New Beginnings
DG32173

Sarah: welcome to Chapter 5 of New Beginnings. I'm so glad everyone seems to enjoy what I'm creating here. I hope you continue to enjoy what my muse has in store for us. Anyways, on with the review replies and then the chapter.

REVIEW REPLIES

amazing Aisha: everyone seems to love cat Elena, which I'm glad for. Body exchange isn't necessarily harder, just a bit more extreme on their souls. Here's the next update.

Leann Nickerson: sadly, as you'll see in this chapter, my muse dictates some things from the series must continue as they were in the show. Mason dies, Tyler becomes a werewolf. But also this chapter things start changing very clearly from the show. We will not be following the show's storyline much further, I can assure you of that.

raniavha80: glad you love the detailed explanation. While you have added me to alerts and faves, I am glad you took the time to review last chapter. Unfortunately, I have not seen Legacies, most of The Originals, or even most of Season 5 or anything beyond of the main show. You'll see the revenge Elena takes on Katherine this chapter and if you read Our Eternity Begins, you'll get to see exactly what Elena does to Katherine. Katherine doesn't die but she will sure wish for that kinder fate. That's all I'm saying. I hope you like it.


Chapter 5
Retribution

It's been a few days since Mason Lockwood, the werewolf, showed up at the secret council meeting and made some threats. I had hoped he had learned his lesson when I gave him a taste of my formidable power. But today, he had made it abundantly clear he hadn't. He had even gone so far as to threaten Elena, not something I will ever let slide. So I now have him tied up with ropes laced with wolf's bane in a cell in the boarding house basement.

He cries out as I tug at the ropes. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear: you made a grave error threatening Elena. She's my mate and to make threats against her to me? Bad move, buddy," I hiss as I circle him. Thankfully, both Elena and Stefan are at school right now and won't be back for several more hours. "Answer my questions honestly and I'll end this relatively painlessly for you. Don't, and I'll just torture you until it's time for me to go pick her up before ending your pitiful life in the most painful way I can imagine. And I'll know if you're lying, so don't try lying or it's just going to get more painful for you. First question: who are you working with?"

"You know who I'm working with," he says, crying out as I splash him with a mixture of wolf's bane and water.

"Of course I know who you're working with. I just wanted to see if you'll do this the easy way or the hard way," I retort. "Next question: what does Katherine want with Elena?"

"She never told me exactly what she wants with her, just that she's necessary for breaking the Curse of the Sun and the Moon," he says. I can tell that he's telling the truth so I don't punish him this time.

"Does Katherine know Elena's now a vampire?" I ask.

"Shit! She's a vampire? The Curse needs the human doppelganger!" he cries out. Because he didn't directly answer my question, I splash him again with wolf's bane water, causing him to cry out.

"I'll take that as a 'no', Katherine doesn't know about Elena's transition and neither did you," I say conversationally. "She made her transition on Founder's Day but that's information you're not going to be able to impart to Katherine. Final question, what all does this curse need?"

"All I know is it needs the human doppelganger and a certain moonstone I hid away because I don't trust Katherine. I don't know what else it needs because Katherine doesn't trust me either," he replies.

"Good boy. Since you answered me mostly truthfully, I'll end this painlessly for you," I tell him, going with the tried-and-true method of ripping his heart out and tossing it to the other end of the cell after using my power to get the exact location of the moonstone from his mind. I don't normally condone invading someone's head like that, but I don't feel like torturing it out of him and risking him lying to me. I also get the information that he had trapped where he had hidden it against vampires. Good to know. Gonna need a human's help to get it out of that pit.

I search his pockets to see if he has a way to contact Katherine and discover a disposable cell phone with one preprogrammed number in it. I call the number. It takes a few rings before I hear my sire's voice for the first time since before I made the transition. "Do you have the moonstone?" she asks.

I feel a slight chill flow down my spine at just how similar her voice is to my mate's but I don't let it show in my voice. "You must be assuming the actual owner of this phone is the one calling," I say.

"Damon, where is Mason?" she demands.

I glance at the body. "Right here. Unfortunately, his heart is across the cell, so it'll be a little hard to put him on the phone," I reply.

"You'll regret this, Damon," she says softly, in her most lethal voice.

"No, Katherine. You'll regret messing with me and mine. Make a move against Elena or anyone she or I care for, and you won't last long enough to regret it. My powers are greater than you can ever dream possible and will only grow exponentially in the coming decades. If you make a move I don't like, you're dead," I retort, hanging up. I decide to take care of the body before my girl gets out of school. Just as I'm dumping the body into my trunk, however, I get a call on my own phone from Elena. I answer on the first ring. "Hey, kitten, what's up?" I ask, surprised that she'd be calling me during school hours.

