"The suspect is a white male, approximately six feet tall, with a muscular build and brown hair. He looks young, perhaps between 25 and 30 years of age. He was wearing dirty blue jeans, a white, short-sleeve tee-shirt, and boots, and he has a rose tattoo on his right upper arm. The suspect climbed in a red Porsche Karmann Coupe," Detective Mikaelson finishes his statement.
"Detective, do you believe him to be the same man that took Miss Gilbert?" Andie Starr asks, shoving the microphone in his face.
"Yes, as he was caught on the parking garage surveillance camera. I cannot stress strongly enough that the suspect is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Do not approach or try to apprehend him. Call 9-1-1."
Damon's in shock. He's believed his brother to be dead for many years now. How could he not have known that Stefan is alive? How could he have survived the inferno that consumed the boarding house? He quickly empties his glass and leaves the bar. And where does he begin to look for him? He has to find Elena before Stefan harms her or turns her to spite him.
The first place he stops is the newspaper to talk with Ric; hopefully, he'll have some concrete ideas.
"You heard?" Damon asks, walking into his office without bothering to knock.
"You've got some explaining to do," Ric growls, fisting Damon's shirt by the collar and pushing him against the wall. "Stefan was supposed to be dead!"
"I watched him die, Ric, or at least I thought I did," Damon croaks while easily freeing himself.
Ric glowers at him for several seconds before releasing him. "We have to find her."
"Don't you think I know that? We have to figure out where he'd take her."
"You don't have any ideas?" Ric asks, his hand again curling into a fist.
"Almost all the women were found in the Freemont Street area, which makes me think that maybe he's laying low down there. The police mentioned his Porsche at the press conference, so he probably hid it somewhere."
"Does he know anyone here that might help him?" Ric asks, pulling a bottle out of his desk drawer before taking a swallow and offering it to Damon.
Damon waves his hand at the bottle in dismissal so Ric puts it away. "Other than Lexi, Stefan never really had any friends. As I told you, she denied knowing anything. She thought he was dead, too, unless she was lying to me...The only other person that comes to mind is Katherine. I haven't seen her in years."
"Let's go down to Freemont Street and see if we can uncover anything? I have some vervain syringes and rope in my trunk." Ric gestures with his hand for Damon to lead the way.
"It's as good a place to start as any," Damon agrees, and the two men leave the building, each of them hoping for a miracle.
Down what seems to be an endless hallway, away from the light green eyes that are sinister in their stare, no matter where she looks, all she sees is red.
His bloodshot eyes, the veins protruding from the skin beneath them. Away from the trunk of his red car, her blood seeping from the gash on her leg and the cut above her eye.
The blood.
His voice, sarcastic and taunting at first, then booming and full of rage, promising revenge against his older brother and how he's going to use her to exact it.
The first thing Elena really becomes aware of is that she's cold. Her foggy mind clouds her thoughts as the heavy music returns, making her feel dizzy as her head pounds. It feels as if she's been beaten with a 2x4. She lets out a groan as she struggles to open her eyes, finally managing to raise one lid. Her vision is hazy; she blinks repeatedly, hoping for some clarity.
"You're finally waking up. Good." A man's voice enters her consciousness, and suddenly everything comes back to her as if she's watching a movie reel of the last few hours.
Although terrified beyond words, she is relieved to see that she's still fully clothed albeit tied to a chair, each one of her limbs secured with a rope that bites into her skin.
"You have a lot of people looking for you," he taunts, flicks on the TV, and steps aside, allowing her to see Elijah's face on the screen.
"What do you want with me?" Elena asks, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice.
"Damon left me to die. He brought this on himself and, by extension, you," the man replies with a malicious smile.
"Wait! Are you his brother? Stefan?" Elena asks, afraid to take her eyes off him.
"He walked away while I burned. Do you have any idea how painful it is to have your flesh burn and char 'til it's like leather? And not just the burns but the healing?" he hisses, leering at her. The venom in his voice cuts through the marrow of her bones.
Although Elena wants to defend Damon, she's afraid he'll hurt her if she does. He won't listen to anything she has to say; he's beyond irrational right now. The last thing he'll want to hear is that his 'supposed' death has tormented his older brother for many years.
"I've been planning this for over a decade, watching every move Damon makes, every girl that he spends time with. I've killed a good number of them. And you're going to be next; Only I'm going to turn you, then stake you in front of him. He's a selfish bastard who deserves what is coming to him."
Panic sets in at his words. She's being used as a pawn, an easily disposable one, to wreck Damon. She is being held captive by a man who is completely out of control. How does one begin to reason with a psychopath who's also a vampire?
With her heart racing like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes, she's barely aware that's he's filming her with his cellphone. Frozen with fear, she watches him, and then he turns to her. "I'm sending an old friend a text."
She can hear the chilling tone in his voice, and it makes her blood run cold. Elena's about to start begging him to let her go.
"You wouldn't happen to have my dear brother's number?" he asks rhetorically while fiddling with her phone. After a few moments, he looks up, triumphant, and reads a number aloud to her, a number she immediately recognizes as Damon's.
