon dictated to her. Alaric didn't even intervene, knowing it would be in vain. The man did, however, try to help Emma carry Damon, but the vampire gave him a murderous look, for some reason that Alaric didn't understand. It was as if he had been lost to himself for only a few seconds.
The two of them entered the vampire's room, and Emma helped him lie down on the bed. The girl then looked around, taking in the details of his room. Damon smirked.
"Not what you expected?" he asked.
"I'm not sure what I expected, but definitely white sheets were off the table" she replied, smiling. Damon tried to laugh but ended up coughing. Emma's eyes widened when she saw that he was coughing up blood. Her cell phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her pocket. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the content of the message sent by Stefan. "Stay here, I'll be right back" Emma told Damon, and ran out of the room.
As soon as she closed the door to Damon's room, she braced herself against the hallway wall and typed in Stefan's number. The vampire didn't take long to answer.
"How's Damon?" he answered his cell phone.
"He's bad, I guess. Did you find anything?", Emma asked. Stefan didn't answer right away.
"I did... Something about Klaus. Whatever it is, it has to do with him. So I'm going to Ric's old apartment and meet him".
"I'll go with you" Emma replied, without a second thought.
"What, are you crazy?"
"Stefan, he left you alive for a reason. He wants something" Emma pointed out, as if it were obvious. She remembered how little point Klaus made about hurting Stefan during the ritual. Of everyone present, Stefan seemed the only one the Original had no interest in hurting. "Someone has to stop you from doing something stupid".
"And that someone is you?", Stefan replied snorting. "Honestly Emma, I would rather you stay there with Damon. If... If everything goes wrong, at least you'll be with him until the end".
"You should be with him until the end too" Emma replied, seriously. She didn't trust letting Stefan make the decisions alone. Klaus was interested in Stefan, and that was not good. She could ask Alaric to go along, but Ric wasn't much better. He was grieving for Jenna and seemed not to give two fucks about anything. He left Damon locked in the basement, he just left her with a hungry vampire in a basement for God's sake. He wasn't enough. Put Stefan, Alaric and Elena together and you have a perfect recipe for failure. "Don't enter the apartment without me".
Emma turned off her cell phone and went downstairs in search of Alaric. She found the man sitting on the sofa, staring at a wall and holding a bottle of booze. The girl crossed her arms and stopped right in front of him.
"Can you watch him for a bit?", Emma asked.
"You want me to babysit Damon?", Alaric sneered, and the girl rolled her eyes.
"I have to meet Stefan, and he might need blood or something" she explained. "It's just for a few hours".
"He might not have a few hours, Emma" Alaric replied, taking one last sip of his drink. He didn't look like he was debauching, he looked... Resigned. Sad. Grief-stricken. Emma crouched down in front of him and took the bottle from his friend's hands. The girl took a deep breath.
"You can mourn as long as you need, Ric" Emma said. "But you also have to make yourself fucking useful. He's not dying. I just need you to watch him for a few hours, can you please do this?"
"Sorry" he asked, embarrassed. Emma smiled weakly at the man and stood up. She patted her friend on the shoulder twice before picking up her car keys. She caught a glimpse of Alaric's stake-throwing arm-gun and decided to pick it up before heading out the door.
Alaric threw the bottle away and walked up the stairs in heavy steps. He entered Damon's room and saw the vampire frown at the sight of him. Something was wrong, and it had nothing to do with the rising fever, the coughing and the body aches. It had nothing to do with the mental confusion Damon was experiencing. The bitter feeling increased even more when Emma did not return after a while. Where was she? Had she gone out? Would she not say goodbye to him? He could die in the next few hours, or even in the next few minutes, and she wouldn't be there. He wanted her there, he wanted to spend his last moments in her company, because she made him laugh, because her body was warm and chased away the cold, because her smell was good, because… Damon frowned and coughed once more. Ric held out a clean handkerchief and threw the bloody one in the trash.
