When they arrive at the Mongoose and Cobra Bar, Damon holds the door open for Elena. Moving to stand beside her, he leads her to a booth.
The large, rustic barnwood bar curves into the wall, dark in the barely lit room and through the honey yellow colored windows trickles in the subdued sunlight. Along the back wall behind the bar is every hue of amber-colored liquid.
"Whisky now," a man demands, sliding onto one of the stools. His eyes are a well of jet black ink, holding a gaze more fearsome than a tiger. A thin paper cigarette hangs from his bottom lip, a small trail of smoke escaping from the corner of his mouth dances its way to the ceiling above them.
"Do you know him?" Elena leans forward at how closely Damon is paying attention to him.
"Galen Vaughn, he's one of Mason's thugs."
"He is kind of shady looking," Elena smiles when a waitress approaches.
"What can I get for you?" Sarah asks, her name is on her badge.
"I'm driving so I'll have a virgin bloody Mary," Elena notices how she leans forward to give Damon a bird's eye view of her cleavage.
"I'll just have a beer, need to be able to perform later," he winks at Elena.
Sarah looks disappointed but nods and walks off.
"Was that really necessary?"
"I wanted to let her down easily," he laughs when Elena scowls at him. He suddenly goes silent when none other than Mason Lockwood walks into the bar. Damon can see that he's packing by the glimpse of leather - a shoulder holster.
"What are we going to do?" Elena asks, having noticed him at the same time.
"We'll follow him when he leav..." his voice trails when Sarah reappears and sets their drinks down. She stares at him for a hot minute then walks off. When Damon picks up his bottle, he notices a phone number on the napkin.
Not wanting Elena to see it, he quickly crumples it up and turns his attention back to Mason and Galen.
Their booth isn't far from the bar but he can't make out what the two men are saying. They're speaking in hushed tones. Damon's cognizant of his body language and it doesn't take a genius to know that he's irate about something.
He notices how Elena is watching them intently too and suddenly Mason gets up and walks into the men's room.
Damon takes a long swallow from his bottle and then gets up.
"Where are you going?" she grabs his arm.
"To the bathroom, I want to talk to him."
"About what?"
"The weather," Damon frees his arm from her grip then crosses the room and joins Mason in the men's room.
Elena looks up at the clock, it's been fifteen minutes since Damon went in there. If he doesn't come out in soon, she's going to barge in after him and doesn't care what the management may have to say.
She watches the second hand on the bar clock and decides it's time. Picking up her bag with her gun, she throws the strap over her neck and marches to the men's room and flings the door open, only to find the window wide open and the stalls empty.
Worried now, she darts out, her mouth dropping when Mason Lockwood is once again sitting at the bar with Galen Vaughn. Tightening her lips, she marches over to him and starts poking her finger into his shoulder.
"Where's Damon?" she demands to know.
"Why hello there pretty lady," he rakes his eyes over her lasciviously.
"Stop it. Now tell me where he his."
"Where who is? Damon? I don't know anyone by that name."
"He went into the bathroom with you," Elena runs her palm over her bag, feeling the outline of her revolver.
"Oh! You must be talking about the man who was climbing out the window" he remarks with a sly grin. "Now...unless you want to join us, I suggest you leave," he flashes her a glimpse of the gun handle under his jacket.
"He was climbing out through the window?" her mouth drops slightly.
"Perhaps your boyfriend had other plans?" Mason offers, throwing back a shot of whiskey.
Burning rage hisses through her body like a deadly poison. It's like a volcano erupting; fury sweeping off her in ferocious waves, consuming her. She glares at Mason then turns and her heels and storms out of the bar.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Damon's furious as he takes in his surroundings. He's at the pier and hears the soft hum of a motorboat and recognizes Markos Danvers as he pulls alongside him and his captor, Roman Sienna.
"Get in," Markos demands.
When Damon doesn't move, Roman gives him a shove. As soon as he's in the boat, a blindfold is tied tightly over his eyes. Then the boat moves and the sound of the boat chugging along fills his ears. He can't deny that he's a little afraid of getting dumped overboard and being turned into a bull shark's lunch.
The motor stops and he hears more voices. Then he's grabbed by the arm, the blindfold is lifted and he's a little surprised to find the small motorboat tied onto a yacht.
