JESSA'S HOUSE 24 HOURS AFTER THE MEETING AT THE SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE
Jessa looked over her teacup at Damon sitting beside her at the kitchen table and smiled at the banality of this afternoon. They were finally sitting down to brunch, after hours of being locked together in a passionate bubble. He was smiling down at his plate, a blood bag sitting propped up against his glass of juice.
"This is nice," She said, breaking the silence of their eating. He looked up at her and his eyes smoldered. Swallowing another drink of tea, she nearly leapt from the table to see if she could beat him to the bedroom, but their thoughts were interrupted by their newly charged phones coming to life in tandem. The chirping was rampant and they both groaned.
"Neglecting our duties," Damon muttered, glaring at his cellphone before picking it up. "I can just imagine the texts." His eyes rolled up into his head. And his voice turned falsetto, mimicking Elena, "How could you two just disappear? He's YOUR brother, Damon."
Jessa chuckled, and picked up her own phone, thinking the same thing. Sure enough multiple texts were just that, wondering where the two of them were, and why they were ignoring their duties. She only just withheld herself from rolling her eyes. These people, she thought, really needed to get their understanding of just how little she could care about what they felt were her and Damon's 'duties'.
Sighing, as she read an urgent text from Bonnie and a follow-up from Alaric, however, she knew that they had to get back to their roles in all this madness. If they, or rather she, could put a stop to Klaus Mikaelson and return Stefan to Elena, just perhaps they could finally be allowed to get on with their lives. She glanced up at Damon and saw him glaring at his phone still.
"Damon?" Jessa asked, curious about his ire. "What is it?"
"Why did I never notice how manipulative she sounds?" He asked, looking up at me and she realized then that the veil had dropped. Whatever hold Elena had held over him, whatever he'd seen when he saw Katherine, then her, was gone. "Honestly, she was always a bit whiny, but never this-"
He showed Jessa his phone and she saw what was always there when Elena texted or talked to him, the carefully phrased way she always made him feel like he had to redeem himself to her and the world. That in finding and returning Stefan, somehow he would take away from his years of misdeeds. All designed to manipulate him to do what she wanted with little question, just like the rest of her friends. Although, having watched her with them the day prior, those relationships looked healthier by far.
Jessa sighed, and took his hand. "I think that the final block of doppelganger curse? Whatever, hold it was, is gone." His fingers linked with hers, and he squeezed slightly, causing her to look back up to his face. The smile he gave her was breathtaking, and relieved.
"Really?" He asked, sounding hopeful and scared. "Maybe I'm just irritated that she's breaking into my time with you- what if I see her and-"
"I can't explain it," Jessa started, trying to show him her sincerity that she knew, "but, I could just tell when you looked at me, after reading that, it's gone."
He laughed then, a boyish sound that Jessa hadn't heard really since they were children. Pulling her to her feet, he hugged her, then started dancing her around the kitchen. Not a fast tempo, but a waltz, holding her close and running his hand through her loose hair. His relief and happiness was contagious and had Jessa laughing too. Then, he cupped her chin and turned her face up to his.
"You are a miracle, Jessa Warren." He said, leaning down and kissing her deeply. She could feel the burn starting and knew he felt it too, but this wasn't the time, not when their phones and a loud knocking accompanying the doorbell began.
His forehead paused against hers, and they both uttered an oath and glared at the phones.
"They've come for us, Damon." Jessa said, darkly laughing. She could hear them gathered on her porch, leaving voicemails for them, and alternatively ringing and knocking. "Holy-"
Before Damon could stop her or ask a question, she pulled away from him and headed for the door. She couldn't believe that the entire contingency of the meddling group was outside, unannounced and she truly wanted to see what her porch looked like holding them all. Not to mention that she could feel that Tyler was barely holding his rage at bay and, honestly, he needed to before Damon did something that the rest of the group would regret.
She felt Damon beside her when she got to the door. Jessa had to warn him about what they were about to unleash opening the door, and he needed to know about Tyler. She concentrated, and sent him the message, just like she had by accident the day before. His slight inhale told her it was delivered. Nodding slightly, and squaring her shoulders against the onslaught she knew was coming, she opened the door.
"Oh my God," Elena started right in, as soon as the door opened. "We thought something happened to you!" She rushed forward and hugged Jessa tight. Ignoring the obvious fact that, barring extreme torture that Damon mentioned yesterday, nothing could really happen to her to harm her permanently.
It was far likelier that the interlopers were, worried that their plans had been dashed. That she'd finally done what she'd threatened from her first day and hoped back on a plane and got the Hell away from Mystic Falls. Jessa wondered if they worried that she had taken Damon with her? Elena released her and the rest of the group rushed forward, Caroline and Tyler hanging back with Matt.