"Damon, I don't know how it happened, but Sheriff Forbes just came to the school to pull me and Jeremy out of class. It's Jenna! She's in the hospital! Apparently a knife somehow ended up in her stomach! Sheriff Forbes found her in the kitchen when she went to pay a social visit with her!" she sobs hysterically. "Sheriff Forbes is taking us to the hospital now. Meet us there, please! I need you!"

I curse. Katherine had not heeded my warning after all. I close the Camaro's trunk on the body, deciding to take care of it later. Elena needs me and that's more important than some body. "On my way, sweetheart. I've got something to tell you when I see you next," I tell her before ending the call.

I make sure there's no blood stains on my clothes before making the rapid drive over to the hospital. I find Elena and Jeremy sitting with Liz in the ER waiting room. "Damon!" Elena sobs, launching herself into my arms.

"Kitten, we need to go somewhere to have a private discussion real quick," I whisper in her ear. She hears the urgency in my tone and nods. I usher her to the hospital chapel, which is thankfully vacant right now. I sit her down on one of the pews and kneel in front of her. "Elena, Katherine did this to Jenna," I tell her softly.

"But why?" she asks brokenly. "Why would she go after Jenna?"

"Because I taunted her today," I say. I tell her about Mason coming up to me after the secret council meeting and making threats against her, which she knows damn well I would never tolerate. I tell her what I had done to Mason and the call to Katherine I had made afterwards. "She'll pay for this," I end. "I'll make damn sure she pays for going after Jenna."

She nods, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'll help," she whispers.

I kiss her gently and guide her back into the waiting room just in time for the doctor to come out and inform us that while Jenna will need plenty of bed rest and can't do anything the least bit strenuous, not even climb stairs, she will be okay. The knife had miraculously missed every internal organ on its way in and out. "Thank God," Liz breathes as Jeremy and Elena hug each other in relief that their aunt is going to be okay.

Rick comes rushing in at that moment, probably having found a substitute for his last class. "How is she?" he asks us. I fill him in and he sags in relief. "Thank goodness," he whispers.

While I was filling Rick in on Jenna's condition, Elena had taken Jeremy to the side to explain precisely how this could have happened. I decide to do the same with Rick. While Elena and I are powerful enough to take Katherine down on our own, we still need to keep those in the know up-to-date on the supernatural happenings around them.

Liz excuses herself, saying that she needed to get back to work. Rick, Jeremy, Elena, and I occupy an out-of-the-way corner to come up with a plan for dealing with Katherine. Before we can start, however, Vampire Barbie, Stefan, and Judgy rush in, having heard the news through the town grapevine. Once they're all reassured that Jenna's going to be okay, they all insist on being in on the plan to take down Katherine. Elena and I are still reluctant to trust Judgy to play nice with us but we decide to give her a chance to prove herself.

Once again, before we can start brainstorming, we get interrupted. This time by Elena's phone ringing. She looks at Caller ID and frowns. "I don't know this number," she says.

I glance over her shoulder. "It's Katherine. Better answer it and see what the bitch wants," I tell her while motioning for the others to keep quiet.

Elena accepts the call. "Hello?" she says, putting it on speaker so even the non-vampires can hear.

"What happened to Jenna was just a warning. Too bad she missed. Tell Damon that if he doesn't bring the moonstone to me at the Masquerade Ball tonight, your brother and aunt will both die," Katherine says.

Before Elena can respond, Katherine hangs up. "What's this about a moonstone?" Jeremy asks.

I briefly explain what Mason had revealed to me before I killed him. I look at Jeremy. "Gonna need your help getting it, kid. Rick's in no shape to get into the pit where the werewolf hid it and he laced the water with vervain as a trap in case Katherine found it," I tell him.

"I'll help however I can," Jeremy says.

"Okay, once we have the moonstone, what are we going to do with it? We can't just hand it over to Katherine," Stefan says.

"I've got a plan, but it will require all of us to make it successful," I tell them. I then fill them in on the plan I had concocted rather quickly to take Katherine down after delivering a nasty surprise to the bitch. Katherine doesn't know Elena's a vampire yet and whatever Curse she's trying to lift requires Elena as a human? Well, won't it be a nasty surprise for her to find out that not only is Elena a vampire now after she has the moonstone in her hands but also that both Elena and I are super-vampires, the second most powerful creatures in existence?

My plan has a role for everybody to fulfill, even Judgy. While Elena and I are capable of wielding magic far more powerful than any mortal witch can handle safely, we won't be able to maintain the spell needed to stop Katherine from escaping and deal with her at the same time. That's where the witch comes in.

We spend the rest of the time waiting for Jenna's release ironing out any flaws in the plan we can think of, such as what if Katherine has her own witch or what if Katherine sends someone else into the room we will choose to get the moonstone for her, among others possible flaws.

