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chapter 3: the clash
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Something snapped inside of her.
The little time in her car was all she allowed herself. Then she urged herself to stop crying, to stop thinking, to stop remembering. As of now, she had a new priority— more important than protecting Jeremy, more important than whatever the council would ask her to do next, more important than her safety.
Kaithlyn had to know the truth. Unlike the rest who could settle on a vague explanation, she could recognize the supernatural at hand. And whatever happened with Jeremy with the fire reeked of a cover-up.
Just like that, she turned from a whipping girl to a woman on the hunt.
While she sped back to the hotel, she chastised herself for not seeing it beforehand. He had been in those caves with Galen, in Silas's chamber. What was wrong with her?
She gave her head a shake. So happy to see him that it blurred her rationality. Well, in wake of the news, she wouldn't have to worry about that.
Zooming past the hotel entrance, she went up to her room to get a few things, then she came back down to the lounge on the ground floor. On the way, she passed by a little shop from which she picked up a newspaper and a book Welcome to Mystic Falls!.
Once she was sited with her laptop on the table, cup of coffee on her right, she opened the notebook, wrote "Jeremy" as the title and drew a line in the middle.
Who could have got him to go to that island?
On the right side she wrote "Galen" and "X" to represent the hunter with the completed mark that was with them.
On the left side she wrote "witch".
Kaithlyn opened the newspaper: the story about the Gilbert house fire was on the first page. Between pompous words meant to capture attention, she got the basics.
In the early hours of Sunday the 25th, the Gilbert residence lit up in flames. Neighbours called help and firefighters put out the fire to discover the burned body of 17-year-old Jeremy Gilbert lying on the couch in the living room. Medical help was called, but they pronounced him dead on arrival.
Few people gave statements, but two jumped out in particular: the Sheriff and the doctor on call.
Meredith Fell declared that he passed away from the burns and intoxication with smoke.
Sheriff Forbes expressed her deep remorse for this loss, seeing as she was close to the Gilbert family even before Jeremy's parents passed away. A team of experts would look into what caused the fire.
Generic, she thought and flipped the newspaper close. Curious how the doctor didn't address Jeremy being a few feet away from the entrance door. Why was Jeremy unable to get out of the house? Was the doctor covering something up?
Kaithlyn had some questioning to do to Jeremy's friends. They would be able to tell her if something was off about him, if he planned to get out of town.
On the left side of the paper, she wrote "Elena". She was his sister; he had talked about her when they were together.
A Google search later, she was on her Facebook profile. Swiping through her pictures, nothing stood out about her. In a lot of the pictures, she was with a guy with muddy blond hair and green eyes. In some pictures there was another guy with them, one with black hair and light blue eyes.
She got their names through the captions. Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Jeremy had told her Stefan was her boyfriend and based on the names she assumed Damon was his brother.
She jotted down their names under Elena.
Next, she checked Jeremy's profile and when she least expected it, it hit her so hard it made her gasp. The witch was in one of the pictures with him. They were cuddling on top of a couch, under a blanket and she wore a plaid shirt that was clearly his. The caption read: movies under candlelight with my one love. One of the comments was just three heart emojis. Clicking on the name, she got to see her picture better and say for certain that it was her. Bonnie Bennett.
Jeremy told her he wasn't seeing anybody. They had cut it off sometime in September, it seemed based on the profile.
But this girl was the least she expected. She was so young, barely 18, what was she doing in Silas's chamber? Was she working with the council? It didn't look like it, a bit too young. Then could it be she was in touch with a hunter, with Galen?
She wrote her name on the paper.
Snooping through her profile, she found a very telling photo, titled "founder's party" and dated September 2010. There were two other girls with Bonnie, one of which was Elena and the other one being a girl with blonde hair. One comment "I made that chilli what it is, you're welcome xoxo" and she got her name. Caroline Forbes. She added her to the list.
It appeared to be a close-knit group. She should get some info out of them.
Kaithlyn texted Jayden to ask if Galen had been to Denver or Virginia in the last six months. He responded "no" and she began to wonder if Jeremy and the witch being there was an affair individual of Galen.
