Whitmore College
McKinley, Virginia
October 25, 2010
"Damon, if you're so bored how about you go and just keep an eye out for who comes and goes from the Whitmore House? We might find someone to get us inside," Ric had finally suggested, not hiding the fact he was rather annoyed with his drinking buddy. Damon tried but he just couldn't take sitting around waiting for Ric to finish sifting through all the detailed files they'd found. He just wanted to go break his friend out from that accursed basement of the Whitmore House. Ric just didn't understand I don't need to know what they are doing I just need to get Enzo out of there.
He should have carefully considered that he, for all intents and purposes, was now on a stakeout and felt even more bored than before.
On top of that, Damon was feeling so frustrated lately with his brother and Elena's troubling disappearance. He was seriously getting to the point of just flipping his switch then finding someone, no matter whoever he'd found then drain them dry. He really didn't want to care anymore, but he thought of never seeing Elena again. He shook his head in annoyance. The last few days had been unproductive as it was in his opinion, not that anyone seemed to care the entire weekend had been wasted.
Who'd thought that Papa Original had somehow found Elena nearly fifteen years prior to either Stefan or he even knowing of her existence was worrisome in itself. Being in the Gilbert panic room, he could only imagine the terror Miranda Gilbert was experiencing locked behind that steel door. He didn't even want to consider the hypothetical: what if Mikael had burned the place down and somehow coaxed the terrified mother to surrender her daughter so the other children in her care would live? As he and Ric had sorted through the Augustine files, trying to find out if the secret society had more than one vampire captive, they'd speculated on what might have transpired that fateful night. Whatever happened left a dead vampire, an unidentified deserter, and Papa Original himself taken out of action until very recently. They'd been so close to finally getting rid of Klaus once and for all!
As far as he was concerned, pretty much this entire school was a part of enemy territory and just the thought of being here brought back too many bad memories. Who knows how things might have turned out if he'd picked scissors in that last round.
Augustines' New Year's Eve Party 1958
Technically he and his friend were the guests of honor for the Augustines' New Year's Eve party. Naturally he would have made a snide quip about being severely under dressed for the occasion, and just where was his flute of champagne to celebrate ringing in the New Year? But that might draw unwelcome attention and they were far too close to executing Enzo's bold plan, one he'd come up with after the previous New Year's Eve Party. He'd been so close to picking scissors in the last round of three games of rock, paper, and scissor, but he'd changed literally at the last second to go with paper. This time it would be different. He instinctively knew he was stronger and more determined than anything to get the hell away from this place.
Damon looked behind him to make eye contact with his companion and fellow captive Lorenzo St. John, or 'Enzo' to his closest friends. It was hard to believe that they met in the Augustine Cells only five years prior, after he'd been betrayed by Joseph Salvatore, a blood relation now most likely six feet under or, if he was lucky, entombed in the family mausoleum. He hoped for the former. His mother Lily had been laid to rest from consumption. Damon's mother didn't need company such as a traitorous descendant who'd sell out his own kin, vampire or otherwise, for money of all things.
Not for the last time did he not regret wanting to drain the man dry, given that it would've been the last decent meal prior to what he had in nearly five years since. Being forced to live off one small glass of blood a day was barely enough to heal the injuries the soon to be late Dr Whitmore had inflicted on him and Enzo during their appointments, as the good doctor referred to them as being since he was their attending physician after all. The colossal prick had even acted as if he was doing them a favor!
Damon had so wanted to kill the man, but Enzo had once again talked him down. Enzo was always the level headed of them both, always telling Damon that they needed to watch for weaknesses before escaping. Getting out of their cells was one thing, finding their way out without getting caught was completely a different story. Even Damon had to concede that the New Year's celebration was the best time to try to escape. In truth, if it hadn't been for him, Damon would have lost his mind.
Damon's attention was drawn to his and Enzo's tormentor as he strolled purposefully through the crowd that was still milling about. It's showtime!
"Ladies and gentlemen, as it is almost midnight, I think it fitting that we toast the New Year with a glass of vampire blood, wouldn't you agree?" Dr Whitmore announced to the room.
Damon fiddled with the metal cuff around his left hand as the doctor, who still hadn't made eye contact with him, inserted the key into the cage's built in lock. Acting submissive and beat down, he stepped out and waited for the still oblivious doctor to shut the door and lock it. The man didn't know how quickly the odds were stacking up against him and the other humans.
