Elowen looked over her shoulder as she approached the door to Whitmore house to make sure nobody was watching. Stefan was following closely behind her. After leaving the boarding house, Elowen had done a quick locator spell to find Damon and this is where it led her. It was in the middle of the night, so the campus was deserted, but both of them still didn't want to get caught.
"Okay, I have to go in by myself," Elowen explained. "You're not invited in."
Stefan looked up at Whitmore house.
"Somebody owns this place?"
"Apparently. Caroline and Elena learned the hard way. Just stay right here. I'll be back."
Stefan reached out and grabbed the doorknob in order to break it so Elowen could get in, but she quickly grabbed his hand.
"Wait! I don't want there to be obvious signs of breaking and entering. I got this."
She pulled Stefan's arm away from the door and stood in front of it. She raised her hands and pressed them against the wood, and a second later, her hands melted through the door and she walked through.
"Whoa," Stefan mumbled as he watched her disappear. "That's new."
Elowen looked around the house after she entered before her power kicked in and told her to look in the basement. She walked over to the correct door, reached out for the doorknob and turned it, only to find it locked. She rattled it a couple of times before sighing. She repeated what she did at the front door and slipped through the door with ease. She found herself at the top of a set of stairs and cautiously ventured down them before coming to a room that had three cells next to each other. Toby was sitting in the middle one, looked up when he heard someone coming, and jumped up when he saw Elowen.
"Elles! You're a sight for sore eyes. I was starting to lose hope that you wouldn't find us."
Elowen walked over to his cell, grabbed the bars and shook them a couple of times. Toby shook his head.
"Tried that. They're locked tight."
"Not for long."
Toby saw Elowen's fingertips suddenly glow a bright blue in the darkness of the cell and stopped her.
"Wait! They're gonna take one look at the frosted over cell doors and wonder what did it. You're putting yourself at risk."
Elowen sighed and the next second, the blue light disappeared and plunged them into the dark again.
"You're right. Okay, hang on a second."
A warm, golden flash of light brightly lit up the room for a second before disappearing. Toby lifted his hands to shield his eyes and when he moved them, Elowen wasn't in front of him anymore.
"Elowen?"
"Boo."
Toby just about jumped out of his skin and twisted around to see Elowen standing behind him.
"God! Don't do that."
Elowen rolled her eyes and held out her hand.
"Let's just get you out of here."
Toby looked down at Elowen's hand warily.
"This isn't going to hurt, is it?"
"No. It just feels warm and a little tingly."
After a second of hesitation, Toby grabbed Elowen's hand. The same golden light engulfed the both of them and then they were outside of the cell. Elowen let go of his hand.
"See? No pain at all."
Toby shook out his shoulders.
"That actually felt kind of good. Like being wrapped in a blanket. My fingers and toes feel prickly, though."
"It'll go away. Where's Damon?"
Toby nodded towards the cell that was next to the one he was in. Elowen peered in and she could make out a faint silhouette in the darkness. It was sprawled out on the ground and unmoving. She frowned.
"What happened to him?"
"He's dead. Some guy named Aaron shot him in the head."
Elowen's eyebrows shot up. "Aaron? Are you sure?"
"Pretty positive."
"Okay, I'm asking questions later. The last thing I wanna do is get caught."
Once more, the golden light gleamed through the holding cells, illuminating the room for a split second before it diminished. Elowen crouched down on the cement flooring with Damon, hauling him into her lap before teleporting them outside of the cell. She grabbed one of his arms, slung it over her shoulder and tried to stand up.
"Uh, Toby? A little help here?"
Toby took hold of Damon's other arm and took most of the weight off of Elowen. Together, they dragged Damon up the stairs and into the main part of the house.
"Hey, how did you even get in here?" Elowen asked as they neared the front door. "This house is owned by somebody."
"I was half lucid when Dr. Crazy brought me here. He invited me in before injecting me with more vervain and throwing me in that holding cell."
They reached the door and Elowen reached out to unlock it from the inside. When the door pushed open, Stefan was still standing on the other side. He saw Damon and quickly took over for Elowen, relieving her so she could stand up straight again.
"Let's get him back to the boarding house," Elowen said as she closed the door behind them.
"Wait! He took Elena somewhere," Toby said quickly before they got too far. "I don't know where."
"Okay, we'll look for her, but we need to regroup first. One thing at a time."