Next, she dug into the book she bought, into the section about the history of the town. If there was one thing she learned during her training, it was that small towns were almost never what they seemed.
And Mystic Falls was no exception.
One thing she noticed was how all of the people on her list were connected by being members of the founding families. Gilbert, Forbes, Salvatore, Fell, Lockwood. And in another part on integrating the freed slaves into society, she found the name Bennett.
So, they had been here for a long time, the witches?
As she was reading, she noticed out of the corner of her eye the same waiter that had been making eyes at her for the past thirty minutes finally come to her. He had a cocky aura about him, as if he'd catch her off guard because she was so engrossed in the book.
When he came with another coffee, she made a little jump to play into his ego.
"Interesting read?" he asked with a smirk.
She smiled sweetly. "I love small towns and the book is fine but… it's just so stylized. I want to hear the real story."
"Oh," he said with a look. "Mind if join?"
Kaithlyn closed her laptop and flipped a page on her notebook in response. He sat down with an arm propped on the backseat waiting for his cue.
She was playing with the corners of the book when she said, "I heard… rumours about this town." She moved in a little closer and continued in a hushed voice, "The animal attacks… is it true?"
He nodded. "Pretty dangerous town."
"Was this ever addressed by someone like the Sheriff or the Mayor?"
He scratched his stubby beard. "Reporters asked the Mayor quite a bit…" He gave a dry laugh. "I just realized that we've gone through a few since this all started… First Mr. Lockwood in February last year and Mrs. Lockwood last December."
"Oh, that's a lot. How did they pass away?"
"Mr. Lockwood got locked up in a burning building and Mrs. Lockwood got so drunk at a party that she fell in a water fountain and drowned." He raised his shoulders. "Unlucky family."
She nodded. Right. "And now?"
"Mr. Bennett. He's a cool guy. In his inaugural speech he said he'll put an end to the animal terrorizing us." He leaned back with the chair. "You know, I thought he was bluffing, but whatever he did…these past three months have been so chill."
Did he do some type of spell? she wondered.
"Did the police hunt it down or something?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Nah, the Sheriff didn't say any of that sorts. Maybe he just got lucky and the animal left on its own," he said with a shrug, then looked around the lounge. "I have to take care of some tables. When I'm done, I can tell you more."
"Yes, that would be… so chill," she said, and he left with a grin on his face.
There were more things to discover, but now at least she knew that the founder families were not what they seemed. With a witch in their circle and a drastic change in the vampire attacks, they had to know about the supernatural.
,.,
The Salvatore mansion had turned into a real club house. Everything was so loud from the music and the voices and the glasses and the laughter. Of course, it would be. Who would deny the chance to party in this house?
For her the enjoyment wasn't with them —getting wrecked, dancing, talking— it was with one person in particular. Stefan.
They were on the small balcony overlooking the library, which was transformed into a party scene with radios, bottles of alcohol, juice keggers even.
Elena had brought him here to watch over and convince himself that she was the one who was right. She did it all in a day, they didn't need much convincing.
"Yes," she said nodding towards the crowd. "People aren't what they seem. They don't care much about everyone but themselves. Always 'how are you' but never wanting the real answer. I've lived it."
Stefan rested his hands on the guard rails, quietly watching on.
"The town doesn't care. About my parents. Or Jenna. Or my brother."
His posture was slumped, and his chin tilted towards his chest. For a moment he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, letting one hand slip from the railing.
"I'm-"
"But you should!" Stefan snapped and turned towards her in a swift move. "You're his sister. We're his friends-"
She made a step towards him. "They're his friends," she bit, pointing at the people. "Why not them? Why does it have to be me?"
Stefan moved in too, making them inches away from each other. "What our group shared together…" His lips flattened. "This is a tragedy. We know what happened-"
"Jeremy made his own choice. He wanted the cure too. He wasn't stupid, he knew there were risks."