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Emma took a deep breath before entering Alaric's building. She reached into her jacket pocket and confirmed that her gun was there. In her left arm, Alaric's throwing-stake thing was also ready. She knew that a simple stake would not kill an original vampire, but she would not go completely unprepared. The girl climbed the stairs feeling her heart beating hard against her chest, so hard that she feared it was going to burst out of her body. Her jaw was clenched painfully, and she reached into her pocket with her right hand, checking her gun every second. She had spent long minutes arguing with Stefan until she had convinced the vampire to stay outside, ready to intervene if anything went wrong. Klaus might be an original vampire, but he was still a man. A man who liked to show power. A man who liked to instill fear in others. If Emma went alone, pretending - because yes, she was pretending - that she wasn't afraid of him, it would at least make him unsettled enough to let slip something about a possible cure.
Emma stopped in front of the door to Alaric's apartment and took a deep breath before turning the knob. She was surprised to see that the door was open. It was as if they were expecting a visitor. She cautiously entered the apartment and spotted Katherine sitting in an armchair with a bottle of Gin in her hand.
"You're not who I expected", the vampire commented, looking surprised and, at the same time, bored.
"I don't have time for you, Katherine. Where is Klaus?", Emma asked, pretending to be more certain than she really was.
Katherine didn't have time to answer, as the door opened again, causing Emma to jump with fright and turn toward the apartment entrance. The girl instinctively reached into her pocket and grabbed the handle of her gun. Emma saw Elijah enter, accompanied by Klaus. The former seemed surprised to see her there, while the latter just smirked.
"Emma..." Klaus greeted smiling. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Emma made a great effort to ignore Elijah's presence. She was angry with him. Part of this whole mess was his fault. If he had followed the plan, maybe everything would be different. If only he had kept his word.
"I'm told you have the cure for werewolf bite" Emma said bluntly. "I need it".
"And why would I do that, may I ask?", Klaus asked defiantly, and Emma pulled out her gun and pointed it at the Original. Klaus let out a laugh. "A gun won't kill me, you know it".
"I actually don't, never shot an Original before" Emma replied, suddenly feeling safer. "I have this theory... You vampires can heal when wounded, I've seen it. But I have this theory that you can't heal a wound in the head if I blow your brains to the floor. Same goes for hybrids"
Klaus gave a loud laugh and looked from Emma to Katherine and then to Emma again.
"I like you" Klaus answered with a wild grin, pointing at her. He looked to Elijah. "You didn't tell me she was that wild, brother".
Emma didn't dare take her eyes off Klaus to stare at the other original.
"I like you" Klaus repeated, taking two steps forward menacingly. "And only because of that, I will let you live. I give you five seconds to get out of here".
"I'm not leaving without the cure, Klaus" Emma exclaimed resolutely, although inside she was returning to feeling completely terrified.
"Then don't. I would very much appreciate a dinner" Klaus replied. Emma swallowed dryly.
"Brother..." Elijah tried to speak, but Klaus raised his hand in a sign that he should remain silent. The original vampire then took a step back and bowed his head. Emma felt anger as her attention turned to Elijah. If he had kept his word, Klaus would be dead! Half of their problems wouldn't exist. She hated Elijah. The girl felt her blood boil, the fear already forgotten. It was obvious that Elijah was, all along, helping Klaus! It was obvious! If he had kept his word. If he really wanted to kill his brother, he would have done it already, wouldn't he? If he really wanted Klaus dead, Klaus would be dead by ages and would never have even kidnapped Tyler, and Damon wouldn't be dying! She hated him, and it was so easy to dump all her anger on him, to blame him for the possibility of Damon dying.
"You're pathetic" Emma vociferated. "How do you feel throwing thousands of years of good name away? You're a traitor! Man of your word my ass, your word means nothing!"
"You should leave" Elijah warned, and Emma felt her face hot. The girl pointed the gun at him. Klaus watched everything with a smile on his face.