Using his body to block what he was doing, Damon forcibly pushes his hand through the cuffs. It hurt like hell, breaking the bones in his hand while doing so. For once, he really didn't mind the pain for him it simply heralded their impending freedom.
The good doctor swept to stand directly in front of him. It was only then that he finally noticed that Damon's still broken hand was free. Still, Dr. Whitmore was trying to mentally reconcile what his eyes were seeing. Holding up his hand, his regenerative powers, while not fully optimal, were still more than enough for his bones to start repairing themselves. As his bones popped into place, Damon turned his hand, flexing his fingers, all the while staring directly into the doctor's eyes coldly.
"Now you see it," Damon spoke stiffly. He waited for his jailer to shift his formerly transfixed gaze back at Damon's furious expression. Realization was only starting to dawn in the man's eyes when Damon acted.
Striking quickly like only a vampire can, he grabbed Dr. Whitmore's head with both hands and dug his thumbs deep inside the hapless man's eye sockets till he could feel his thumb nails scraping the optic nerve in the back side of the ruined eyes. Withdrawing his thumbs from the profusely bleeding mess, the defenseless blind human screamed in agony and the metallic scent of blood only heightens his vampire nature.
Forcing his head roughly to the side, Damon striked and he wasn't gentle, either. His fangs ripped into the man's carotid artery to bleed him quickly. Taking long ferocious pulls of renewing ambrosia tasting blood, Damon didn't stop until Dr. Whitmore's heart thumped one final time before forever falling silent. He let the body drop carelessly to the floor. His body hummed with renewed vigor as he turned his attention to the other humans trapped in here with a hungry vampire.
Complete bedlam broke out with the remainder of the attendees as one by one, all of them realized that there was an angry vampire free in the same room with them. Screams of terror were like music to Damon's ears. His blood boiled with a hate filled need for retribution. The bloodlust called for him and the rapidly beating hearts of the humans called to him.
Randomly selecting his next victim, he lunged for a pretty blonde and bit harshly into her neck, taking a deep pull, not caring that he was being messy about it. Snapping her neck for good measure, he swiftly moved through the room till no one was left standing except for Enzo and himself. It was only then, with the haze of bloodlust lifting, he finally noticed the growing heat. Turning around he spotted a candelabra that someone, in their haste to flee, must have knocked over. The fire was rapidly turning into a conflagration.
"Damon! We've got to get out of here! Damon, now!" Enzo pleaded, his eyes dancing from growing fire, then back at Damon, panic filling his expression.
Damon rushed to his friend, grasping the bars in order to break them. Enzo did the same, but almost instantly they stepped back, hissing in pain, wringing their hands.
"Vervain!" Damon snarled, but he wasn't going to let that stop him now. They tried several times to break the vervain-laced bars of the cage, but the vervain was too strong for them to maintain their grip for long. It didn't help that the fire was growing more than it had. It seemed that the expensive carpet and lacquered wood flooring were the perfect fuel source for the fire now raging about them.
Still, they tried again to break the vervain laced bars, but once again, the vervain was just too intense for them. Damon stopped altogether, observing his surroundings and backing away as he repeatedly shook his head. He then stared back at Enzo, looking resigned.
"Damon?" Enzo asked, his tone uncertain. Damon could see what his friend already knew, but just could bring himself to say yet.
"I'm sorry. Enzo."
"Damon, please!" Enzo pleaded. Damon continued to back away, shaking his head like a stubborn mule. I have to get out of here, but there is only one way to do that! Damon didn't say anything. He didn't need to since his decision was already laid out before him. Looking back at his friend, he wordlessly flipped his switch. And like that, he found himself looking back, now emotionless and free of conflict for the first time in a very long time.
"No. Don't— Don't— Don't leave me here," Enzo pleaded, shaking his head in desperation and unwilling to believe that his friend was about to abandon him to the fire or slim chance of surviving the fire as a captive.
Damon's emotionally dead eyes held their gaze for one moment longer. He slowly turned his back and began to walk away.
"Don't go! Please!" Enzo yelled, regardless of the burning pain in his hands as he slammed his hands into the metal bars of his cage. Rage filled his voice. "Damon!"
Damon didn't even acknowledge his friend. Instead, he turned to walk away. Frantic now, Enzo looked around, looking for something, anything, he could use to save himself. "Please don't leave me! Damon! Come on! Damon! Damon! Please!" He pleaded one final time, but it was too late. Damon had already reached the exit and, not even looking back, he casually opened the door and closed it after stepping through it. Uncaring that the fire continued to spread in the building unchecked.
