Damon glared at a tiny English cottage tucked deep within a forest. It was not that the ivy covered structure had done anything to offend the vampire personally. He had just convinced himself that it did not exist. He had nearly missed the turn off from the main road on the darkened highway. However, his headlights had struck an intricate carving in the tree that marked his destination at the last possible second. He recognized the image immediately because it was seared into his brain. He had stared at the image for hours every day while the Augustine Group kept him incarcerated. A small part of Damon wanted to speed away from the cottage and whatever secrets it might hold.
He groaned when Bonnie called his phone for what seemed like the millionth time. Damon had ignored each of her calls because he didn't have answers to any of the questions that she was sure to ask him. He knew that the girl was worried about him and she probably should be.
Tonight was supposed to be a simple search and destroy mission. The group had split the Whitmore campus into quadrants to make it easier to search them thoroughly. Stefan, Elodie, and Damon had each taken a quadrant. Meanwhile, Caroline had accompanied Matt and Jeremy to search the remaining area. They had decided the boys might need the vampire's help since they were hopelessly human. Damon had nearly given up hope when he discovered Enzo and another vampire imprisoned in a rarely used sub basement within Whitmore Hospital. Both vampires were in the early stages of desiccation because they had been denied blood. However, the black veins covering the entirety of the vampires' bodies were more worrisome. Something had obviously gone terribly wrong with the experiment because both vampires' eyes were a milky white color. The humans had found a way to blind the two men permanently.
He had planned to kill Enzo from the outset. However, seeing his friend in such a sorry state made it feel like more a mercy than a punishment. There was a look of utter relief on Enzo's face when Damon plunged a hand into his chest. Before he ripped out the man's heart, Enzo started whispering something urgently. It had taken a few seconds for him to understand the rushed words. When Enzo's deathbed confession began to sink in for Damon, he had gone through the seven stages of grief in a matter of seconds. Predictably, he had cycled back to the anger stage by the time he ended Enzo's suffering. He was seeing red when he finally crossed paths with his younger brother. Damon had snapped Stefan's neck to prevent himself from doing something more permanent.
Damon tried the cottage door and found that it was unlocked. He slowly pushed the door open but did not immediately see anyone in the darkened space. Damon cautiously crossed the threshold because he fully expected to be flung backwards. However, he was able to enter the home without any interference or an invitation from a human owner. His spine straightened further because he was beginning to believe the outlandish story Enzo told him in his last moments. Frankly, there was part of Damon that had believed him immediately. Yet some small portion of him had hoped that Enzo was lying out of spite. He did not want to believe that his brother would treat him with such cruelty.
Damon closed the door behind him and turned on a nearby lamp. He could smell burnt wood lingering in the air despite the absence of a fire in the fireplace. He immediately felt the residual heat from a recently extinguished fire when he approached the stone hearth. Damon closed his eyes and tried to detect a heartbeat in the small cottage. It did not take much effort to hear a heart beating steadily in a room down the hall. Damon began walking toward the bedroom to investigate but stopped short when he saw an eye bolt that had been screwed into the concrete slab beneath the wood floors. A thick chain connected to the eyebolt acted as a yellow brick road and led him to the beating heart.
The vampire stood in the doorway of the bedroom for several minutes. A little voice in Damon's head urged him to run in the other direction. If he opened this metaphorical door, he would not be able to close it again. However, there was another little voice in his head and this one sounded suspiciously like his judgy little witch. Her voice was telling him to save the girl even if Enzo had been lying to him about her identity. She did not deserve to starve to death now that her captor had died at his hands. Damon slowly inched into the room and studied the sleeping girl's face. She was pretty but he wasn't immediately struck by any sort of recognition. He stopped beside the bed and reached out to wake her.
He pulled his hand back with a soft groan. A strange man disturbing her sleep would probably terrify the girl. Damon wished that he had thought to bring Elodie on this little journey. However, he had been single-minded when he exited that building with Enzo's lifeless body draped over his shoulder. Damon rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. When he looked down again, a pair or hazel eyes were staring up at him.
Damon held his hands up in a placating gesture to keep the girl calm.
However, the girl seemed relatively sedate for having a stranger in her bedroom. She slowly sat up in the bed and asked, "Uncle Damon?"