Emma pulled the trigger, and, too fast for the human eye to keep up, Elijah ran up to her and bent the barrel of the gun, causing the bullet to hit the ceiling. He pinned her against a wall, the bent gun pressed against her chest.
"You. Should. Leave" Elijah repeated. He had a serious expression and a firm voice. Emma felt her jaw painfully lock.
"He's gonna die because of you" she whispered to Elijah, trying in vain to ignite something inside him, anything at all. Remorse, guilt, anything. She was desperate, and angry, and completely lost. "Damon's dying because of you", she repeated, and for half a split second, something flashed through Elijah's eyes.
"Leave", he repeated, resuming his serious expression. "Leave and don't come back".
Katherine watched everything carefully. Klaus' smile, Elijah's awkward posture, Emma's desperation. She cared about Damon, truly cared. Cared enough to threaten an original vampire with a revolver. It was stupid, completely stupid. Katherine would never risk herself like that for anyone, and until that moment, she thought that was a feeling she shared with the human. But as it turned out, she was wrong. Emma was self-preserving, but she was also irrevocably tied to Damon and she couldn't let him die.
"We're not leaving without the cure", Stefan's voice was heard from the door, and Emma disentangled herself from Elijah. Stefan looked at her. "Are you okay? Was that your brilliant plan?"
"Can you judge her? You also did stupid things when you were in love", Katherine retorted before Emma could answer, more to tease Stefan than to actually defend the girl she barely knew.
"I was wondering when you would come back", Klaus commented, turning to Stefan, "You are definitely someone I can have a little chat with". The original hybrid then turned to Emma, who was still standing in the corner of the room, next to Elijah. "You've heard my brother, leave us".
Emma looked at Stefan, who directed a meaningful look at the girl, indicating that she should leave. The girl walked cautiously to the door, locking her breath as she passed Klaus. She did, however, hear him let out a laugh through his nose, probably amused by her nervousness.
"There's no cure, by the way", Klaus commented before Emma reached the door. "He's good as dead, I suggest you accept that sooner than later".
"Then what do you want with Stefan? If not to make a deal about the cure?", Emma asked, feeling her heart beating hard inside her chest, but keeping her voice steady. She couldn't believe that there was no cure. Because if there wasn't, what did Klaus want with Stefan? For all intents and purposes, Elena was dead. The only other person Stefan had was Damon. If Damon really was doomed to die, there was nothing Klaus could take from him, and therefore nothing that could serve as a bargaining chip for the Salvatore to close any kind of deal with Klaus.
"He has something I want", Klaus explained, smirking. "And if he does what I tell him to do right, I won't test my new ability to create hybrids on you, the Gilbert boy, and the little witch of yours".
"You're bluffing", Emma challenged.
"He's not" Elijah replied. "Next month will be a full moon again, and Niklaus has a few werewolves. He can make you all get bitten and then turn you all into hybrids".
"You realize you just told me his entire plan, right?", Emma asked, still in disbelief of what she had heard.
"Why would I keep it a secret?", Klaus replied. "There's nothing anyone can do about it, and I am an original hybrid. I cannot be stopped; I cannot be killed. There's no purpose in keeping myself or my plans in the dark. Now, leave before I make you my dinner".
Emma took one last look at Stefan before she left the apartment feeling like a complete failure. She, who prided herself on being rational, who had given Elena all that talk in the morning about stupid plans, had acted without thinking, had gone directly to Klaus without a decent plan, acting on the fly and getting carried away by anger. And, consequently, she had left empty-handed.
However, Emma kept hope alive. Stefan had stayed there. Stefan was a vampire and knew how to defend himself, and he loved Damon more than anything in the world. She knew there was a cure, there had to be. The witch spirits had told Bonnie Klaus's name, so he had to know something! And Emma was counting on Stefan being able to find out where the damn cure was before it was too late. That thought kept Emma firm and resolute.