October 25, 2010 - Present.
Damon shifted in his car seat as he kept the entrance to the Whitmore House under constant surveillance. He'd feigned sleeping in his Camaro for several hours now. He had to compel two campus security guards, and it was only a matter of time before the next one finally showed up to inquire what he was doing. At least for him passing for an older student was possible, but even that had its limitations. Apparently loitering is a bad thing! Damon had so badly wanted to sink his fangs into the last cocky security guard, but discretion was the better part of valor. Still, he did compel the fat bastard to go stuff his face with every donut he could get his hands on before going off his shift.
"Officer Martin, thy name is gluttony." Damon spoke aloud to no one in particular.
As far as Damon was concerned, the morning and afternoon had been a complete bust. He knew that the house was technically a residence, but it was somehow listed as being a part of the school's campus. Damon wondered what the school's student body would think about the secret laboratory in the basement and the cells, one of which, if those files they'd found in the Gilbert Panic room were correct, was currently occupied by his friend Enzo.
This most recent trip down memory lane was unfortunately the last one in the last few days. Bored and trying to motivate Ric to read a little faster he, with some reluctance, had recounted the story of his capture and escape five years later and the reason he left Enzo behind.
Gnawing guilt was what was eating away at his soul, and if he'd been a weaker, younger vampire, he just might have turned off his humanity again. But ironically enough, it was encountering the spitting image of the girl he'd fallen in love with when he and his baby brother were both still human. He'd scarcely believed his ears, then eyes, when he first found Elena on that dark night on a seemingly traffic free road just outside of his hometown.
At the time, he thought he was hallucinating. It was possible having only fed on a drug addict less than six hours before then, but he knew from his own first-hand experiences that most buzzes from narcotics in his victims' blood don't persist very long for a vampire. Which could be rather annoying if said vampire was trying to get a high by feeding on junkies.
Still finding her standing in the middle of the road talking on a cell phone, something in him had flickered to life, which he'd thought he'd extinguished over fifty years ago when renewed hope and then joy filled his undead heart. He didn't tamp down on his emotions that night, nor did he fully flip his switch back on, but it was a start. There was just something about Elena Gilbert that made him want to be a better person. He knew he didn't deserve her, but he wanted her to have a normal human life, even if it killed him.
Mentally shaking himself and feeling a little peckish again Damon absently reached behind him for the Coleman Cooler he had stashed behind the front passenger seat and started to dig through the contents for a blood bag. However, as his probing fingers did find plenty of bags, all of them were the empty ones he stashed during his so-called stakeout.
Twisting in his seat, he pulled the cooler closer and, after a futile search, realized he must have finished the last bag a few hours ago.
"Sonofabitch! This is just great!"
Damon looked at his watch and cursed again; he had wasted so much time here with nothing to show for it. "Fuck this!"
He started to reach for his keys, which were still in the ignition, when a Lexus passed his parking spot and turned into the parking lot in front of the Whitmore House. The tint on the windows was too dark for him to get a good look at whoever was in the car, but thanks to his heightened senses he could tell that there were only two occupants inside.
Curious, Damon waited to see who were the latest arrivals; he noted that the car had South Carolina plates. Not sure why, a faint memory teased the back of his mind, but he ignored it when the driver side door opened and a vaguely familiar woman climbed out of her seat. He couldn't really get a good view of her face, but based on her body language she appeared to be annoyed with her passenger.
Whoever it was seemed unwilling to leave the car, his own curiosity growing. Damon rolled his window down more so he could hopefully listen into what they were talking about. He only caught the tail end of their argument.
"Come on Aaron, let's just go see what Doctor Maxfield has to say," a woman's muffled voice suggested.
"Aunt Sarah, he's just going to try to change my mind about switching schools again. I have no intention of attending Whitmore College, no matter our family's connection to this place or not!"
"Aaron," his aunt pleaded. "We've come all this way from Charleston. It would be rude not to say hello. Doctor Maxfield was a very close associate to your father; it's the least you could do!" his aunt hissed.
Damon, who'd been listening intently, had to restrain his inner laughter from breaking free. Maybe this whole stakeout wasn't a total waste after all. Two memories came unbidden to the foremost of his thoughts.
