Chapter Twenty-Three
"Sorry, I'm late," Bonnie said to Stefan as she approached the tomb. "I had to grab some supplies from home."
"It's okay. Whatever will make this work. Where's Jeremy?"
"He said he'd be here," she said. "Rebecca and Damon?"
"Chelsea," Stefan said.
"Right."
They made their way toward the entrance, but stopped when they saw the moonstone already outside the tomb.
"I hate to interrupt, but today has just been full of surprises."
Bonnie looked towards the voice, knowing it was Katherine. Jeremy was in the tomb with Katherine. How had that happened?
"Jer?"
"I'm sorry. I took some of the ashes."
Jeremy had an angry, bleeding, bite mark on his neck, and Katherine's mouth was covered in blood. She'd been feeding on Jeremy; the evidence was dripping down her chin and neck.
"Don't worry. I know that he's wearing his ring," Katherine said. "So no matter how many times I kill him, he'll just keep coming back for more. So . . . I'm gonna be in the back playing with my new little toy. And you guys just give me a holler when you've got the tomb open."
Katherine pushed Jeremy backwards and Bonnie stepped forward. Jeremy had played her. He'd never believed she was strong enough, so he'd done this for her. She had to get him out.
Rebecca and Damon were just pulling up to the apartment complex that Bonnie had marked on the map on which she had done the locators spell. The apartment building was behind the local Food Lion store.
"Here we go," she said.
Damon didn't like how calm Rebecca was being. If he didn't know her so well, he would think she had shut off her emotions, but he did know her, and he could see the rage buried just beneath the surface. Whoever had Chelsea . . . Rebecca was going to kill them.
"We should go to each landlord," Damon said. "See if we find any familiar names in the system."
Rebecca nodded. "It's smart. Better than just going door to door, which I was going to do."
Rebecca got out of the car and waited for Damon to do the same. He could tell she was waiting for him to lead here. She was new to this still, and he had so much more experience.
"Come on," he said, vowing to himself to actually show her how to be a vampire. He'd really been meaning to, but with everything going on lately they hadn't really had time to practice. He wasn't even making sure she was feeding properly. He knew she was drinking from blood bags, but she hadn't been fresh feeding.
They went to the entrance of the building and Damon quickly found the landlord's apartment. A middle-aged woman opened the door when they knocked and Rebecca tensed. Damon placed his hand on her back to steady her. She wasn't rational when it came to her sister, so he didn't know what to expect.
"Do you have copies of your tenants' files here with you?" Damon asked, catching the woman's eyes and holding them while he used his compulsion to get her to answer the question truthfully.
"Yes," the woman said robotically.
"Then invite us in," Damon said.
The woman did as she was compelled to do, and Rebecca went in.
"Do you live alone?" she asked.
"No. My husband is at work."
"When will he be back?"
"After five."
That gave them about four hours to get what they needed – that was more than enough time to do what had to be done.
"Do you have any tenants that stand out? Weird or suspicious?" Damon asked.
Damon didn't know how Rebecca had been doing it, but she'd been using his compulsion to ask the lady questions and to get answers. He didn't mind it; he just didn't understand how it was happening.
"No."
"Any new ones?" he asked. "And where are those files?"
"A man and his son just moved in. A, uh, Jonas and Luka –"
Damon's phone rang before the lady could finish and he looked at the ID screen before answering.
"Not a good time, Rose."
"Don't be angry with me . . ." she said cautiously.
"Why? What'd you do?"
"You need to get to Richmond immediately."
Rebecca looked at him with narrowed eyes. She'd obviously been listening in. "What happened?"
"Rose? Tell me what's going on."
After Rose explained about taking Elena to Richmond to meet with Slater and everything else that followed Damon snapped his phone shut.
"Damn it, Elena!" He eyed Rebecca. "What d'you wanna do? I have to go; I can't send Stefan."
There was no way Stefan could take on an Original, not when he was on animal blood.
"Go," she said softly. "I've got this. I'm going to start with Luka and Dr. Martin. I'll be fine."
Damon hated having to leave her like this, especially since there was magic involved. Bonnie had told them about Jonas Martin and Luka, Dr. Martin's son – they were warlock and he didn't want Rebecca facing them alone.