The girl went down the stairs of the building and walked to her car, which was parked on the corner, when her cell phone rang. It was Alaric.
"Ric?"
"Emma, Damon broke my neck...again" Alaric complained, grunting in pain. "He left, he was mumbling about Katherine"
"One job, Ric! One fucking job!", Emma shouted into the phone.
"He doesn't fucking listen to me! He only listens to you and he's hallucinating or something!" the man shouted back, and Emma could hear the clatter of a bunch of keys. Alaric must have been leaving the house. He sighed before speaking again. "Look, I just called so you can help me find him before he kills someone".
"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm just nervous and..." Emma began to stutter nervously, picking up her car keys from inside the pocket of the pajama pants she was still wearing. "There's a movie night at the square with the entire town, so Damon must be there. Can you meet me in ten? I'll call Elena on my way too".
"Sure, I'll be there" Alaric replied. "Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"Be careful, he's not... He's not entirely Damon right now. He could hurt you".
"I'll be careful", Emma assured, starting the car. "By, Ric".
Emma drove quickly, feeling her knuckles stiff against the steering wheel. She parked the car in the same spot where she had parked the night Rose had attacked her. It was as if everything was repeating itself, as if life was playing a mean trick on the girl. Emma got out of the car and heard, in the distance, the sound of the movie playing in the square. She pulled her phone from her pocket and typed a message to Elena, knowing that she wouldn't be able to answer it because of the noise. It didn't take long for her cousin to answer saying that she would meet her near the trash cans, behind the projector screen.
Sommers walked briskly to the place, sneaking among the teenagers looking for popcorn. She passed the sheriff and a group of elderly people setting up their chairs on the grass, until she spotted Elena's long hair.
.
Damon was standing in the crowd of guests at the Mansion, waiting for Katherine. He knew that the vampire had chosen Stefan to escort her to the ball, but he hoped to get a few dances out of her, and perhaps share the same bed with her later. Looking around to find the object of his thoughts, he found Katherine entering the ballroom, alone, wearing a beautiful blue dress. She looked beautiful, as always. The vampire approached him with a smirk, teasing him. He smiled and walked over to her, offering his arm to escort her to the center of the room, where other couples were already dancing.
Damon led her gracefully to the music, his fingers even touching hers, and he could feel the warmth from her waist through the thick fabric of the dress warm his palm, even with the two inches that separated his hand from the garment. The two of them spun around, he smiled, she smiled. Katherine nodded, inviting him to meet her outside the mansion.
Katherine went ahead, and Damon waited a few seconds before sneaking out of the mansion, feeling the cold night wind burn his cheeks, which were red. His heart was beating fast, as it always did before he meets her, and his body only relaxed when he saw her propped up against the wall of bushes at the side of the mansion. He brought one hand up to her waist, as he had been thirsty to do since they had danced, and with the other he held the end of a lock of hair that had escaped from her hairdo.
"I want you, I've always wanted you, since I first saw you" Damon whispered, staring into her dark brown eyes. Katherine frowned and blinked a few times, as if she didn't understand what he was saying. "Give me your blood, I wanna feed from you, and then feed you so we can be the same. I wanna be with you. You and me, just us".
"Damon..." she spoke hesitantly, and Damon could tell something was different. The color of her eyes was not right, not what he expected, what he longed for. They were too dark. They were warm, and mesmerizing, but not what he expected. He stirred the lock of hair, now smooth, between his fingers, and found the texture strange. The strands were straight and thick and dark as ebony. He brought his face close to hers and nuzzled his nose into the woman's neck, closing his eyes and inhaling the smell, which, too, was not what he was looking for, not sweet enough. It was a good smell, of berries, but it was the smell of...
"Elena?", Damon asked, pulling his face away and blinking several times. He met Elena's brown, startled eyes. "What..."