Toby nodded and then him and Stefan carefully led Damon away from the house, followed by Elowen. She shot one last look at Whitmore house from over her shoulder before leaving.
xxxx
Katherine woke up the next morning in Veronica's old room to an empty bed. She rolled around and found Veronica sitting at the vanity applying lip gloss to her lips. She was already showered, dressed in a fresh pair of clothes, and had her hair tied up in a high ponytail. She looked up in the mirror and saw Katherine waking up.
"Where'd you get the clothes from?" Katherine asked as she sat up tiredly.
"I kept a couple of spare clothes here when we moved in case I ever stayed the night," Veronica replied, putting the lip gloss back in the tube and twisting it closed. "Clearly, it was a good idea."
She leaned forward, fixing her fringe bangs in the mirror while Katherine watched.
"God, you're hot," Katherine drawled.
Veronica smirked at her through the mirror. "Ditto."
Veronica stood up after deeming herself appropriate and turned towards Katherine before her eyes fell to something on the bed.
"Ooh. That's not good."
Katherine followed her line of sight and felt her jaw slacken. There was a single lock of curly hair lying on the bed sheets. Katherine picked it up and stared at it in horror.
"Hair dye's not gonna fix this one. I'll let you deal with this."
Veronica twirled on the balls of her feet and started for the door.
"You're just gonna leave me here?" Katherine asked in disbelief.
Veronica looked over her shoulder as she reached out for the doorknob.
"What can I do? Glue your hair back on? Just put it up in a hat. Nobody will notice."
Veronica opened the door and left the room, leaving Katherine by herself. She walked into the living room, where Elowen, Stefan, Damon and Toby were. They all looked up at the sound of her walking in. Elowen furrowed her eyebrows.
"Veronica? You're still here?"
"Caroline wanted to stay at her mom's last night and she was my ride here." Veronica shrugged. "Didn't really have a choice. What's with the long faces?"
"Elena's missing," Toby told her.
"Oh, boo hoo. There's more important things to be worried about."
Toby opened his mouth to retort when Damon cut in.
"Okay, put the claws away. I usually wouldn't care where she is either, but Dr. Frankenstein has her and that's what worries me. We saw what he did to Jesse. We don't need another vampire eating vampire on our hands."
"Okay, so get leverage," Veronica said as if it were obvious. "Wes is Aaron's guardian, so he's got to mean something to him, right? Threaten Aaron. Problem solved."
"Should I be worried your little human brain went straight to the violent answer?"
Veronica rolled her eyes. "I've been here long enough to know violence always seems to be the answer in this stupid town. Well? Are we just going to sit here?"
Veronica walked over to the door and pulled it open, revealing Angel on the other side. She made a funny face when she saw her brother.
"What are you doing here?"
"Katherine asked Matt and I-"
"I'm stopping you right there. You're helping me instead."
Angel looked down at Veronica warily. "With what?"
Veronica smirked. Angel wasn't sure he liked the look she was giving him. She looked over at everyone else.
"Are we going or what?"
xxxx
Toby plopped down next to Aaron and pulled one of his earbuds out of his ear. Aaron looked over and widened his eyes in fear.
"Pop quiz," Toby said. "So, your girlfriend's taken by a mad scientist. Now, do you a) get a new girlfriend, b) call the police, or c) hurt and potentially kill someone close to the mad scientist?"
Aaron scrambled out of his seat to run, but was blocked off by Stefan, Damon and Elowen. He turned to try and escape the other way, but was stopped by Angel and Veronica. Angel nodded back over to the couch.
"I think it's best you take a seat."
Aaron looked back over at Toby, who patted the seat next to him. Aaron slowly walked back over and sat back down.
"I have no idea where Wes took her," Aaron blurted before anyone could ask anything.
"Well, they're not at his lab, so where else could he hide a vampire?" Stefan asked. Aaron looked over at him.
"I'm sorry. Am I supposed to know who you are?"
"That's my brother, Stefan," Damon replied nonchalantly. "He's harmless. Most of the time."
Aaron's eyes flickered towards Angel. Veronica slung her arm around his shoulder.
"And this is my brother, Angel. He throws a mean right hook. I taught him that."
Angel rolled his eyes. "You did not."
"No, I totally did."
Aaron turned to look at Damon, who had taken the seat on the opposite side of him.
"How are you not dead? I shot you."