It had been easy stalking them but Damon couldn't resist acting when he found their campsite. He'd once made a promise to his friend who he'd thought died in that fire to make the Whitmore family pay for everything they had done to Enzo and him. And for the last fifty years, Damon had made good on his promise. Ironically, it was Enzo who had spurred him into exploring this form of torture for their oppressor.
"I'll kill every member of the Whitmore family."
"Boo! I said to use your imagination," Enzo had chastised. Which only motivated him to explore possibilities he never considered before, but why shouldn't he? After all, was he not a vampire?
"Except one person. I'll let that person grow up, start a family, and then I'll start killing Whitmores again. And then I'll take out the generation after that, leaving only one person to carry on the name, and then I'll take out the generation after that and so on, and so on, and so on."
Since that day, he'd made good on his declaration of war against the Whitmores. The last kill he'd made had been just after the Mystic Falls Pageant the previous year. When he escorted Elena, he found Bartholomew Whitmore was the escort for Tina Fell. It had been an impulse decision to kill him, but since he was trying to get on Elena's good side, he had to be creative about it. He couldn't rely on the inhabitants of Mystic Falls to think it was just another animal attack that had been, thanks to him, happening more often than normal.
Instead, he'd compelled the hapless teenager to drink enough to be considered legally drunk and then strongly encouraged him to take a drive with the sole intent of ending his worthless life. It worked too, and as far as anyone believed his death was ruled the result of driving while intoxicated. Not even Elena or his own brother had suspected foul play. Damon was brought out of his reverie by the shrill voice of Sarah Whitmore ordering her nephew out of her car.
Damon smirked as he watched the passenger door finally swing open and the reluctant last male member of the Whitmore family climbed out facing his aunt. The last time Damon had seen the youth was right after he killed his parents right in front of him. Aaron wouldn't recognize him since he'd been compelled to forget that a vampire had slaughtered his parents.
As Damon watched, he was further surprised when the front door opened. A blond male with a white lab coat appeared at the entry. Damon's keen sight could read the engraving on the nameplate.
"Dr. Wes Maxfield. That sounds rather boring. You look more like a wannabe Doogie Howser to me," Damon spoke to himself as a plan started to form, but he needed to check on a few things first. Enzo would be impressed, Damon thought as he started his car.
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Mystic Falls Police Station
Old Forbes Jail Cells
October 25, 2010
"Okay, Tyler, if you could please just set that outside the cell door," Bill Forbes asked before returning his attention back to the inlet feed line infuser for the modified fire sprinkler system.
It was on these particular types of occasions that Tyler really did appreciate that his hybrid strength allowed him to heft the uncomfortable chair up and place it outside the cell with ease. But it wasn't until he'd been ordered to bite the girl he loved that the superhuman strength and his freedom from turning every full moon were not enough for him anymore. Hopefully Caroline's father could make do on his promise and help free him of his sire bond to the Original Hybrid himself.
Still, if he'd still been human or an ordinary werewolf, it would have taken him forever to break free the bolts which originally held the chair in place for almost the last two decades.
His menial task completed, Tyler rejoined his fellow conspirator. He still could scarcely believe that he'd gotten him to agree to help him even after almost killing his vampire daughter. Tyler thought he was hiding his consternation, that this was all apart from some well thought out revenge plot adequately enough, but Bill Forbes surprised him yet again.
"No, Tyler, I'm not that sort of person. I've known you since you were a toddler and despite what you are I would never offer to help you break the hold Klaus has over you, just to put you in a vulnerable position out of revenge," Bill Forbes responded to Tyler's unspoken concern, not even looking away from his work.
"How?" was all Tyler could manage.
"I might only be human, but I do have eyes, too. I've caught how often you've been glancing my way for most of the afternoon. Go ahead and ask your other question if you want."
"Why? I mean, why are you helping me after-"
"After nearly killing my daughter?" Caroline's father finished. With a sign, Bill turns around from his work and gave Tyler his full attention.
"Because, son, you made a mistake and now you want to make good. And I understand that." Bill said, his heart not skipping a beat. Still, Tyler didn't feel fully convinced and it must have shown in his eyes when the older man added.
"Everyone deserves a second chance, Tyler. Liz and I didn't want this for our daughter, and neither would your mother. I would add your father as well, but I knew that you both didn't get along. The truth is none of the founding families wanted anyone in the next generation to have to deal with our town's supernatural problems." He confessed.