"Please let me go?" Elena begs, she has nothing to lose after all.
"No! I won't let you go!" he snarls, his face contorting in rage.
Blood pounds in Elena's ears as she stares at him. Her heart thuds in her chest. A numbing starts at the tips of her fingers and spreads across her skin like wildfire. Goosebumps erupt over her skin. Every breath she takes begins to shallow into sharp and desperate gasps for air as her lungs threaten to collapse. Her mind and heart race against time- time that never stops, that keeps ticking away.
He moves to rest his hands on either side of her as he grips the chair's arms. "Should I call him or not?" Stefan asks with a vile smirk.
With her heart still pounding chaotically, Elena's vision begins to grow dim. Spots flash behind her eyelids, and just as quickly, her head lolls to the side as darkness consumes her.
Damon and Ric separate at the Freemont Street Experience, each taking opposite sides of the street. Damon shows vendors Stefan's picture, hoping someone will have caught a glimpse of him somewhere.
Ric does the same, and they meet at the end of the block, neither with anything to show for their efforts.
"Let's check out the hotels; I can compel the clerks," Damon suggests, letting the offer hang.
"And what if Stefan's already compelled them not to say anything? Can one vamp command override another?" Ric asks, hands on his hips.
"Doubtful since it's a pretty good bet he's off the squirrel diet," Damon admits, sighing in frustration when his cellphone begins to vibrate in his jean's pocket.
"Damon, brother!" Stefan wheedles, his voice giddy.
"Stefan?" Damon looks at Ric pointedly before stepping away. "If you touch her, so help me God, I will rip your heart out," he hisses.
"You have to find us first," Stefan taunts and laughs maniacally.
"Son of a bitch!" Damon curses, his free hand curling into a white-knuckled fist.
"Ah, what's the matter, brother?" Stefan mocks.
"Let her go! I'll meet you wherever you want," Damon huffs in frustration.
"This is more fun than I thought it would be. You like her..." Stefan goads, making Damon want to reach through the phone and pull his head off.
"You son of a bitch," Damon explodes. It takes everything in him not to slam the device to the pavement.
"Alright, Damon, let's meet. I'll be at the El Cortez on Freemont Street in an hour. See ya then," Stefan sing-songs and clicks off the phone.
"Are you having a bad day?" Stefan taunts, staring at Elena who's just come to again.
"Please, don't do this," she pleads with him while struggling with the ropes.
"Don't do what?" he grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"I don't want to die."
"I'll make it quick." Stefan winks. He forces her to watch as he drops her cellphone onto the carpet.
Elena grimaces at the jarring sound as his boot grinds it into the floor.
"Why are you doing this?" she pleads.
"I've had about enough of you." Stefan presses on her carotids with his thumbs 'til her head lolls to the side in unconsciousness.
"Where did he say to meet?" Ric asks and pulls his phone out of his pocket.
"At the El Cortez in an hour." Damon kicks the pavement in anger.
"I'm going to try to ping Elena's phone with GPS. We could get her exact location without having to search the whole damn hotel." Ric dinks with his phone. "Fuck!" He curses at the futile gesture. "He must've destroyed it after he hung up."
"Let's go, we're wasting time," Damon urges, his voice is as hard as the blade of a shovel.
"You meet him; I'll start going from floor to floor."
"There's gotta be at least 15, Ric."
"It could be a hell of a lot worse. We have to start somewhere. C'mon, we're wasting time." They return to the Camaro and quickly speed over to the place Stefan said to meet. In route, Ric calls Caroline for help, and they meet her at the elevator bank upon arrival.
With his backpack full of hunting gear in tow, Ric and Caroline begin searching the hallways, floor-to-floor, while Damon starts walking the main casino area, hoping for a miracle.
"I'll start at the top and work my way down; you work your way up," Caroline tells Ric and hops in the elevator. Before the door slides closed, she stops it. "He better find his brother first cause if I do, I'm going to kill him."
"Get in line," Ric adds and starts down the hallway...
Damon goes through each aisle and around every nook and cranny in a desperate search to find Elena. He pokes his head inside every restaurant and pub in a futile effort. Coming up empty-handed, he takes the stairs, hurrying down the hall one floor at a time. He listens acutely, hoping against hope that he'll hear her voice. His face grows pensive as he dashes into the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time to reach the next level.
Terror mounts with every step. Damon may not have a future with Elena, but he certainly doesn't want her to lose her humanity, or her life, because of him. He'll rip Stefan's heart from his chest if he's even so much as laid a finger on her.
By the time he reaches the eighth floor, his face grows haggard with worry. Stepping out of the stairwell, he catches a muffled sound, and he hears the unmistakable voice of his brother. Determined, he races down the hallway, listening at every door 'til he finds the right one...
Elena's awake again, much to her chagrin, and her panic has gone into def-con level 1. Her breathing is erratic. Her heart is pounding against her ribcage and dreads twists her insides painfully.
