Chapter 18: Preparations & Lessons

Mystic Falls: Mikaelson Mansion

[Niklaus' POV]

I don't blame my family for leaving Mystic Falls. Esther is about to cause a murder; hers. She is complaining that none of her locator spells work on my siblings. I have repeatedly told her I have no knowledge about their whereabouts and no one else does either. If I had somewhere else to be, she wouldn't see me for a century or two. I haven't said that out loud yet. She is still a powerful witch.

I have two packs of stable Vampire-Werewolf hybrids. One is guarding the Mansion in Mystic Falls. The other is checking out our holdings in various parts of the continent. I don't think Elijah and the rest of them headed for Europe yet. I would get away from Esther if I knew where they were.

I am headed to North Carolina to see if they are at the mansion there. It is a day trip so Esther shouldn't protest too much. My cell chimes with Elijah's ringtone.

"Elijah; where the Hell are you? Esther is driving me up a tree wanting your location."

"We are safe at a friend's ranch. We will be returning to Mystic Falls within two days. We will be staying with a friend of the family while we are there. Mother is a problem. Are you willing to meet me at another location as soon as we arrive in Virginia? I have some information that is for your ears only. Be aware Esther has put a tracking spell on you, it could be an item or even your car. She won't be able to track me."

"Meet me at the mansion in Richmond. I have some business there, so Esther won't suspect anything."

"I will contact you when I get to Richmond." Elijah disconnects the call.

Whitlock Ranch: Hacienda

[Charlie's POV]

After our viewing of Mystic Falls, everyone reconvenes in the Library to discuss our options. It's time for me to share some lessons on Leyline travel abilities. It will make circumventing Esther's magic a bit easier.

"I would like everyone's attention. I have been practicing Leyline magic from the cradle. I was forbidden by Renee to teach Bella anything more about it until she was an adult. My mother taught Bella as much as she could in secret up until Renee left with her after our divorce."

"Once you have activated your Leylock energies you can travel along Leylines from one place to another. You just need to be familiar with your destination or know someone familiar with that destination. So everyone here can travel to The Salvatore Boarding House based on Jasper, Peter, Charlotte, Damon and Bella's memory of it. Damon would have to scope it out for us, since it is his home."

"Damon would you mind doing this experiment for us?"

"I don't mind at all, what do I need to do?"

"I would suggest your bedroom. Since it should be unoccupied and it is the room you are most familiar with."

"I can visualize it."

"See yourself in the room." Damon disappears from view.

A few minutes later we see Damon standing where he was before he left.

He pulls out his cell and presses a speed dial button; "Damon why are you calling so late?"

"Stefan, you need to air out my room and who has been messing with my stuff?"

"How do you know about that? Caroline has been staying in your room for a few nights."

"Tell Caroline my room is off limits and anything she has "borrowed" needs to be returned ASAP. Bella and I will be arriving soon. There will be a reckoning." He hangs up.

I look at him. "So when do you think we should time our arrival in Mystic Falls?"

"I think first thing in the morning for Bella, you and I. Everyone else when they have finished the training they want to do here." Damon looks me in the eye and winks.

I laugh, "You just want to scare your brother."

Bella looks at him. "She was in our room? Why?"

"It probably has something to do with the doppelganger; which means we need to find out what is going on as soon as possible."

Charlotte has a faraway look in her eye. "Caroline isn't staying in your room tonight but she will be there in the morning before school. You will be able to surprise her and Stefan then."

Bella looks at me, "Can we visualize our stuff in the room, so we don't have to ship anything?"

"Yes."

She lightly pops me on the arm. "Cryptic much?"

I laugh. "For example visualize the room you want to put your luggage in, then visualize your luggage in the room. Then see it."

I hug my dad. "Damon and I will get our stuff together. Stefan and Caroline will have a surprise in the morning. Thanks dad." She hugs me and rushes out of the room.

Elijah asks, "I have a meeting with my brother scheduled the day after tomorrow at his mansion in Richmond. I am very familiar with it."

"The same principle applies. Most cities have been built on top of Leyline hubs."

Elijah disappears and reappears fifteen minutes later. "Thank you for the information Charlie it will make things easier for our family to travel inconspicuously this way."

[Charlotte's POV]

I could kiss Charlie. He has given me a way to rescue Freya, without Dahlia catching on to what's going on. I just need Freya to make contact, so I can pass this information on.

Mystic Falls: Bonnie's House

[Bonnie's POV]

"Elena stop, I can't locate Damon. Caroline brought me a few personal items from his room for the spell. Something very powerful is cloaking him. I'm sure he will be in touch with Stefan soon and you can find him that way." Elena just glares at me and stalks off. Caroline gathers Damon's possessions to return them to his room.

"Bonnie, I'm sorry. Elena has this bug up her butt since she found out Damon was married."

I shrug, "She has really changed since she became a vampire. Sometimes I see my old friend in there, but it is becoming rarer. You on the other hand are just a modified version of the old Caroline."

She hugs me and leaves quickly to follow Elena. It's still hard for me to accept they are vampires. Vampires killed my family one way or another. I know Elena and Caroline are not the ones responsible, but my responses are not all together rational.