"It's me, it's Elena. Not Katherine", Elena spoke, still staring at him in fright. Only then did Damon realize that her veins pulsed below her eyes. He closed his eyes tightly and forced himself to relax his face. The girl hesitantly pulled her cell phone from her jacket pocket and typed in a number. Damon heard the call complete. "I found him, next to the bathrooms".
Elena then hung up the cell phone and motioned for Damon to throw an arm over her shoulder, and the vampire obeyed. The two walked long steps to near the parking lot, where the vampire heard heavy footsteps approaching.
"Thank God!", Emma exclaimed, placing herself on the other side of the vampire and helping Elena carry him to the car.
Emma drove to the Boarding House with Elena in the passenger seat and Damon lying in the back seat. Every now and then she looked back to check if he was okay, even though she knew he wasn't. Elena exchanged messages with Alaric and Bonnie, while Emma answered some of the girl's questions about what was going on.
As they entered the Salvatore estate, Emma jumped out of the car and helped Damon into the house and up the stairs. She and Elena laid him down on the bed, and the younger girl sat beside him while the older one paced back and forth, grabbing some towels, filling a basin with warm water, rummaging through bathroom drawers.
Elena watched her cousin nervously search for something as she held Damon's cold hands between her own, until she saw Emma drop the bowl of soaps on the floor. The Gilbert then stood up and walked over to her cousin, helping her gather the soaps. Emma's hands were shaking.
"I'll do this", Elena whispered, and Emma stared at her with a red face. Her eyes, however, were dry, without any sign of tears. "Go and stay with him".
"I'm sorry for what I said..."
"I know" Elena replied low. "It's fine".
"It's not", Emma whispered back and stared at her own hands, which held the completely broken soaps. She shook her head to the side. "Damon can't d... He can't".
"He won't", Elena assured her cousin. "Stefan will find the cure, I'm sure of it. Now go and stay with him, I'll get more blankets from the guest room".
"Okay", Emma nodded positively and dropped the pieces of soap on the bathroom countertop before heading to the bed. Hesitantly, she sat down next to the vampire and pulled the covers over him. The vampire reached for her hands and intertwined his fingers with hers. Damon was pale and sweaty, and coughing. Emma heard Elena leave the room. "You'll be fine".
"You know I won't, but I appreciate the optimism", Damon joked, and started coughing again. Emma frowned worriedly and looked away to their entwined hands. "I'm glad I kissed you before the coughing", he joked.
"It didn't count" she commented in a low voice.
"Was it that bad?" he asked, frowning, and she stared at him.
"It doesn't count when you kiss someone because you think you're going to die", she explained.
"I don't think I'm going to die, I know it", he stubbornly said, and frowned when Emma looked away again. Maybe she was sad, maybe she couldn't look at him and see him in that deplorable state. He knew he was certainly not in his best shape. "Hey, come here".
Emma faced him and saw him nod to the free pillow next to him. Damon was propped up against two pillows at the head of the bed. Emma released his hands and removed her shoes, settling herself beside him and propping her chin against the palm of her hand, the arm of which had its elbow against the headboard. He forced himself to turn toward her and looked her in the eye. The vampire reached out a hand and took a lock of her hair between his fingers, feeling her fine, almost golden strands. He smiled at the familiarity of the texture between his fingers.
"It is crazy to think that, despite all my wrong choices, I wouldn't change anything?" he asked, and Emma smiled weakly at him.
"You wouldn't?"
"No", he replied, and turned his face quickly so that he could cough. Emma widened her eyes and pulled out a tissue from the headboard to wipe away the droplets of blood that had splattered on his chin. Damon turned to her again. "I wouldn't change anything because everything led me to meet you".
Emma stopped the motion of wiping his chin with the handkerchief and Damon caught her wrist, forcing her index finger up and positioning it between his thick, dark eyebrows. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then opened them. Emma would never tire of how deep his ice eyes were, even under those conditions.
"I wish you had known me when I was human. I was so much better, you would have loved me" he commented, and Emma swallowed dryly.