The vampire's jaw dropped—literally. He hadn't known what to expect but that wasn't even on his top ten list. Damon blinked several times as if something would change the next time he opened his eyes. Yet no matter how many times he blinked, the girl was still staring at him with big hopeful eyes. Finally, he managed, "Excuse me?"
She swallowed thickly and asked, "You're Damon Salvatore, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. How did you know that? Have we met?"
The girl shook her head and explained, "Enzo showed me pictures of you and Uncle Stefan. My name is Sarah…Sarah Nelson. I'm your niece."
"I don't know what sort of game Enzo was playing with you but I don't have a niece. My brother is the only family that I have left," Damon said in a voice that lacked certainty.
He didn't believe the words flowing from his mouth. He knew that Enzo, and by extension, this girl were telling the truth. Damon also knew that he should be grateful that his brother had saved Zach and Gail's baby. He had always counted that act of depravity as the worst thing he had ever done. Killing Gail and her baby was one of the few things that Damon wished that he could go back in time to undo. However, he didn't know how to combat the bitterness slowly creeping into his still heart. Stefan could have told him the truth at any point but had instead allowed Damon to live with his guilt and self-loathing.
Sarah curled in on herself when Damon insisted that he did not have any family. She asked, "Where is Enzo? He hasn't been here in awhile. I was starting to think that he had forgotten about me out here."
Damon felt a pang of guilt and it only made him angrier. He stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his leather jacket. "Enzo was kidnapped by mad scientists and turned into a monster. I had to kill him."
The girl looked up at Damon to determine if his blithe explanation was the truth. She gave a little nod after she decided that he was being honest. Sarah curled in on herself even further. Enzo had been an unmitigated psychopath but at least he had a reason to keep her alive. She said, "Oh."
Damon rolled his eyes and decided that he was going to make a game of snapping Stefan's neck for the foreseeable future. He grabbed the metal cuff around the girl's ankle and snapped it easily. He said, "Get your stuff and let's go."
Sarah slowly climbed out of the bed wearing clothes that obviously belonged to Enzo. She asked, "Where are we going?"
"Don't worry. I am going taking you to your Uncle Stefan, darling. He can figure out what the hell to do with you. You have ten minutes to meet me outside at the car," he said over his shoulder as he walked out the room.
Damon walked through the cottage and shook his head. He didn't understand what Enzo had hoped to get from holding his niece hostage. Damon hadn't even known the girl had existed before tonight. He assumed it must have had something to do with Stefan. Enzo despised the younger Salvatore brother for some reason that was unfathomable to Damon. To be fair, he had never given it much thought because he didn't care. Enzo was his friend and Stefan was his brother. There was no law that said they needed to get along. However, Damon had made it clear that killing his brother was out of the question. If Stefan needed killing, Damon would be the one to handle it.
He climbed into the Camaro and slammed the door hard enough to shake the metal car. Damon frowned and lightly petted the door in apology. His baby hadn't done anything to deserve such rough treatment.
A few minutes later, Sarah emerged from the cottage with a duffel bag and a messenger bag. She climbed into the car and placed both bags on the floor near her feet. She murmured, "We should probably get going."
Damon eyes narrowed at her tone of voice. He looked towards the cottage and saw flames flickering through the window. Incredulously, he asked, "Did you set the house of fire?"
Sarah glanced at her uncle and said, "Yes."
He just stared at her for a few seconds before deciding that she was indeed his niece. Damon started the car and quickly sped away from the beginnings of a crime scene. He grabbed the steering wheel a little too tight as he drove them toward Mystic Falls. Taking Sarah home was probably a terrible idea considering they still had the Travelers and Originals to handle. However, his brain was too fried think of anything else. "When did Enzo kidnap you?"
Sarah pulled her eyes away from the window and glanced at Damon. He was tense and that made her nervous. She said, "He kidnapped me in September. I was supposed to be leaving the country for a little over twenty weeks to study abroad."
"Did you stay at the cottage the entire time?" he asked.
She said, "The first few days, I stayed at Enzo's house. The cottage wasn't ready yet. He had everything all planned out but I messed things up. He realized at the last minute that I was leaving for London two weeks early because I wanted time to explore. Then he moved me to the cottage."