"Why? If you don't mind me asking." Tyler asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"I'm not going to go into too many details but a very powerful vampire, who in retrospect was most likely an Original who arrived in our town looking for someone." Bill waited until Tyler to make the connection of who that someone was before adding. "And at the end of the day, we lost two of our fellow citizens, one of them being Bonnie's mother. We decided afterwards to do all that we could to protect you kids from the supernatural."
Tyler was trying to control his anger. His heightened emotions weren't helping either, the only thing preventing him from lashing out was he would have to break the sire bond on his own and he didn't quite understand how to go about it. He had some ideas, but he was lacking on details, and it wasn't like he could compel Caroline's father to tell him, anyway. So instead, he picked up a length of chain to secure to the spot recently vacated by the chair.
"Son, we were going to tell you all but-" Bill paused, collecting himself. "Elena's adoptive father, Grayson, called an emergency council meeting out of the blue. He was said he was conducting some vampire related experiment for a secretive society he was a member of and his daughter had witnessed something that, according to him, traumatized her, and he and his wife had decided to hold off telling her till she was seventeen. But as you are well aware, fairly recent events in the past and since have proven that issue irrelevant."
"Wh… What did Elena see?" Tyler asked, not realizing he spoke his question aloud.
"Her father never did say, but if memory serves, this was just after she'd started kindergarten." Bill said, picking up one of the ends of a chain and fastening it to anchor point in the wall.
A forgotten memory teased the back of Tyler's mind of Elena being sick for several weeks before returning to their class as if nothing had happened. For once, he didn't press for more. A part of him wondered why fate seemed to circle around his friend. He'd ever admit to any one of his friends, but he hoped that wherever she was she was honestly happy. Despite Klaus's firm belief that Stefan was hiding Elena somewhere, Tyler didn't believe it. Thankfully, knowing that was just enough of a loophole for his Sire Bond not to kick in and tell his supposed master.
Deciding to change the subject, Tyler looked about the room with some concern. He didn't quite understand why his initial location of the Lockwood Cellar he'd first changed into his wolf form was now not good enough.
"Tyler, I did as you suggested and checked out the Old Lockwood Cellar, but I didn't like the overall condition of the place. It's structurally sound, but after closer inspection, I found that the door and the anchor points are at least a century old. While this place is about as old, the big difference being that we- by that I mean the council- maintain this place and nearly twelve years ago I was in charge of a major renovation project. Where do you think this modified fire sprinkler system came from?"
When he first asked about the odd sprinkler system, Tyler shouldn't have been surprised how knowledgeable Caroline's father had been about the design and function, considering he was a general contractor. He had meticulously explained everything from the vervain oil infuser to the drain vents positioned just high enough that any average sized vampire would be partially submerged up to their neck in vervain laced water. If they were strapped in the chair, he'd just moved.
"Are you really sure that this is all going to work? I now understand all the prep work we've been working on to get this place ready to try forcing me to repeatedly shift into my wolf form but-"
"Tyler, this is a process. It took decades to train myself to resist compulsion. Brain's like a muscle. The more you use it, the more it can do. A sire bond, at its core, is about one thing…. gratitude. If you believe you owe Klaus your life, ask yourself why," Bill sighed, picking up another chain.
"I was cursed. Every full moon, I had to change into a wolf. It was torture. Klaus took that away." Tyler answered, not sure where the older man was heading with his line of questions.
"He freed you from your pain and now you feel indebted to him. To break the sire bound, you gotta make yourself turn. Own your pain, then you'll owe Klaus nothing and you will be free. You're a hybrid now, right? I mean, you can turn at will now, am I right?" he asked before finding an anchor point to pass through the chain he just picked up.
"Yeah, but I don't know how to just start." Tyler complained. Looking down at his feet in frustration. Maybe this was a stupid idea?
"Tyler, you're making excuses," he deadpanned.
"You don't understand! When I turn, I break every bone in my body." Tyler yelled, pushing the memories of his change every full moon before becoming a hybrid was too excruciating to even remember.
"You asked for my help. This is the only way. How badly do you want your freedom?"
Tyler wanted to kick himself. As much as he didn't want to do this he couldn't lose Caroline either. With this in mind, he looked back at his would-be hybrid whisper, before nodding his head in agreement.
"Okay."
"Okay," Bill Forbes answered before they both got back to work. They still had a lot of prep work remaining. But Tyler knew he'd do anything for Caroline.