"Katherine wasn't a ris-"
"Yes, she was," she yelled over him. "Yes, she was," she repeated more poignant. "Something like the cure would have most creatures fighting to get their hands on it. Dangerous creatures. Including her."
They both exhaled a long breath, the air mixing together.
"Katherine's different," he reasoned trying to control his voice. "She knows us-"
Elena puffed her cheeks. "Really, Stefan? It's not what she knows, it's that even after a year of her being in our lives, you fucking can't tell us apart." Her arms were moving on their own and when they got hold of the railing, they squeezed so hard the wood cracked. "Not you, not Damon, not Caroline, not Bonnie and not Jeremy." When she let go, her palms were scratched.
She turned towards the crowd and asked no one in particular, "Do people think we're that similar?"
Elena let the question hang in the air, preferring to watch the people having fun while Stefan was gauging her. Caroline had finally made it and she wasted no time, already on duty to make sure nobody destroyed the house. Stopping people from pouring booze on the couch, picking up cups and ushering people away from the bookshelves.
Yes, she was making herself useful and if Stefan wouldn't give her the ring, she'd become even more useful by the end of tonight.
Elena clicked her lips and with a sick smile, she said, "Look who's having fun at the kegger." She had just dropped down from a handstand. "Are you going to tell me to grieve with Rebekah, Stefan?"
He didn't reply.
"She has a right to be at the party. The boy who killed her brother is dead now." She nudged him. "Do you remember when we toasted for Klaus's death?"
Stefan crossed his arms and opened and closed several sentences before he managed to say, "Jeremy isn't… anything like Klaus."
From the corner of her eye, she spotted a certain someone in the crowd, a classmate with muddy blond hair and from which she made a special request. It was time to see if she'd need it.
Elena moved her hands outwards, palms up. "Fine," she said in a flat tone. "I proved you I'm right. Now give me my ring."
He inched in closer to her, held her gaze and responded with a composed tone, "No."
After he said it, she didn't linger. She left the balcony to find the boy and get her package. To her surprise, Stefan followed closely behind until he took a turn for the exit while she went to the library.
,.,
Damon strode into the Grill with his chin up, shoulders back and relaxed, through the middle of the room to sit at his favourite place at the bar.
He wouldn't be alone, but it would have to do.
He nodded at the bartender and ordered his usuals, on the rocks, of course.
"Figures you'd want to talk here since you grounded Elena," he opened up, but Stefan just gulped his alcohol. "What did she do now?"
He cleared his throat. "She threw a party at our place."
Damon cocked his head to the side and shook it. "They better not go in my bedroom. Or the library. Or touch any of my bourbon."
Giving him a long eye, then turning away to order another glass, Stefan said, "You're like her. Both of you don't care about Jeremy. He died! Damon, he died. He died helping us get the cure for his sister and for Klaus and for us." He pointed a finger in the counter as he said, "I'm the only one who cares…"
Widening his eyes, Damon mumbled, "Okay" while turning away from his brother. He was unloading a lot of things tonight. God, he was so much better when he was writing this stuff in his journals.
"I talked with Elena before I left…" Stefan said and drifted off.
Damon tried to get what he meant by that, by "talking", because what he did with Elena last night on the side of the road could be considered talking. But he didn't want to believe she would do that with him… didn't he take her ring after all?
"We fought and she got angry…" His eyes got glassy. "Damon, for a moment I believed I got her back…"
Damon patted him on the back a few times.
Stefan slammed his glass into the counter. "And the worst is that it was all for nothing. Jeremy's death, Elena losing her humanity and everything that follows… it was all for nothing. We don't have the cure-"
"I'll stop you right there," he said pointing at him. "We have a lead."
Then he took to telling him about how he tracked down the vampire Katherine send for Hayley only to realize that he was an old friend. Will wasn't just any vampire; he was in the business of fake identities.
In the end, he managed to get him to confess his deal with Katherine and apparently, she had put an order for a new identity last week. He did have to kill him because Katherine would torture him for snitching, so he did him a favour really.
"We have a way to get the cure," Stefan said wide-eyed.