Damon looked around to make sure nobody was around and leaned over.
"Well, because you went for the head. You got to go for the heart." He reached over and smacked the back of Aaron's head. "Go for the heart next time."
"Be nice," Elowen chided. She looked over at Aaron. "Where's Elena?"
Aaron shook his head. "I have no idea. All that Wes told me was to go about my life as usual."
"We're gonna call Wes, and you're gonna tell him that if he doesn't give us Elena, the next experiment that he conducts is gonna be sewing your arms back on," Toby told him with a smile. "Okay?"
With shaky hands, Aaron pulled out his phone and dialed Wes's number.
"Aaron, hey," Wes answered once the call went through.
"Do you have Elena?" Aaron asked.
"Aaron, what's wrong?"
"Uh, Elowen Ramirez, Angel and Veronica Garcia, Toby Lockwood and Stefan and Damon Salvatore are gonna kill me unless you give them Elena."
"Toby Lockwood and Damon Salvatore are locked in an impenetrable and inescapable fortified cell."
"Or they're in front of me imagining what my kidney would taste like."
There was a pause before Wes made a sound of frustration.
"Fine. Meet me in my classroom. Once I see you're safe, tell them I'll give them Elena."
Aaron hung up. Toby, who had been listening in, stood up.
"Alright, off we go."
xxxx
Stefan, Damon, Elowen, Angel, Veronica, Toby and Aaron were all walking across campus towards Wes's classroom when Stefan spoke up. He pointed between Aaron, Damon and Toby.
"You want to give me a little backstory as to how you know each other?"
"Aaron is Aaron Whitmore, and he comes from a very long time of vampire probing, blood testing, organ removing freaks called Augustine," Damon replied.
"Why do you know this?"
"Because I was their test subject in the 50s."
Stefan frowned. "What do you mean test subject?"
"Meaning, I donated my body to science, except I was alive and it was against my will."
"Wait. Hang on a minute." Stefan stopped walking, and so did everyone else. "How do I not know about this?"
"Don't get all guilt ridden Stefan on me. We were on the outs back then, and by the time it was over, you know, it was over."
"Then why is this my first time hearing about it, too?" Elowen asked. Damon glanced over at her, but didn't meet her eyes.
"I didn't think it was important."
"Why don't you finish the rest of the story, Damon?" Aaron piped up.
"Hm," Veronica hummed. "I don't recall anyone saying that you could talk." She turned to everyone else. "Did we say he could talk?"
Damon shook his head. "I don't remember anything."
"Neither do I," Toby added.
"Yeah, I didn't think so." Veronica turned to Aaron. "Let's keep going, shall we?"
xxxx
"Which one is it?" Toby asked as they neared Wes's classroom. Veronica pointed it out.
"This one."
Aaron walked ahead and opened it, allowing everyone to walk in. It was empty, save for one person, who was sitting in the back, their feet propped up on one of the chairs.
"21051," the person said.
"Enzo?" Damon asked in disbelief. "It's been awhile, mate."
Enzo had stood up and was walking towards them as Stefan frowned.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Lorenzo, but my friends call me Enzo," Enzo replied. "Ah, kidding. I don't have any friends."
Enzo reached Stefan and offered him his hand. Stefan didn't take it.
"Enzo's another Augustine vampire," Damon explained after a moment. "Our cells were next to each other." He faced Enzo. "So, we're here to meet somebody. Wes Maxfield. You know him?"
Enzo scoffed. "That's your first question for me? Not 'how are you? How'd you survive in that fire I left you to die in'?"
"Uh, Damon?" Elowen looked over at him. "Want to explain to me what the hell is going on here?"
"Oh, I'd love to do that for him if you don't mind, sweetheart," Enzo said. "Have a seat. Been waiting 70 years to tell my story."
xxxx
Enzo leaned against the teacher's desk and gestured to the rest of the chairs in the classroom.
Veronica was situated on top of one of the desks next to Elowen. Stefan and Angel had left the room to find out where Elena and Wes were, and Damon and Toby stayed standing. Enzo was still leaning against the teacher's desk.
"Damon and I had been locked in those cells for years, tortured, beaten, humiliated, but we weren't gonna let them break us, no," Enzo was saying to fill the silence. "We decided if we were going to escape, we needed to work together."
At the emphasis of together, Enzo stared directly at Damon, who didn't meet his eyes.