Damon frowned and asked, "Did Enzo stay there with you?"
"Sometimes," she admitted. "But most of the time I was just out there alone. Once a week he compelled an older man to bring me food and supplies."
The vampire was glad that Enzo had told him where to find Sarah. Enzo's death would remove the compulsion from the human caretaker's mind. "Do you know why Enzo kidnapped you?"
She whispered, "He kidnapped me to get back at Uncle Stefan. He kept me alive because of you."
"What?" Damon asked.
"I don't know. He has some beef with Uncle Stefan. Sometimes when Enzo would get angry he would talk about how Uncle Stefan wasn't as good as he pretended to be. He has everyone fooled or something like that."
Damon could think of a couple reasons that Enzo would feel that way. However, he still didn't understand why his friend did not just expose Stefan immediately. Enzo had obviously been playing some sort of long game that Damon would need to piece together. He still needed to fill in the gaps of this story but he figured interrogating the young woman was not advisable. The girl was obviously traumatized and he was in surly mood.
She said, "You know I used to think Uncle Stefan was imaginary."
He glanced at the girl and snorted. "You thought Stefan was your imaginary friend?"
Sarah nodded. "He would just show up randomly to see me but no one else ever seemed to notice him. His visits became fewer as I got older. Then around the time that I was ten, he stopped visiting me altogether. But Enzo said that he still checked on me once a month. He just stayed out of sight. It's the reason that Enzo kidnapped me when I was preparing to study abroad. He didn't want Uncle Stefan to go looking for me yet."
Damon frowned because he could not decide which vampires' actions were making him angriest. His brother had not simply placed the girl up for adoption. He had been watching over her this entire time. He could understand Stefan hiding her existence in the immediate aftermath of Gail's death. Damon could even accept that he was not trustworthy when he returned to Mystic Falls a few years ago. However, Damon had believed that he had reached a relatively healthy place in his relationship with Stefan.
"I'm sorry that Enzo kidnapped you. He was a friend, or at least I thought that he was my friend. I'm finding out that he was a little more unhinged than I remembered him being," Damon confessed.
Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "He would have killed me if you weren't his friend so…way to go befriending that psychopath."
Damon lifted an eyebrow at her response and said, "…thanks?"
She shrugged her shoulders again and went back to looking out the window.
When Damon pulled up to the boarding house, he was glad to see his brother's car. He climbed out the car and motioned for the girl to follow him.
Sara picked up her bags and followed Damon into the large old home.
Stefan marched into the foyer ready to give Damon a piece of his mind. Caroline was right on his heels because she was ready to read Damon the riot act, too. Stefan said, "Why did you…"
Sarah peered around the brunette vampire's shoulder and said, "Hi, Uncle Stefan."
The vampire's jaw dropped from the sheer shock. His eyes darted to Damon's fearfully. "I can explain, Damon."
However, Damon had closed the distance between them in a flash. He snapped Stefan's neck again and then flashed a self-satisfied smile.
Sarah stood there gaping at Stefan's lifeless body. The casual display of violence was unnerving.
Damon looked over his shoulder at the girl. "Don't worry. He will wake up soon enough. It is one of the best benefits of being a member of the undead. In the meantime, Caroline here is going to find a room for you upstairs."
Caroline knew about Sarah. She had even accompanied Stefan on a few road trips to Duke University. She beckoned the girl forward. "Come with me."
Sarah blinked rapidly for a moment. Then she cautiously stepped over Stefan's body and followed Caroline upstairs.
Damon grabbed one of his brother's arms and dragged him into the living room. Then he went to find the nearest bottle of bourbon. He needed a drink. No scratch that, he needed many drinks. He also needed to snap his brother's neck maybe a dozen more times. Damon scrubbed a hand over his face as he walked into the kitchen.