He wanted to stay and find Chelsea, but he couldn't send Stefan to an almost certain death.
Rebecca found the room that Luka and his dad were living in without having to go through the files because the landlady had offered it freely. Rebecca had compelled the woman to forget about her and Damon's visit and had quickly gone to look for the room number.
When she got there, she heard a male speaking.
"So how exactly does this spell work?"
Rebecca had never met Luka or his father, but she did know that they were warlocks because of Bonnie having found out.
"Give me your hand," another male voice said.
These males were older, Rebecca believed. Neither sounded young enough to be a teenager, anyway, so she assumed that neither of them was Luka.
She smelled blood, suddenly, and figured that the man who had said, "Give me your hand," had cut the other man's hand.
"Place it here." There was a pause. "Now take my hand, close your eyes, relax your mind, and look for her."
Rebecca heard some chanting going on, but she closed her eyes and focused on every sound in the apartment. There was one human adult – the warlock – and one vampire – the other man – whose heart was beating slower than normal. Then she focused on another heartbeat. She knew it was a baby's heartbeat – the beat was faster than an adult's, and it belonged to her sister. She would recognize that beat anywhere.
"You saw her, didn't you?" the warlock, Dr. Martin, said.
"I know exactly where she is."
Rebecca knew that voice too, though she didn't know from where.
"Before I leave . . . I believe you have a visitor."
Rebecca froze. She guessed that meant that the vampire had heard her.
"We can't wait. We have to get him outta there," Bonnie said. She had wanted to wait for Rebecca and Damon, but she couldn't anymore. She knew Rebecca and Damon wouldn't show up at the tomb unless Chelsea was safe; maybe they hadn't found her yet.
"She's fed. She has her strength back," Stefan said.
He'd been pacing back and forth ever since they had found out Jeremy was in the tomb with Katherine.
"We still have what's left of the ash," Bonnie reminded him. "Do you think you can get close enough?"
"I don't have any choice."
"It's gonna take me some time," Bonnie admitted.
"Just get me in there as soon as you can."
"Hello, Miss Stone," came the familiar voice as the door was opened. "Nice to see you again."
Rebecca found she couldn't move from her spot outside the door. Elijah, who Damon had staked, was in the Martin's apartment.
"Elijah," she whispered.
She had remembered everything about him now – or her time with him, anyway. He'd been nice and had saved her from werewolves before she'd even known werewolves existed. He'd saved her from vampires too. She had betrayed Katherine for him – or she would have, had she been given the chance.
How was he here? She'd seen his body turn gray and all when Damon had killed him – or she thought Damon had killed him.
"Don't be rude, Dr. Martin. Invite her in. You do have her sister here; she probably just wants her back. Isn't that right, Miss Stone?"
"Why is she here in the first place?" Rebecca seethed. Now that she'd been brought back to the present by Elijah mentioning Chelsea, she wanted to know why Elijah and Jonas had her there.
Who had taken her? Elijah or Dr. Martin. Either way, what did they want with her? And why wasn't she crying? Chelsea didn't know either of these men, so why wasn't she crying?
Much to Rebecca's dismay, Dr. Martin did let her in. She didn't waste time getting to what she wanted. She followed the sound of Chelsea's heartbeat to a room in the back.
Chelsea was unharmed and asleep. She must've felt safe, at least, or she wouldn't have been able to sleep.
"Maybe Bonnie isn't the best baby-sitter. It was quite easy to snatch Chelsea out from under her nose."
"Why? What was the point?" Rebecca asked Elijah as she picked up her sister. "To scare me to death?"
"No, that wasn't my intention. She's no longer empathic, by the way. Jonas removed that particular ability."
"What? Why did you do that?"
"That was what you wanted, was it not?"
"Well, yes, but Bonnie was –"
"Bonnie Bennett is busy right now. Dr. Martin was available. No harm came to your sister; I made sure of that."
"So how was school?" Rebecca heard Dr. Martin say from the other room.
"Riveting," another, male, voice said. There was a pause and a gasp.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Martin said.
"Nothin'."
Rebecca turned to Elijah. "Who is that?"