Damon met his gaze and raised his glass. "Yup."
He narrowed his eyes and asked in a hushed tone, "When we get it, who are we giving it to? Do you want Elena to have it?"
The floor screeched at his side and a rushed heartbeat rang in his ear, faint heat falling on his body. He turned to look just as she opened her mouth to speak, the sudden movement rending her frozen.
Despite the sudden stop, her sharp black eyes were still trained on Stefan, who busied himself with his glass. She gave in a sweet smile and lowered her head towards him, her dark brown wavy curls leaning forward.
He cut her off. "You can buy my brother a drink if you want, I was just about to leave." He turned to his brother who perked up and nodded towards the messy girl. "She's all yours."
Damon was pushing his stool to get up when she blurted out, "Are you Elena Gilbert's boyfriend?" He opened his mouth to make the most articulated 'yes', but she cut him off with the rest. "Stefan Salvatore?"
Damon rolled his eyes and grabbed his glass. "That's old gossip. Your sources suck. What do you-"
Stefan spoke over him with a warm voice, "Yes, that's me. Is there a problem?"
"I want to talk with Elena."
What a demand, he thought and rolled his eyes once more. How was the girl wearing an ugly t-shirt —with a stupid graphic— and ripped jean shorts —with frays hanging— in the position to make any demands?
Come to think of it, he had never seen her and-
"About?" His brother left the question hanging before adding in a sweet voice, "Sorry, but I don't recognize you. Does Elena know you?"
-Stefan neither.
"Jeremy," she said his name with power and pressed one palm to the counter, the other on her hip. "I think he was murdered."
They were silent for a moment. Everything from the switch in demeanour to her posture to her declaration, it all looked like-
"Wait, I got it," Damon said and pushed himself off the stool to stand in front of her. "You're a journalist and you're looking for a juicy story. What a nerve for you to look for her contacts just so you can come in and-"
Her smirk stopped him short. Then came her voice detached but strong, "I'm not from here."
Damon set a hand on the bar, next to hers. "Who are you?"
"Kaithlyn-"
"No, who are you?"
She cleared her throat, tried to stand a little taller, but much like Elena, she still had to tilt her head to look him in the eye. "Jeremy's friend," she replied with a passion he found hard to believe. Jeremy didn't have any friends, especially girls. "From Denver."
Stefan popped up behind him, meek and sweet. "Kaithlyn, what makes you say that… about him?"
Grabbing his glass, he stepped back to let them speak. Stefan was worried that the news already got to Denver, which was odd, given that none of them contacted their relatives there.
The girl ratted on reasons —excuses— as to why it was impossible for what happened to have happened, calling up memories she shared with him as proof. Hiking trips, baseball. Her heartbeat was too stable for Damon to suspect her of lying and yet he couldn't help but place her assurance on something more than wishful thinking.
Her body moved at ease when talking to Stefan, sometimes popping her bottom lip foreword or shrugging headshakes or kicking the ground. Even her shoulders were a bit hunched. It was overall a far cry from the girl who set her hand on the counter and smirked at him when she saw him go off on the wrong tagine.
What the hell was this girl?
"I'm just trying to figure it all out," she mumbled, voice mellow.
"We're heartbroken, too, but we need to learn to-"
Damon stepped between them. "Why don't you tell me when you arrived in Mystic Falls?"
"Less than two hours ago," she said, but Damon listened more intently to that regular sound in her chest to search for any give.
There wasn't any.
He motioned his order to the barman who went to another part of the bar to get it, but it wasn't him who returned with it, but Matt. As he grabbed the full bottle of Jack Daniel's, he had to resist the urge to smash it against his squared jock head. Did Matt have to get involved in everything he did?
Kaithlyn was more tense now, but actively watching the exchange between them. It was time for him to see how easily this was going to go.
Damon looked into her eyes, pupils dancing as he said the next part, "I want you to take this, go home or to whatever hotel you're staying and drink all of it. I want you to realize you're stupid and your theories are just excuses. I want you to let it go."