"We needed each other."
Stefan and Angel came back into the classroom.
"He's not sending her," Angel announced.
"Tragic," Enzo said dryly. "Can I continue my story now, please?"
Everyone ignored him. Toby faced Stefan and Angel with a frown.
"Doesn't he know we have Aaron?"
Stefan shook his head. "He doesn't care. He's willing to risk it."
"What?" Aaron asked in disbelief from his spot on one of the chairs. "Let me talk to him! He'll listen to me."
Damon rolled his eyes. "What part of 'he doesn't care' are you not registering?"
Enzo, upset that he was being ignored, jumped off of the teacher's desk, walked over to one of the chairs, ripped it from its hinges and threw it across the room where it crashed through one of the windows. Veronica and Elowen both flinched at the sound. Angel quickly crossed the room and protectively pulled Veronica behind him.
When he saw that he now had everyone's attention, Enzo continued talking.
"Where were we? Ah, right, I was telling my story, and you were all politely listening." He walked back to the front of the classroom. "So, I'd given Damon all of my blood rations so he'd have the strength to escape and save me in the process. Our plan began perfectly, didn't it? I was waiting in the cage for him to release me, waiting for my friend, my cellmate, the only soul with whom I'd connected with in all those years of captivity. Then, a fire starts, burns out of control, but Damon just can't get the damn cage open. He looked me in the eye as if he doesn't know me, turns around, saves himself, leaving me to die."
"Well, you didn't die, obviously," Stefan commented. Elowen shot him a look. That was so not the right thing to say.
Enzo sighed dramatically. "No, unfortunately I survived. I was spared by one of the scientists so I could spend another fifty years on a table being opened and closed. Now that we've all been acquainted, I'm gonna find something to wet my whistle."
Enzo jumped off of the teacher's desk and left the room. Once he was gone, Stefan turned to Damon.
"You didn't tell me about him."
Damon shrugged. "It was the 1950s. I'm supposed to remember every moment of my life?"
He changed the subject, turning towards Toby.
"Do you want to kill Aaron, or should I?"
Toby opened his mouth to answer, his eyes flickering to the door from over Damon's shoulder, faltered slightly, and then said something.
"This guy was your cellmate for five years. You left him to die, he comes back, and you're completely unfazed?"
Damon dodged the question. "Fine, I will."
Damon turned towards Aaron and started walking towards him when Aaron stood up and backed away.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Wes gave me a bunch of files on my family history. They're in my dorm, okay? Maybe there's something in there you need. A name, I mean. Another lab."
Damon stopped. "That's a timely revelation."
"Yeah, well, you know. He's not gonna help me, why should I help him?"
"Or, this is all just a ploy to buy yourself another hour or so," Veronica spoke up from behind Angel. "If it is, it's a smart one."
Enzo came back into the room with two bottles of alcohol in his hands.
"Ah, it's frightening what you can find on campus these days."
Elowen glanced over at Enzo, jumping off the desk. "Knock yourself out. We're going with plan B."
Enzo was pouring himself a drink when he said something without looking up.
"Damon's not. Damon's staying right here. He knows all my secrets, so he knows how ornery I can get when I don't get my way."
"Fine by me!" Veronica moved out from behind Angel. "As much as I would love to stay with the new, sexy, mystery British vampire guy, he's clearly a little unhinged and revenge driven and honestly? I'd like to keep my head on my shoulders. Toodles!"
Veronica took off in a skip, heading for the door and disappearing through it. Angel sighed and followed after her. Enzo watched them go.
"Hm. Who's the pretty little redhead?"
"That would be Veronica," Damon replied. "She would eat you alive." He looked over at Elowen, Stefan and Toby. "Call me if you find anything," his eyes darted over to Aaron, "kill him if you don't."
Toby glanced down at Aaron and nodded his head towards the door. "Let's go."
xxxx
Everyone piled into Aaron's dorm room and Aaron went over to his bed.
"All the files of my family history are in here."
Aaron pulled out a gun from under the bed, but when he stood up to brandish it, Toby sped behind Aaron and pushed him into the wall. He twisted his hand, causing him to drop the gun, and then grabbed his throat.
"Was all this a lie, huh? If you want me to kill you, I will kill you. Do not test me."
"Do it," Aaron wheezed out, struggling to breathe. "I'm dead already. Damon's been planning my death since before I was born."