"Luka. Dr. Martin's son. He was with Bonnie when I snatched baby Chelsea."
Chelsea, who was awake now, reached for Elijah, but Rebecca turned away from him. She didn't want Chelsea having anything to do with Elijah until they found out what he wanted.
Caroline and Tyler had just gotten to Caroline's house and were setting up her laptop so they could plug in the flash drive Mason had left with his journal.
The only file on the flash drive was a video, so Tyler clicked on it and a screen popped up.
September 15th,
Two hours from the first full moon since I triggered the curse.
"He taped his first transformation," Tyler said.
Mason seemed to be in a garage. There were tools and shelves and a concrete floor.
"Um . . ." Caroline grabbed the journal and flipped to September 16th since there was nothing for the 15th. "He – he wrote about everything the next day."
Caroline began reading from the journal. "I chose the garage. I could deadbolt the door. It was far from the door, so no one could hear. I bolted hooks to the floor for the carabiners."
She paused. "What, like for mountain climbing?" she asked.
"Retractable cables," Tyler said, stopping at a point in the video where Mason was drinking something that seemed to be choking him. "What's he doing?"
Caroline looked at the journal again.
"It's wolfsbane. It says . . . "I diluted wolfsbane with water to weaken myself, but I could barely get it down without puking. It felt like I was drinking battery acid. Over an hour passed. Nothing happened. It got so quiet, I could hear my own blood pumping, and that's when –"
A shout came from the video and both Tyler and Caroline's eyes turned to the screen. Mason's body was contorting; his bones were beginning to break.
"I kept thinking I would black out and not feel it, but I did. I . . . I felt all of it."
Mason screamed again, this time for help. All the while, Caroline kept thinking about Tyler having to go through that.
"How long is it?" she asked Tyler.
"We're three hours in. Four hours. Five hours," Tyler said as he fast forwarded through the video. "How long does this last? I can't – I can't do that."
Tyler stopped the video and stood up. He began to pace.
"Caroline, whatever that was, I can't go through that."
"You know what?" Caroline said. "I don't think we should watch this or read anymore."
"Why? What'd you read?"
"There's a reason why it's called a curse, Tyler. But he did say that the transformation speeds up over time, so if you can just get through this first time, then –"
"Why're you helping me?" Tyler blurted out. "Why do you care? We've never been friends before."
"That's not true. I've known you my entire life, Tyler."
"But we've never been close. Not like this."
"I don't know. You just seem like you – like you kind of need it. And I was alone when I turned. I had no control over my body, or my urges, and . . . I killed somebody. I don't want that to happen to you. I don't want you to be alone."
"What is she doing here?" Luka asked as Rebecca walked into the living room with Chelsea in her arms.
"She wanted her sister back," Elijah said. "She came about a half-hour ago."
"You said you were leaving," Rebecca said to Elijah. "Where're you going?"
"To Richmond," he answered.
"Elena," Rebecca whispered. "You still want Elena."
"I don't wish to harm Elena," he said. "You're welcome to come with me and see. I would say leave Chelsea here, but I know you won't."
"But I will come with you."
Rebecca didn't know what kind of car she'd been expecting Elijah to be driving, but a new Lexus sure hadn't been it.
Elijah opened the door to the passenger seat for her and she got in. She didn't have a car seat for Chelsea so she just held Chelsea in her lap.
"Elijah," she said, once the Original had sit down in the driver's seat. "Please don't hurt Damon. I know he –"
"Tried to kill me?"
"Yes," she whispered. "But he . . . you were after Elena. I'm still not convinced you don't wish her harm."
"What if I give you my word? On both counts?"
Rebecca didn't know. She had trusted him in 1864 and he had kept his word. She had entrusted him with her life, but she didn't know if she could trust him with Damon's or Elena's life.
Elena had just stepped out of the kitchen of Slater's apartment when she heard, "What're you doin' here?"
She spun around quickly and found Damon there glaring at her.
"What're you doing here?" she asked back.
Damon couldn't be here. No one knew she was here . . . unless . . . Maybe Bonnie had had a vision. But still, he couldn't be here. He would ruin everything. He would keep her from –
"I'm sorry, Elena," Rose said from behind her.