Jessa noticed a look shared by Alaric and Damon, and knew that Ric had caught the passage that gave them the freedom of the past day. Questions hung from that look, and she knew that they'd find time to slip away. The only adults present aside from herself, she suppose that was understandable. She'd give them the time, while babysitting the group. Shaking her head, Jessa invited Caroline inside, and stood back to allow her and the two tense males with her to cross the threshold.
"Welcome to my house," Jessa said, not offering refreshments. They'd interloped on her day, so she wasn't feeling like a good hostess. "Come along to the library. And we'll sit down and have the pow-wow that you're all dead set that has to happen now."
She let Damon know, silently that he and Alaric could take a moment, now or later. He smiled at her, and shook his head, putting it off for now. Good, because Jessa could tell that the pack was coiled tightly and that worried her more than she wanted to admit.
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER
"They're heading back," Jessa said, understanding their worry, but not understanding the urgency. They already knew they were heading back. "We knew this yesterday."
"No," Alaric said, causing her to glance at him. He'd taken a position by the bookshelves and allowed Elena and Bonnie to do the talking until now. "We knew they were coming back, yes. But not that they were so close. Stefan was leaving a path of destruction we could follow easily. Klaus clearly wanted the Ripper to be feared and noticed by supernaturals." He stepped away from the bookshelf and leaned down in front of her. "They're only a state away, Jessa. That's practically at the front door."
Suddenly she understood the urgency. Bonnie's eyes were determined, yet she wasn't sure that Jessa would be able to figure out the complexity of her powers by then. She could read that as clearly as any book on the library's shelves. Elena was terrified, but hopeful. In Jessa, she saw her path back to the man she loved. A stepping stone, but Jessa couldn't fault her for that. She grasped Damon's hand in her tighter. The rest were a mess of feelings, fear being high along with hope as well.
Jessa swallowed, hard. "OK, so we can't panic." She said, internally cheering that she sounded strong and sure. "Now that we know for sure that I can remove my mother's magic, we'll just have to make sure that I can remove the more difficult and complex ones." She could feel Caroline and Tyler tense.
Damon noticed too and shifted closer to her. "Now, now, kiddos, we're not talking about you two." He said, his tone light, but clearly trying to make sure they understood. Jessa took heart in his use of 'we'. "We'll just have to find a different wolf or vamp, that's all."
Jessa rolled her eyes, thinking this wouldn't be easier. "I have a few conditions to that, Damon." She said, looking around the room, understanding that they would all be working to help now. "Our guinea pig," her mouth turned down in distaste at the thought, "cannot be beyond the age of a regular human life would run. What I mean is," she swallowed again, "if it's a vampire, it has to be fresh."
Every eye snapped to her. She just said that she needed a newly created vampire, as though they fell from the trees daily. Jessa knew she needed to explain, so she did. "If I remove the part that made a person a vampire or werewolf, they can't be older than a regular human or mortal being would live, then the immortal essence that keeps them alive is gone. That means they're going to die."
"Won't any vampire die when you remove it?" Alaric asked, truly curious. "I mean they have to die to become one, right?"
"No," she said, thoughtfully. "I'm simply removing the part that returned them to life. It would be like when a human is resuscitated after a heart attack. You don't keep the paddles on them after their heart restarts, same thing here. My mother's gift reanimated the body. Vampires need human blood to live, yes, but they eat regular human food. They do everything that regular humans do, and honestly, aside from the vervain and allergy to sunlight, which could be considered side effects, they are human. The same is true of werewolves. Their lifespans are longer than regular humans, and for that reason, a young wolf would be better."
"That makes sense," Bonnie said, thinking, "If we used only a new vampire or werewolf, then the magic would be gone. They'd survive the ordeal, and in some cases I think be very thankful for the new gift you've given them, Jessa."
Jessa sighed, "I don't have a god complex, Bonnie. I just don't want to have anymore death on my hands than is necessary." She clutched Damon's hand. "I want this to work, but I want the collateral damage to me minimal. Damon and Stefan are both too far beyond normal mortal lifespan to be viable options for my take back of the magic. I cannot fumble in this, or Caroline and Tyler might get hurt as well."
Tyler looked up at her. "What if I want you to remove it?" He asked, somewhat shocking the room. "I didn't ask for this, Jessica. So what if I ask you to take it back?"
Jessa looked at him fully for the first time. Something she hadn't done out of respect for his sanity. She realized he meant it. He truly hated being a werewolf and wanted it gone. She knew this, and still had to say no.
"I'm not saying no completely, Tyler. I need to preface my comments with that, and I need to you see and hear that I'm being completely honest with you. Do you?" He nodded. "All of us are going to have a part to play when Klaus gets here, he's been attempting to make more hybrids and it's going badly for him. You are our only werewolf. And so, unless he brings one with him, I think you might be one of his targets for coming back."
He glared at her, but recognized that what she said made sense. "That being said, I will remove your gift, if you still want me to. I just want to do it in front of Klaus."
It was like the air got sucked from the room.