Whitlock Ranch: Hacienda

[Damon's POV]

I watch as Bella finishes packing up her stuff. I admit that I am anxious about our return to the capital of crazy, my home in Mystic Falls. I am so going to kick Stefan's ass. What was he thinking to allow Caroline access to my room? What knickknack of his can I burn to get my point across? Astral travel will be convenient for that also.

Bella closes the last suitcase and walks over to the bed. I pull her down to me. "We will leave in a few hours. I just want to have some private time with my wife." I start kissing the back of her neck she shivers. We quickly disrobe. I kiss along her jaw. I nick my wrist for her to drink. I don't ever think the sight of her drinking from me will be less arousing. I pull her down to the bed with me and enter her quickly. She is so wet for me. I show her how much she means to me by bringing her to her fist orgasm quickly. She murmurs in my ear, "I love you Damon." My orgasm follows hers quickly.

"Damon wake up, we have to go if we are going to surprise Stefan." I groan. I really rather be doing other things in bed to Bella. "We will have time for that later." She pulls on my arm to get me to leave the bed. "We can make plenty of noise in your bed at the boarding house, get moving." I leer at her and get out of the bed.

We take a brief shower together. Charlie is waiting for us in the hall with his bags packed. We transferred ours before our shower. Bella grabs her dad's hand and we port into my bedroom at the boarding house. Her dad's bags are stacked next to ours.

Mystic Falls: Salvatore Boarding House

[Charlie's POV]

I grab my bags. Damon opens the door for me and shows me to one of the rooms on the second floor that has a view of the back garden. The room is clean and well proportioned. The best feature is it is away from the newly married couple. "Thanks Damon this room will do nicely. Can I be around when you confront Stefan? I would enjoy the show."

"I'll let you know just as soon as I locate my brother."

[Damon's POV]

Since Stefan isn't home it makes it convenient for me to pop into his room and look around. I spot my father's old shaving kit on one of the shelves. I can burn this without any regret. I pop into the drawing room and start a fire in the fireplace. Bella must have heard me. She walks over to me and hugs me from behind.

"What's that?"

"My father's old shaving kit. He used to beat us with the sharpening straps. I won't miss this thing at all."

I hear Stefan open the front door. "Damon is that you?"

"We are in here little Brother."

He enters the drawing room and sees me by the fire. "Damon what are you doing?"

"I'm about to destroy a bit of our past." I toss the shaving kit into the fire. Stefan gets close enough to see what I tossed into the fire.

'Damon! That was father's old shaving kit."

"I know."

"Why did you do that?"

"Why did you let someone sleep in my room and allow them to remove my possessions without permission?"

"It was just Caroline. She borrowed a few of your items so that Bonnie could try a location spell to find you."

"You got your wish. I am here now. I burned one of your prized possessions as a reminder to never let anyone into Bella's and my bedroom or to touch our belongings without permission. I can always ask Bella to withdraw the invitations into this house for you and Caroline, if you can't respect our privacy."

Stefan gulps. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. It won't happen again."

"Did you set up the guest rooms like I requested?"

"The rooms have been cleaned and fresh linens are in each room."

"Thank you, our guests should be arriving shortly. How well is the kitchen stocked for food? What is our current stock of blood bags?"

"I called in a food order. The pantry is well stocked for our guests. We still have around twenty five bags in storage, do we need more?"

"I'll make arrangement for more."

Charlie coughs from the back of the room letting us know he watched the entire confrontation with my brother. "Stefan I would like you to meet my father-in-law Charlie Swan. Charlie this is my brother Stefan."

Charlie nods at me. "So you are Damon's younger brother. Care to show me around?"

Stefan nods, "I'll give you a mini tour of the house. It will give Bella and Damon a chance to get settled back in."

[Charlie's POV]

"Stefan, why do you disrespect and try to sabotage your brother?"

He blinks at me. I think I blindsided him. I really want to know why he has this pattern of behavior.

"I don't know."

"That is bullshit and you know it. You don't want to admit that he can have a life away from yours and you do your damnedest to push him away, then you punish him when he pulls away. Change this pattern of behavior before you destroy the relationship between you. Be honest with yourself."

I leave him standing there staring at my back. He needed someone to point out his bullshit.

[Caroline's POV]

I don't see Damon's car yet. I release a sigh of relief. I open the front door of the boarding house. I hear someone clear their throat. I look up to see Bella standing just inside the door.

"Are those Damon's things you are trying to return to his room before he notices?"

I swallow. "I borrowed a few of his things for Bonnie to try a location spell to find out where he was."

"Why?"

"We need him to help with Niklaus and Esther. They are a threat to Elena."

"Right, and you spent the night in his room. Why?"

"I was tired and didn't want to go back home."

"So any of your male friends can just crash in your bed because they were tired and didn't want to go home?"

"Better yet, why didn't you ask Damon if you could borrow his stuff and crash in his room? Do you realize how disrespectful you are? Do you realize how selfish you an Elena are? Why shouldn't I rescind your invitation to this house right now?"

"I'm sorry."

"I don't believe you. Caroline Forbes you are no longer welcome in the Salvatore Boarding House."

I bounce off the furniture and the walls as the magic kicks me out of the house onto pathway outside the house. I screwed up and Bella had a perfect right to call me on it. At least Damon's things got returned.