Elena looked at her and it clicked. "You called him? You said that you understood."
"She lied. Come on, we're leaving."
"No." She couldn't leave. She had to be here for whoever was going to come for her.
"I said, 'we're leaving'." Damon added emphasis to the last word like he thought it would make her react differently.
"I'm not going with you."
"You do not get to make decisions anymore."
"When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me. Now, this . . . this is my decision."
"Who's gonna save your life while you're out making decisions?"
"You're not listening, Damon. I don't want to be saved. Not if it means that Klaus is going to kill every single person that I love."
Damon looked at her through narrowed eyes. He understood, she knew he did. He'd give up his life for Rebecca, so he knew what it meant to be self-sacrificing; why wouldn't he just go away and let her save everyone.
"Get out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself."
"No."
Damon grabbed her arm and pulled her forward.
"Damon, I said no!"
She swung her fist to hit him, but he caught her hand before she could reach his cheek. He didn't squeeze too hard, but he did lean forward threateningly.
"Don't ever do that again," he said softly. He let her go and said, "I'm going to go compel the human that's here and then we are leaving."
Back at the tomb in Mystic Falls, Bonnie was still working on the spell. She was using the tags she hadn't returned to Luka so that she could channel him. The fire from the torches was burning brightly and she could feel magic in the air.
"You've gotta stop her, she's not strong enough," Jeremy said.
He and Katherine had come to the entrance of the tomb because Katherine wanted to know what was going on with the spell.
Bonnie tried to block the noise from the flames and the conversation between Katherine, Stefan, and Jeremy.
"Bonnie!" she heard Stefan say, "Bonnie!"
Suddenly her connection with Luka was broken and she fell to the ground. She faded into unconsciousness within seconds.
When she woke up, she felt Stefan's hands on her shoulders and heard him asking if she was okay
"It didn't work," she said weakly, letting Stefan help her to her feet. "I'm not strong enough. Even with help, I can't do it."
"That's too bad," Katherine said. "And I'm still hungry."
Katherine shoved an already injured Jeremy into the wall and opened her mouth wide. Before Bonnie could react, Stefan ran into the tomb and shoved Jeremy out toward Bonnie. He landed right in front of her and she wrapped her arms around him. She didn't miss the satisfied grin that was on Katherine's face.
Stefan was locked in the tomb with Katherine now. Maybe that had been Katherine's plan all along.
"Time to go," Damon said, coming out of the human girl's bedroom. "Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a moment of this horribly stupid day."
He went toward Elena and Rose, who were both on the couch in the living room, but stopped when he heard the front doors open. Three men walked in as if they owned the place.
"We're here to meet the doppelganger."
"Thank you for coming," Elena said, standing up.
She tried to go past Damon, but he grabbed her before she could take more than a few steps.
"I will break your arm," he said, daring her to move again. He looked at the three men and said, "There's nothing for you here."
Suddenly the third guy, the one who had come in last, was dead on the ground. His heart had been ripped out by someone who had come in who wasn't a part of the group.
Elijah.
Rose flashed out of the room immediately.
"I killed you," Damon said. "You were dead."
"For centuries now," Elijah said calmly.
Elijah came in and looked at the other two that had been part of the three, and smiled. Then Damon heard two heartbeats that he knew very well. Rebecca and Chelsea were there too. Not in the apartment, but right outside in the hallway. How had they gotten there?
"I'm Elijah," the Original vampire told the other two men that had come looking for Elena.
"We were going to bring her to you, for Klaus," one of them said, pointing at Elena. "She's the doppelganger. I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus would wanna see her."
"Does anyone else know that you're here?"
"No."
"Well, then you have been incredibly helpful."
Elijah ripped both men's hearts out and the men fell to the floor; their hearts soon joined them there.
Damon got ready to fight the Original, but Elijah just looked at him before turning away and running out.
"Damon?" a hesitant voice that was Rebecca's called out. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," he said, relief filling him. "Chelsea's okay?"
"Yeah. Elijah had her . . . and the Martins." He heard her sigh. "She's not empathic anymore. Jonas removed her ability completely. I still don't want her seeing what's in there."
"Agreed."