With muzzle of a gun poking at his back, he climbs the ladder as soon as he's on solid footing, looks out over the horizon. All he sees is ocean so he has no idea how far from shore they are.
Feeling hands clasp around his neck and before he can react, he sees spots and collapses into a heap on the boat's smooth wooden deck.
Anxiety is clawing at Elena's throat, engulfing her moralities and destroying the boundaries of loyalty. She's furious that he bolted, leaving her behind for Mason Lockwood to mock. Now more determined than ever to apprehend and turn him in, she drives around with singular purpose, checking out all his usual haunts. Bonnie's apartment is empty, his own apartment is empty. She even drove to Stefan's place but no one was home. Frustrated, she drives to their old neighborhood and stops at the Salvatore house but finds no one home. Their mailbox is nearly overflowing and the grass is quite long. She wonders if they're out of town?
Sighing, she gets back in her car and drives to her parents' place. Perhaps they'll know?
Her mother is standing on the porch watering her geraniums when Elena parks at the curb.
"Elena, what are you doing here? I thought you were working for Jeremy?" she sets the watering can down and follows her daughter into the house.
Elena ignores the question and asks one of her own. "Do you know if the Salvatore's are out of town?"
"Yes, I believe they're due back the day after tomorrow. I don't know why they didn't hire one of the neighborhood kids to mow their lawn or one of their sons could stop by and take care of it? It's a sight!" she remarks while dramatically brushing a damp strand of hair off her forehead.
"What happened to your knees?" Miranda bends down to take a closer look at them. "I was watching a TV show the other day. They had a bunch of women on with knees like that. Said it was rug burn. Couldn't quite figure that out."
"It's not rug burn, mom. I tripped and landed on some gravel," Elena half lies.
"Did you stop by for a reason?"
"I happened to be in the neighborhood on a case and thought I'd say hi."
"I made a rhubarb pie..." she tempts her daughter knowing it's Elena's favorite.
Her mother doesn't mind playing dirty sometimes. She knows she has Elena right where she wants her with the offer of pie.
"Mom, I can't. I'm looking for someone."
"You have to eat. Now sit," she pulls out a chair.
Elena rolls her eyes and sits down, feeling like she's a child again when her mom slides a piece with a scoop of ice cream on it. She fiddles with her fork but eventually decides she won't be able to escape until she cleans her plate and so she does. As soon as her mom walks out of the kitchen, Elena seizes the opportunity to make her escape.
"Bye mom, gotta go" she yells and practically dives into her car, turns the ignition and pulls away from the curb. When she looks in the rearview mirror, she laughs at the sight of her mom waving her arms with a disgruntled look on her face.
"Mr. Silvestri..."
Damon wakes up with a groan, his head hurts and he finds himself laying in a dark room. A captain's window on the starboard side allows a sliver of moonlight to spill onto the walls and floor.
Before he can even sit up, the door creaks and so he looks up, more than a little surprised to see Mason Lockwood again.
"Where's Ric?" Damon asks as he slowly rights himself.
"I'm not here to talk about him. You need to bury this story," Mason lights a cigarette and blows the puff of smoke at Damon.
"And if I say no?" Damon glares at him.
"Then your little girlfriend is going to find herself with an anchor wrapped around her ankles, bobbing like a buoy at the bottom of the Gulf."
"What did you do to her?" Damon lunges for him but stops short when he finds himself face to face with the barrel of a .45 caliber.
"Nothing... Yet." Mason looks at him unblinkingly, his gun still aimed at the Damon's head.
Damon swallows thickly, he can't let anything happen to Elena, no matter what... "Why should I trust you?"
"You're a popular reporter in this town. People will ask questions if you disappear. However, if you cross me, I won't hesitate to end you... And the girl too."
"Fine, you win." Damon raises his arms in the surrender posture.
"I'm glad we could do business Mr. Salvatore," a sinister smile crosses his face. "Roman, get in here," he yells and the door opens.
"Yeah boss?"
"Mr. Salvatore and I have reached an agreement. Take him back to the city."
Roman nods, grabs Damon by the arm and shoves him out of the room. As soon as he's on the skiff, he catches the name of the yacht - The Mystic Princess - just as a blindfold once again covers his eyes.
Thanks everyone.
Chapter title: 'Runaway' by Del Shannon.
Have a great day. We'll see you soon.