Once Jenna is safely ensconced on the couch in the Gilbert house living room and filled in on why her trip to the emergency room had occurred, Elena, Jeremy, and I take off to retrieve the moonstone while Rick steps into his role in the plan of playing guardian over Jenna. Someone has to guard the invalid and Rick volunteered for the job.

It doesn't take us long to retrieve the moonstone and then it's time for everyone to return to their homes to get ready for the masquerade. Before Jenna's injury, Elena and I had considered skipping it entirely but that's not an option now. We need to show Katherine just what she decided to mess with when she chose to cause Jenna's injury.

I let Elena have her pick of the ball gowns stored in the boarding house attic and am pleased with her choice of one that matches my eyes that actually comes paired with a peacock-themed eye mask. I help her get ready since it won't take long at all to slip into my tux and bandit mask. Though tonight's deathly serious, we don't let that stop us from flirting with each other and having a quick make-out session as we get ready.

Finally, just as the sun reaches the western horizon, everyone who's going to be part of the Masquerade Capture, as we decided to call this plan, meets up outside of the Lockwood manor. Elena had already scored an invite into the place thanks to an unsuspecting Carol Lockwood.

None of us exchange words, simply heading to our posts to wait for Caroline to trick Katherine into the room Bonnie had already magically barricaded to keep vampires in. Elena and I hide in the walk-in closet after storing the moonstone very obviously in the bowl of decorative soaps on the bathroom counter. Stefan hides in the wardrobe near the bathroom.

Suddenly, I feel Elena's mental contact on my mind. 'Damon, she has a witch that is trying to tie my life force to hers. I'm managing to keep the spell from working while making the witch think it succeeded,' she tells me telepathically.

'We figured she might bring a witch along. You think you can hold the spell off for the duration or do we need Judgy to track down the witch to try to distract her from the spell?' I ask.

'It's taking a bit of concentration I might need later to hold the spell at bay and still make the witch think it is working. I'll contact Bonnie and see if she can put into play 'Witch Distraction'. I'll track her as she tracks down the witch. If she can't succeed in getting this spell off me quickly, I'll use my powers to knock the witch unconscious for a few hours, which should do the trick. I don't want to kill anyone unnecessarily,' she tells me before disappearing from my mind.

I nod to her, hoping something happens to get rid of the spell before Katherine shows up. I feel her power wrapping around her and stretching over a mental connection a short time later as she obviously gives the witch a warning to make sure of just who she's trying to mess with that she won't soon forget. I approve, though I would have taken it a step further than she probably did and stripped the witch of part of her powers in the process.

Then I sense she is completely back with me. 'Just in time,' I tell her telepathically. 'Vampire Barbie and Katherine are almost here."

We listen as Caroline goes through a pretty convincing performance to get Katherine to come into the room to get the moonstone. And my sire actually falls for it, vamping into the bathroom to search for the moonstone. As soon as she has it in her hands, Caroline laughs. "I can't believe it," she says.

"Can't believe what?' Katherine demands.

"I can't believe you actually fell for it and went in there," Caroline responds gleefully. "I had been so sure it wouldn't work on someone as old as you. But it did!"

Katherine vamps after Caroline only to bounce off the barrier keeping vampires in. "What the hell?" she demands.

'Stefan, stay hidden. Elena and I can deal with her,' I tell him telepathically while nodding to Elena. We step out. "Well, well, well, I'll admit, I also had my doubts my plan would work so spectacularly," I say as soon as we are behind her.

She whirls around, her vamp face out. Then she spots Elena and realizes instantly that she's no longer human. She literally pales. "No," she whispers.

"I warned you that you didn't want to mess with me and mine, Katherine," I tell her as Elena and I each let out a minute fraction of our formidable powers, which is still enough to cause every trace of color to leave Katherine's face and stark terror to flood her eyes. "I warned you that my powers are now beyond your wildest imaginings. I didn't warn you that Elena's powers are just as strong, and in some ways stronger, because I didn't feel like you needed to know she's now a vampire. What you feel coming from us now is only the minutest fraction of what we can call upon. You decided to ignore my warnings. You decided to go after Jenna and have your witch try to tie your life force to Elena's, which failed miserably, might I add. Your witch is probably cursing your name for putting her in the position you did after my mate showed her exactly what she was trying to mess with. There is only one creature in existence more powerful than the two of us now, and that is the Seer."

"Damon gave you a chance to walk out of this unscathed. Yet you decided to poke the sleeping dragon," Elena picks up as soon as I stop. "You decided to mess with us in whatever plan you had. I don't care what relation I share with you. As I told John before I killed him and as Isobel will inevitably find out, having blood relations to me does not keep me from dealing an appropriate retribution for even threatening those I actually care for. So I don't care if I am a direct descendant of yours. You caused Jenna to be hospitalized today. You threatened to kill her and Jeremy if we didn't play your game."