Damon didn't want Chelsea seeing three vampires with their hearts ripped out either.
"Let's go home," Damon said, grabbing onto Elena's arm and dragging her behind him. Once outside the room, Damon searched out Rebecca and Chelsea.
"How did you get here?" he asked Rebecca.
"Elijah. I was invited into the Martin's apartment and found out Elijah was coming here. I wasn't going to risk him coming here on his own. I didn't know what he was going to do."
Rebecca looked at Elena then. "You promised me a day, Elena. You lied to me."
"I know," Elena said unapologetically. "I can't believe Elijah's alive. Why do you think he killed those vampires and let us go?"
"If I had a dollar for every time some evil vampire surprised me . . ." Damon said.
"I asked him to leave you guys alone," Rebecca said. "I don't know if that meant anything to him or if he left you because he wanted to, but . . . he gave me his word that no harm would come to either of you."
She looked at Elena again. "What you did today was incredibly stupid. What were you –"
"Actually, the only thing that was stupid was that I got caught," Elena said. "I don't question why you guys try to save me. You shouldn't question why I would save all of you."
"I don't question it, Elena! But calling out Klaus is not the way to go about it. Let us try to save you first. I mean, did it ever occur to you that this might not be about just you? You called attention to yourself, but Klaus doesn't only want you, Elena! He wants Caroline and Bonnie and Tyler. If he comes here because you did this, their deaths will be your fault."
Rebecca would've continued yelling at Elena if Chelsea hadn't started crying. This had nothing to do with being empathic. If Elijah had been telling the truth, Chelsea would no longer be bothered by other people's feelings. That didn't mean she wasn't perceptive.
Damon knew that because Rebecca was upset, Chelsea was getting upset. Not to mention, all the yelling was probably scaring her.
"Rebecca . . ." Elena said. She had tears in her eyes now.
"Don't," Rebecca said softly, now beginning to pay attention to Chelsea. "Let's just go."
Back in Mystic Falls, Bonnie and Jeremy had just walked into his house and were headed to the medicine cabinet so he could get a large bandage to cover the wound on his neck.
"I'm home, okay? I don't need an escort to my room," he said to her.
"I don't know," Bonnie replied. "Between here and upstairs, there's still time for you to do something stupid."
"I already feel bad. I don't need you to berate me."
"Stefan is stuck in there, and I don't know how to get him out," Bonnie exclaimed. "What should I be doing?"
"You should admit that you never should've tried this in the first place," he said firmly.
"I didn't have a choice, Jeremy!"
Bonnie was a witch. She couldn't help it; it ran in her family. She had magic running through her veins and she used that magic to help people.
"Yeah, well, neither did I."
"Well . . . why did you have to get involved?"
"Because I didn't want you to get hurt," he admitted freely.
"Jeremy . . ."
Bonnie didn't really know what to say. He was Elena's brother and . . . there was so much that could go wrong with this. She could die at any moment and it wouldn't be fair to start anything with Jeremy when things were so hectic.
"You can't feel that way about me."
"Don't do that. Don't act like this is one sided, like . . . like I'm some kid that has a crush on his sister's friend. You could've died today."
"And you almost did," she said. If Jeremy hadn't been wearing his ring . . .
"That was a chance I was willing to take."
Just then the front door opened and the moment between them was broken. Rebecca, Damon, Chelsea, and Elena came in.
Rebecca stopped in her tracks when she saw the blood on Jeremy's bandage; the wound was so bad it was bleeding through the white of the cloth. To be honest, she'd probably smelled it first and then searched out what was making her vampire senses come to the surface.
"Jer?"
"I'm okay," he said. "But . . ."
Bonnie watched as Jeremy told them about Stefan and as Elena began to panic.
"Stefan's in the tomb?" she asked. "How could you let this happen?"
"What're you talking about? I was too busy saving you from your crazy kamikaze mission," Damon said.
"You didn't even have to go after the moonstone in the first place."
"It was the right call, Elena!"
"Right call? How is any of this the right call?"
"Guys! Stop fighting!" Rebecca almost yelled, which caused Chelsea to start crying. "We'll find a way to get him out, okay? But standing here arguing about it will not change the fact that he's in there. He'll be fine for now. Katherine won't kill him, so he can wait for morning, okay? Everybody just needs to recharge from today."