Her hand mechanically reached for the bottle and her lips mirrored back his words. Then she turned on her feet and walked off, even skipping as she made her way to the entrance.
Yes, he was lucky she didn't get a chance to drink any of the vervained water.
Things go my way for once! he thought and when he saw Matt give him that wounded human judging look, he told him to "fuck off", which he promptly did. He was on a roll!
He finished his glass, not needing to look at him in order to tell that Stefan was giving him those eyes. It was a developed superpower.
"Would you rather I let her get to Elena? Or should I rather say let Elena get her?" Damon said, shutting him off.
The girl from last night was alive because of him, because he talked Elena into enjoying themselves somewhere in the woods. If they stayed there, she would have asked for seconds, just as he would, but he couldn't risk anyone discovering their private time together.
Stefan sighed and shook his head. "How do we get to Katherine?"
"We don't need to get to her. I already know where she's headed."
Stefan was about to say something, but his phone dinged and after he read the message, he said, blood draining from his face, "We have to go."
,.,
It was the first time in a long time that Stefan craved human blood. Not for the taste, nor for the pleasure, but for the after feeling. He wanted his muscles to be full again, gripping to strong bones and taking him where he wanted to go so quickly, sometimes it felt like he was flying.
He pushed himself as he ran and ran but this worn body didn't get him home nearly as quickly as it should. It was as if the ground was sticky mud, gripping to his soles as he pulled them up; as if the calm air turned into an angry wind, pushing him away; as if the whole nature was trying to remind him of how cursed he was, taking away his abilities when he needed them the most.
He would be late, and everything would be over.
The text flashed before his eyes again: I hope you'll get the message.
When they arrived, Stefan hunched over, leaning on his knees and said between breaths, "We have… find Elena… and Caroline."
Damon stood tall beside him and looked around the living room. Stefan was still regrouping himself while his brother talked with some of the people around. When his heart calmed down, he could finally hear what Damon was saying over his heartbeat.
"Don't touch that… don't spill that… no, no, no, not the carpet."
Stefan went to him and pulled him to the side. "You're not helping. We need to hurry-"
"If Elena texted you, that means she won't go through with what she plans without us here. She wants us to see."
"I don't want to give her time to do it. If she," he hesitated, not being able to say it out loud, "…she won't recover."
Damon rolled his eyes and walked away.
Stefan didn't want to believe it. He couldn't hear the voice of the girls or any worrying sound over the noise or anything to find them, but Damon could. He could, but yet again he turned his back on him. And yet again he was surprised because yet again he gave him second chances. He should have known he'd react this way, given what he did to Caroline —what he never apologized for.
And for a moment, he felt Caroline's cheeks in his hand, rough from tears and blood and his promise echoed in his mind. The further Damon went, the louder it got and all he wanted was to reach out to him and make him feel the whole what he felt, with his fists.
Rebekah giggled.
She was leaning against the windowsill next to the fireplace with a glass in hand and a cheeky smile on her face.
When he went to her, she spoke first, "I know what you want."
Eyes closed, Stefan nodded and said, "Help me, it's important. Elena-"
"Elena and important don't go in the same sentence for me. The cure, that matters."
He put his hands together. "Rebekah, please, she's about to do something horrible that she'll never recover from."
Smirking, she said, "Maybe I should let her do it. Maybe I should let her break as a vampire. That may get you more interested in the cure. Because as it stands, the only way to get you to do something is if it's for her."
"Damon knows where Katherine is, but-"
"And? I'm not seeing enough movement. Seven people went on that island. Two didn't come back. I'm not adverse to raising that number, if I don't get what I want."
"Two?"
"The professor. I found his body on the island."
"How'd he die?"
Rebekah shrugged. "I couldn't tell exactly, and I don't care."
Stefan planted his feet into the floor, staring at her. "If you want us to be a team again, you'll have to make up for snapping my neck."
She looked around, lips pursed, then rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. They're in the basement. Don't enter without signalling."
Stefan waved her off and she lifted her glass in response. When he got in the basement, the sound of the party was toned down, under which he was able to tell the muffled whimps of Caroline.