"Do you think he'll want you anymore after I'm done?" Stefan sneers, his lips brushing against her ear as he drags out the words.
"What are you going to do?" she stammers, watching as he extends his fangs and rips into his wrist. Elena sees the blood beading up on the wounds. He grips her hair, forcing her head back before shoving his bloody wrist against her mouth, plugging her nose in an effort to force her to swallow.
I don't want to be a vampire. Please...
She mentally pleads for Damon to rescue her. Elena closes her eyes when she feels Stefan's hands grip either side of her face. Realizing what he's about to do, she begins to sob hysterically, but suddenly his weight is gone. She opens her eyes to see him - Damon, her savior - charge, slamming Stefan into the floor.
The brothers are thrashing around violently, and they seem pretty evenly matched to Elena. Somehow though, Damon manages to land a knee to Stefan's groin. After, Damon is able to shove Stefan away long enough to barrel into him again. He smashes his right palm down on Stefan's face, shattering his nose.
Blood's dripping down Stefan's face and over his lips. He growls and launches at Damon. His face so contorted in rage; he seems more animal than man. Damon jumps out of the way, wraps his arm around his brother's throat and snaps his neck as if were nothing more than a twig.
Elena holds her breath 'til she sees Damon slowly rise from the floor. He has a little blood coming from cuts on his lip and his fist, but she quickly notices his wounds have healed. His eyes are so full of pain as he stares at her. When his gaze flicks to the man on the ground, she understands the gravity of what's happened.
Elena breaks out in a cold sweat and her whole body starts convulsing with sobs. She's trying to gasp for air, but gets none. It feels like everything is closing in on her, the weight in her chest keeping her lungs from fully expanding. She struggles against the ties that bind her to the chair, unable to free herself.
"Elena!" Damon calls her name as he cradles her face in his hands, forcing her to look up into his face. "You're okay; you're alive."
As his words register, he deftly unties the ropes around her wrists and ankles.
I'm alive.
Elena's sobs are violent and clench up her insides. She'd been seconds away from death. If not for Damon. He wraps her in his arms, and she holds on as if she's swinging above a dark and bottomless abyss.
"It's okay," Damon whispers, his voice a beacon in a violent sea. "Elena!" Damon loosens her hold. He cradles her face in his hands, tilting it slightly so their eyes lock. "You're okay. You're safe. He didn't do it."
While she struggles to pull some air into her lungs, Ric suddenly bursts into the room brandishing a huge syringe. Raising it, he plunges it into Stefan's neck forcefully.
"Oh my God! Are you okay?" Caroline appears in the doorway. With the blonde now at her side, Damon lets Elena go in order to help Ric secure his brother.
"How'd you get here so fast?" Damon asks, letting out a harsh breath.
"Dumb luck." Ric pulls a coil of rope out of his backpack.
"Fuck!" Damon curses when he touches the rope Ric is using to tie up Stefan, and Elena smells burnt flesh.
"Vervain," Ric explains and binds Stefan securely.
"All these years, I thought he was dead. I wonder how long he's been plotting this?" Damon stares at the prone, unconscious vampire.
"What are we going to do with him?" Ric hisses, interrupting Damon's thoughts.
"I don't know, Ric. He's still my brother; I can't kill him," Damon imparts, his voice sounding like hollow wind in a cave.
"Either I stake him now, or you find an escape-proof cell to lock him in for a very, very long time."
"Elena's safe now. I'll take him to Lexi. She's always known how to deal with him."
"Tell her what I told you. Either she keeps him locked up, or I'll take every weapon in my arsenal and end this once and for all," Ric demands, his mouth setting in a hard line. "And you know I'll do it," he adds, glaring at the older Salvatore.
Damon nods and drops to his knees in front of Elena. "I know you're traumatized; I'm so sorry, Elena. I don't want to leave you..." Damon pauses and kisses her forehead hard. "But I have to for a little while. I need to get him out of here before the police start combing the area. I can't kill him, Elena. I can't."
She can see the pain in his eyes is fathoms deep. "I know...Be careful," Elena sniffs, nodding her thanks to Caroline when she hands her a tissue.
"I will. We'll talk when I get back."
"Yes. Yes," Elena agrees and lays her palm on his cheek.
Damon closes his eyes and leans into it for several seconds. "I need to go." He kisses her again and rises to his feet. Avoiding the ropes as best he can, he lifts Stefan's limp body over his shoulder.
"Take care of her," Damon calls to Ric. And with one last, remorseful glance at Elena, he walks out, leaving everyone inside to breathe a sigh of relief...
Thank you all. The DE fandom isn't what it was but it's not dead either.
Thank you Morgan and Eva.
Chapter title: 'Don't Know What You Got' by Cinderella.
Secretariat raced into the ever glow of immortality in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. His victory, by one of the widest margins in the history of American horse racing – 31 lengths ahead of his nearest challenger and in a world record time for the 1 1/2 miles distance – 2 minutes 24, remains one of the most memorable in sports history. The Disney movie 'Secretariat' is very good.
Have a wonderful weekend.