Bonnie thought it was odd yet admirable that Rebecca's voice held the right amount of authority to make everyone pay attention to her.
Bonnie decided she'd leave then; Rebecca had it under control and she needed to put space between herself and Jeremy.
Elena had wanted to see Stefan, and Damon and Rebecca hadn't wanted her doing something stupid like going into the tomb, so Damon had gone with her and Rebecca had stayed with Jeremy.
"Your wound is terrible," Rebecca said lightly. "Do you want me to heal you?"
"That wouldn't involve feeding from me, would it? I'm pretty drained already."
"I don't have to drink from you to heal you."
Rebecca bit into her wrist and offered it to Jeremy. She kept an ear out for any unwanted visitors; Jenna was home, but she was upstairs and from the sound of her heartbeat, she was asleep.
Jeremey gently brought her wrist to his mouth and began to suck. Rebecca felt the familiar intimacy she felt when she drank from someone or allowed someone to drink from her. The feeling that whoever it was belonged to her; she was responsible for them now because they were her humans.
She watched as the scabs fell off of Jeremy's skin and the skin healed without scars. This was one of the things Rebecca loved about being a vampire. She could heal people with just a little of her blood.
She pulled away when she thought he'd had enough.
"Better?" He nodded. "Good. Now, don't die tomorrow, okay?"
"Gee, thanks," Jeremy quipped. "I'll try my best."
"Of all the idiot plans, Stefan . . ." Damon said as he saw Stefan come to the mouth of the tomb. "I'll find a way to get you out."
Elena shook her head. Stefan was locked in the tomb with Katherine, who couldn't be trusted. Katherine wanted Stefan and she was used to getting everything she wanted.
"That's all right. I'll, uh . . . I'll handle myself. Bonnie has the moonstone. Try to figure out how to de-spell it."
"What? No," Elena said. "We –"
"You martyr yourself into a tomb, and I get partnered with a semi-competent witch. Wonderful."
Stefan scoffed while Elena glared at them both. They were acting as if she weren't there.
"Just keep Elena safe; worry about me later."
"Stefan –" Elena began, but Stefan had already begun going back into the darkness of the tomb. "Damon? We need to get him out of there."
"I'm aware of that, Elena, but we need to keep you safe, too."
"Well, now that you have the moonstone back, what're you gonna do with it?" she asked, afraid she already knew the answer.
"Right now, it's what's binding the Sun and Moon curse. If Bonnie can find a way to remove the spell from the stone, the stone becomes useless."
"And according to Katherine, Klaus becomes vengeful," Elena reminded him.
"Maybe. If he finds out."
Why couldn't Damon realize that the good of the many outweighed the good of the one? She didn't want to be the cause of Klaus coming to Mystic Falls and creating a blood bath. That was one of the reasons she'd wanted to meet the vampires in Richmond.
Rebecca met Damon back at the boardinghouse. She hadn't wanted to leave Jeremy or Elena alone that night, but she had other things she needed to do. Things like talk to Caroline about Tyler turning into a werewolf – the full moon was only a night away. That's why as soon as she got home she called Caroline, who answered almost immediately.
The blond told Rebecca about wanting to help Tyler lock himself up before the full moon could turn him.
"Care, you know you shouldn't stay with him even if he is going to be locked up in the cellar. He could kill you with one bite."
"I know, but I need to make sure he chains himself up enough."
Rebecca looked at Damon, who shrugged. "It's her choice. And it's one less thing we need to worry about. Bonnie has the moonstone and she's going to try and de-spell it. Then she's going to find a way to get Stefan out of the tomb."
"Actually, we need to worry about keeping Elena away from it," Rebecca said. "If she's anything like me, she'll do anything to get to him. I know if it were you in there . . ."
"Right," Damon interrupted. "Get Bonnie to focus on that instead.
Okay, so I really liked the Elijah/Rebecca scenes in this chapter. Other than that I felt that this chapter had too much going on. I know it had to be done, but I just felt all the little subplots were getting in the way of the main one. Anyway, let me know what you think.