"Little did you realize that you were trying to play a game with super-vampires that are far above your league," I continue. "I told Elena that since she's the one most affected by what you did today, she can choose your punishment for waking the dragon. As you now know, no vampire will be able to leave this room until retribution is paid in full. So, Elena, what is it you have decided as her punishment?" I ask my mate, glancing at her. Katherine is literally trembling before us, having come to the realization that whatever she was afraid of before, it has nothing on the power Elena and I are capable of wielding.

"Katherine, you caused Jenna harm she will be a long time healing from. You threatened death on her and my brother to me," she says, using her formidable powers on Katherine. I don't know precisely what she's doing, but Katherine's cry of pain tells me it is not pleasant to endure. "You had your reasons," Elena admits and I get an inkling at what she might be doing. I'll admit, I never thought she had it in her to go that far. But she's pissed. I hope she doesn't regret this.

"But nothing that will get me to forgive you for threatening my loved ones," she continues. "You think what I have just done is punishment enough. If you had merely made threats against my loved ones, I would agree with you. But you tricked Jenna into thinking you were me and then compelled her to jam a knife into her stomach if you called her and said a certain phrase with the intention of causing her death. That earns you a far worse punishment in my opinion. You better thank whatever it is you worship that she hadn't died or your punishment would be death. As it is, this is your punishment," she concludes, doing something that causes Katherine to cry out in alarm.

Then I feel even more of Elena's power uncurl from within her and surge into Katherine's mind, which my mate still holds in her uncompromising mental hands. I don't know what she does with the power, but the result is an unearthly cry coming from Katherine's mouth before she literally desiccates at hyper-speed before my very eyes. Within seconds, she's as desiccated as the tomb vampires were when they were burned to ash. I shudder. Even after that, Elena stays in Katherine's mind for a few more seconds, obviously putting the finishing touches on whatever spell she had cast on her.

I give Elena a sidelong look when I sense her finally withdraw back into her own mind. "Remind me never to piss you off," I remark dryly.

"You don't know even a fraction of what she's done to deserve what she got," she murmurs, obviously fatigued from whatever mental exertions she had done in punishing Katherine.

"Mind telling me exactly what you did to her?" I ask curiously. I figured out a little of it, but whatever spell she just cast on Katherine is beyond my comprehension.

Elena shakes her head. "It would be better if you never knew everything I did to her," she says softly. "It's not a spell that I ever want to cast again. But she deserved it."

Suddenly, I feel Caroline's mind reaching out for Elena and I, as she obviously had been trying to contact us for a while. 'Dammit, Damon, Elena! Answer me! This is major bad news!' she shouts telepathically at us.

'What is it, Caroline? We just finished dealing with Katherine. What's wrong?' Elena asks where I can hear her, her mental voice sounding far more exhausted than her physical voice.

'It's Tyler! Katherine compelled Matt and some girl at the party to attack him until he ended up killing one of them, even on accident. I managed to knock Matt out but I didn't realize the girl was compelled too until it was too late and he had knocked her backwards, causing her to bust her head on a desk and die. Tyler's a werewolf now! I saw proof of it with my own eyes!'

'Shit! Can nothing ever go right for even a day? Alright, get him to the boarding house so we can help him,' I telepath on the three-way channel. Then spreading my powers to the 'group' broadband, including Jenna and Rick way over at the Gilbert house, I telepath, 'Katherine's dealt with, but she caused more trouble by forcing Tyler to become a werewolf. Everyone who can, meet at the boarding house so we can deal with this latest mishap. Jenna, Rick, stay where you are. We'll fill you both in when we get a handle on this. Judgy, come let us out of this room before you go.'

I stay in contact with the various minds just long enough to get various forms of agreement before retreating back into my own mind. Touching so many minds at once can be overwhelming if I keep it up for too long. Katherine obviously needed a vampire and a werewolf as well as the human doppelganger and the moonstone for whatever ritual she wanted to do, what with her forcing Caroline into transition and causing Tyler to become a werewolf when I killed hers.

I wonder just what it was that she was up to. Elena probably has an idea, what with the mind rape she most likely performed on the bitch before casting her punishment spell. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. Elena and I are the most powerful, uncontrolled creatures in existence. The Seer is more powerful than we are combined at this time but she's strictly controlled by the Fates she works for. Nothing can stand against Elena and I, not even a much older vampire, as Elena had proved with whatever she did to Katherine. And we'll only get exponentially more powerful in the coming decades as our powers reach maturity.


Sarah: and there's Chapter 5. I finished up most of Chapter 4 and all of Chapter 5 of both fanfics in less than a day. I hope everyone enjoyed my twist on the Masquerade episode. As I've said before, my muse insists that some things happen as they did in the show, but from here on, the stories will be diverging rather swiftly from Cannon to become their own unique universes. I've always felt that Tyler and Caroline were stronger, more likeable characters after they became supernaturals. My muse obviously felt the same. Review and tell me what you think.