He pulled out a bottle of bourbon and a glass. Damon looked at both for a second before deciding to drink from the bottle. Damon brought the bottle to his lips and didn't lower it until he had chugged half of it. He placed the bottle on the counter and stared as if it had some mystical secrets. Unfortunately, the only person capable of giving him answers was unconscious. He wasn't looking forward to his brother's answer because it would be inadequate. Either Stefan would give a fumbling excuse that would insult Damon's intelligence or he would answer truthfully and break Damon's heart. Frankly, he was legitimately in a no win situation. It was in that moment that he decided to take the win. He had returned Sarah to her uncle. Stefan would make sure that the girl received whatever one needed after being held hostage by a maniac.
Damon grabbed a couple bottles of bourbon and trudged upstairs to his bedroom. He placed the bottles on his bed and then he took a bag from his closet. Damon made quick work of packing some clothes and his bottles of bourbon. Then he made his exit as quietly as possible. He didn't want to snap Caroline's neck but he would if she got in his way. Judging by her complete lack of surprise, Caroline had known about Sarah, too. He didn't want to hear an explanation from anyone but his brother.
He was nearly at his car when out of nowhere he was thrown up against the house's brick façade. Damon was in pain but he was more annoyed by the sound of glass shattering. Three completely innocent bottles of bourbon had just been murdered. Damon shouldn't have been surprised to find an Original staring at him. However, he wouldn't have wagered on it being Rebekah. He growled, "To what do I owe the honor, Barbie Klaus?"
She wrapped a hand around Damon's throat and asked, "Where is the Bennett witch?"
Damon deadpanned, "You're brother is holding her hostage in his gaudy mansion."
Rebekah tightened her grip on his throat considerably. "I am no mood for your poor attempt at humor, Damon. Where is the shorter more annoying Bennett witch?"
He didn't even bother fighting against Rebekah. It would just be a waste of his energy. He said, "Your idea is as good as mine. She didn't trust her location with any of us since Klaus compelled Caroline for information on his baby mama."
Rebekah suddenly stopped talking when someone's hand landed on her arm. She was about the fling the person off her but something was wrong. She felt her body growing weaker by the second.
Elodie placed a second hand on Rebekah and continued draining the very magic that created the Originals. She was practically humming with the power she absorbed.
The blonde Original shook off her initial shock and released Damon. She spun around and moved to attack Elodie.
The siphoner witch swung her arm to one side and sent Rebekah flying into the side of Stefan's car. She pulled her hand back and used her magic to slam Rebekah into the car again. She was supercharged for the moment because of the power she had siphoned from Rebekah.
Damon grabbed Elodie and sped them into the house before Rebekah had time to recover. He slammed the door shut.
Elodie glared at him. "What are you doing? We could have used her as leverage!"
"The Originals are like roaches, Elodie. Where there is one, more are sure to follow. It's a full moon and neither of us can afford to get bitten by the Original douchebag himself," he replied.
Elodie wasn't worried about Klaus biting them. Werewolf venom was a type of magic and she could siphon it if they were infected. However, the threat of Elijah suddenly appearing was a definite cause for concern. "What did you do to piss her off?" she asked.
"Nothing!" he declared emphatically.
She looked at him skeptically. "Did you sleep with her?"
Damon huffed and said, "Well, of course I slept with Rebekah. She is hot, emotionally damaged, unstable, and a really bad decision. It is as if she was shining my bat signal, but that isn't the reason she was trying to choke me out tonight. She was here looking for information on your little witchy niece."
Elodie tensed at the mention of Bonnie. She was certain that the wards she had helped the girl place around the farm were secure. However, wards meant nothing if the Originals had a hostage to use as leverage. Bonnie might be tempted to come out of hiding if one of her friends were in danger. "So much for Klaus and Lucy getting along," she complained.
"When were they getting along? He knocked her out and took her hostage," Damon deadpanned.
"Bonnie said that Lucy called her this afternoon. She made it seem as if Lucy and Klaus had come to some sort of truce. She even told Bonnie to hold off on any daring rescues," she explained.
Suddenly, there was a thump at the front door. "Open the bloody door, Damon!"
Elodie rolled her eyes. "Your girlfriend is awake."
Damon rolled his eyes as well. "If Klaus and Lucy have a truce, then he didn't bother filling in his sister."
"That just means I can move ahead with my plan to get Lucy out of that house. If Klaus can't control his siblings, then my niece is not safe there."
"He usually daggers them when they are getting out of hand," Damon offered with a shrug of his shoulders.