"I prefer the version I knew, if you ask me" she replied, drawing a low laugh from him.
"You have terrible taste", he joked.
"Can't disagree with that. Purses, makeup, vampires..." she replied smiling, and he laughed once more.
"You're too good, dolly", Damon said, going back to playing with her lock of hair. "I hope you find a nice guy someday... Or girl, no judgements". Emma laughed.
"I don't want a nice guy, I want a terrible, stubborn and stupid guy with raven hair and blue eyes", Emma replied, and Damon stared at her with loving eyes.
"He sounds handsome", he replied.
"He has nice eyes".
"Prettier than Gary Oldman's in Dracula?", Damon asked.
"Don't tell him that", she whispered back.
"I won't", he whispered in answer. The vampire's body shivered with cold, and Emma smoothed the covers until they covered Damon up to his neck. "God, dying sucks".
And then Emma felt her eyes water. She had been holding on all day, confident that they would find a cure, but her hopes were beginning to waver. Damon was dying right before her eyes, and there was no sign of Stefan. The vampire stared into the girl's watery eyes and frowned.
"Hey, dolly", he whispered in a hoarse voice from his completely dry throat. "Don't cry, my dear. If it is for me, I'm a hard nut to crack, and I'll take it standing up".
Emma then began to cry and hugged him. Damon, even though covered up to his neck, wrapped her body against his, regretting that the thick covers prevented him from feeling her warmth. He buried his nose behind her ear and inhaled the sweet fullness mixed with vanilla that emanated from her neck and hair.
"I thought Dracula was kinda of our thing", he teased, and Emma pressed herself even tighter against him. Damon felt his vision begin to cloud, his throat go dry, and his teeth itch at his gums. It was as if he couldn't restrain his body's involuntary instincts, as if his body was struggling to survive and he couldn't control it. He needed blood, his body was begging for blood in its fruitless attempt to stay strong. "You have to leave, Emma".
"I'll stay with you", she stubbornly said, shaking her head in the negative against the curve of his neck.
And then Damon, acting on instinct, used all his reserves of strength to sit up, forcing her by the shoulders to sit up as well. Without thinking, Damon put his fangs out and drove them into the curve of skin that connected Emma's neck to her shoulder. He wasn't gentle; he couldn't even control himself. He sucked her hard, rolling his eyes in pleasure. His brain barely registered her cries for him to stop.
Damon only stopped because Alaric and Elena entered the room, alarmed by Emma's screams, and separated the girl from the vampire. Damon, as he stared at Emma, already on her feet being held by Elena while Ric held him against the bed, felt like crap. The girl had the golden ends of her hair covered in blood and was stopping the bleeding with the back of her hand. Her lips were pale, and he knew it was because he had sucked too much blood. He could still taste the sweetness of her blood against his tongue, and he stared at her with regretful eyes.
"Emma, I'm so sorry" he said, stopping struggling against Alaric's grip. "I didn't want to hurt you, I would never... You need to stay away from me".
The girl tried to say that she didn't blame him, that she knew he was going through exactly what Rose had gone through, but she was so weak and so distraught by the fact that he was dying, that she couldn't answer. She then let herself be led out of the room by Elena. Alaric remained with the vampire.
As soon as they reached the kitchen, Emma took a large glass of water and went in search of a first aid kit. Elena's cell phone rang and the girl read the message while her cousin cleaned the wound on her neck with gauze, using the oven glass as a mirror. Realizing that Elena was sniffling, Emma turned to her cousin and stared at her in anticipation.
"Stefan sent me a message. He says 'It has to be me. I'm coming home soon. If don't make it in time, tell Damon that I'm sorry'," Elena read Stefan's message aloud. "I think he wants to be the one to..."
She didn't have to finish the sentence. Stefan wanted to be the one to put a stake through Damon's chest, just as the older brother had done to Rose. There was no cure, and Damon was going to die. So Emma ran to the guest bathroom and finally broke down.