Elowen frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Aaron looked over at her. "Damon left out the best part of the Augustine story, the part after he escaped."
Toby looked over at Elowen, who nodded. Toby let Aaron go.
"Talk."
Aaron coughed and took a moment to catch his breath, but once he did, he began to explain.
"It wasn't enough for Damon to kill the doctors who tortured him. He had to torture their families and their future families. He spent the last sixty years killing every one of my relatives, except he's a psychopath. He leaves one alive, so that they can continue the family line, so that he can destroy future generations of innocent people."
Elowen felt anger bubble up in her chest, but she kept herself calm.
"Who was the last person he killed?"
Aaron's eyes found Elowen. "My aunt, Sarah, at the beginning of the summer."
Elowen clenched her jaw. She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder and looked over at Veronica, who nodded at her. Aaron looked back at Toby.
"If you're going to kill me, kill me, because I don't want to give Damon the satisfaction, so do it."
Aaron closed his eyes to brace himself, and Toby sighed.
"You know, not all of us are like Damon," Toby said softly. He looked over his shoulder at everyone else and nodded towards the door. They all started to leave as Aaron opened his eyes.
"Toby?"
Toby looked back at Aaron again, who had walked back over to his bed and pulled out the files he had been talking about.
"This is everything Wes gave me on Augustine. I saw Elena's last name on a few pages. Maybe it will help."
He handed over the files, which Toby took. He opened them, sifted through some of the papers, then looked up.
"I know where she is."
xxxx
After Toby saved Elena and everything was right in the world, Elowen entered the boarding house on a mission. She found Damon in the living room, pouring himself a drink. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled. Slowly, the smile started to fade when he saw the look on Elowen's face and at the way she was walking up to him. Before he could react, she drew her hand back and slapped him when she reached him.
"Ow!" Damon winced, bringing a hand up to touch his cheek. "What was that for?"
"Aaron told me the rest of that story," Elowen seethed. "You know, the one where you kill everyone in his family? Does the name Sarah ring a goddamn bell, Damon?"
Damon stared at her, speechless, frozen in his spot as Elowen continued to rant at him.
"Did you just think I wasn't going to find out? Are you kidding me? I only ever asked the bare minimum of you! Stop killing innocent people. It's not that hard, and before you go saying 'well they're hardly innocent', yes they are! People are not responsible for the things their families do. Not every Whitmore was involved in Augustine. I thought that maybe some improvement was being made, you know? That you were getting better, but I guess I was wrong, and you know what? I'm done. I'm done trying to defend you, done bending my morals, done trying to justify why you do what you do. Angel is a vampire because of you! You took his life away from him, Damon!"
Elowen took a deep breath to try and calm herself down and collect her thoughts.
"Part of me feels like an idiot. I actually believed you could change, but you clearly don't want to, so you know what? We're over, Damon. I was serious when I said I wouldn't stick around if you kept this up. I gave you so many chances, a lot more than I should've given you in the first place, and every time, you disappointed me."
Elowen's anger started to dissipate and was instead replaced with hurt. Tears started to well up in her eyes and she looked up to meet Damon's pained face. She shook her head.
"I still love you, and I think I always will, but I refuse to be with someone who continuously disregards everyone and everything, over and over, expecting to get away with it with no consequences. Well, consider this your consequence."
Elowen took a step back.
"Goodbye, Damon."
Damon finally broke out of his stupor and tried to reach out for Elowen's hand.
"Wen, wait-"
Elowen immediately drew her hand away.
"Don't touch me!" She hissed. "Don't follow me, either. I don't wanna see you anymore than I already have to."
Elowen turned and, without another word, headed for the door. She reached it, pulled it open and left the boarding house, leaving Damon standing there on his own. He stood there for a moment before turning and throwing the drink in his hand at the fireplace, where the glass shattered against the mantel.
xxxx
Author's Note: Aaaaand Elowen and Damon are officially broken up. I guess this is one of those reminders that Elowen is nothing like Elena haha. I hated delena a lot in season 5 because they both admitted they were toxic and bad together but then didn't try to do anything to fix it which just annoyed me... Elowen is different. She won't tolerate Damon's behavior this season and I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna take awhile for them to get back together, if at all (I haven't decided yet), so don't expect it any time soon. I hope that regardless of this new development, you still enjoyed this chapter :) Till next time!