He fought against his instincts to run and did as Rebekah said. "Elena," he called out, tentatively. "We can talk this out."
A dark raspy voice responded in echoes. "Come. Walk." His slow steps followed. "Close."
He found the door in the back of the corridor, to a room they didn't use often. It was closed but through an iron-barred hole in it, he could see the girls.
"Move and she dies."
Elena was on top of Caroline's back with a stake in her hand. Its point was bloody, digging into her. The other hand had a fistful of her hair with which she pushed Caroline's head into the sand.
"Please, don't do this. We can fix anything, just let her go."
Elena didn't budge, her knees pressing further into Caroline's ribs. "Where's Damon?"
As on cue, he appeared next to him. Damon looked at the girls with a smirk on the face. "Are you experimenting with your friend, Elena? I can join you, for science." He grabbed the wet handle and despite how it burned his hand, pushed the door open.
Stefan could now make out Caroline's eyes, which were bloodshot red. Right, Zach used to do woodworking in this room; there must have been sawdust mixed into the sand.
But Elena grabbed his sight and, defeated, he said, "Do you want to do this?…"
She broke into a smile. "It's finally what I want. Remember that," she said to both brothers and then whispered to Caroline, "And I hope you remember what I told you." She let go of her hair, but Caroline was crying in spite of it. Not even looking at them and in a flat tone, Elena said, "Give Damon my ring."
Stefan dug into his pocket and placed it into his brother's outstretched hand, who proceeded to cross his arms and lean against the door sill. Did he not care at all?
Elena yanked the stake out while Caroline yelped, tossed it to the side and proudly walked past Damon. He shrugged and followed her out, while Stefan jumped next to Caroline, scooping her into his arms.
"She attacked me. She stung me with something and dragged me here and…" she broke out into tears. Salty as they were, it seemed they helped get out some of the specks of the sawdust which got into her eyes.
Elena got vervain from somewhere so she could overpower her…
Stefan petted her hair as he tried to lull her to calm. "I'll take care of you, we need to wash your eyes."
He hoisted her up and went for the exit when she interrupted him. "She took my ring… and tossed it in this room." Her face was nestled in his chest.
"I'll get it for you later tonight, okay? Don't worry," he whispered back.
While his voice was soothing and calm, his insides were not. For this confirmed his fear. Everything Elena did tonight wasn't for the ring; it was for something more.
Her freedom.
,.,
When they were back into the party, Damon turned to her and said, "Do you mind if we stop by my room?"
Elena followed him and he relinquished the feel of her body close to him. That movement, those hips, that warmth. It had been a long day of dealing with research, his brother and a noisy woman; all he could want for tonight was her.
But Damon still had a goal to accomplish, its importance made heavier by the tiny ring in his hand. He dug in the back of the lowest drawer of one of his bathroom cabinets until he found it, the key.
When he got it, he turned to Elena who had been patiently waiting for him. Next to her, he grabbed the ring and she reached out her fingers for him to slip it on.
With it fully secured, Damon couldn't help but feel how right it look on her hand. She clasped the hand around his and he had to look away so his resolve wouldn't waver.
"Let's go to New York."
A/N: It always seems to me that people are too hard on the no-humanity version of Elena, mainly because she was done purely for shock value on the show. What I like the most about it is that it gives Elena the power to act on her desires without feeling guilty. And it's obvious when people say or do things that irk her because for the first time she can express how she really feels with no fear of hurting others (because she doesn't care): for example, the brothers controlling her or being too similar to Katherine.
Another hilarious part that brings me so much joy is how easy it is to get information on the group: Kaithlyn does it using social media and basic deduction skills from her environment. She's a crafty one and I love her for it. To those wondering about Damon compelling her, I'll just give a little hint: she is a good actress ;)
What was your favorite part of the chapter? For me, it's the conflict between Stefan and Elena with the ring and what it means for them and her, even though I really liked the interaction Kaithlyn had with the brothers.
Please favorite and review, show me you are there!
