Chapter Seven
Rebecca was miserable. Ever since the day of the dance Damon had changed. He'd become less attentive to her; he started spending more and more time with Katherine. She wondered if he'd spent time with her the first time around. Either way, something was wrong. Damon was unflinchingly loyal and he wouldn't just wake up one morning and stop caring about her. Damon was still nice to her, but they weren't intimate.
She didn't mean physically - they hadn't gone that far yet and if he was losing interest, she was glad they hadn't. She laughed and smiled and pretended everything was fine when she saw Damon and Katherine together. She pretended it didn't hurt to see him acting like a love sick idiot over another girl.
Rebecca was sitting on the porch, reading a book, when someone sat beside her. Katherine's handmaid.
"Miss, may I please have a moment of your time?"
"Certainly. Please, call me Rebecca. What's your name?"
"Emily Bennett, Miss."
Bennett? As in Bonnie and Sheila Bennett?
Emily then made the most unusual request. "May I touch your hand?"
"Um . . . Okay." Rebecca grinned. "You a fortune teller or something?"
"Or something."
Rebecca handed Emily her hand and Emily embraced it in both hands. Emily didn't space out like Bonnie did but Rebecca could tell Emily was trying to see something.
"You're a witch," Rebecca said, not yanking her hand back.
"And you are a vampire slayer. Not from this time period."
Rebecca felt a surge of hope. "Can you send me back?" If she couldn't be with Damon then she had no reason to stay here.
"No. You know that. The spell has to do whatever it is your witch cast it for."
My witch, Rebecca thought. It wasn't like she owned Sheila. Besides, Sheila hadn't done the spell, she had. Unwittingly, of course.
"You know what Katherine is yet she's still walking around," Emily said.
"I haven't heard of anybody dying."
"Katherine knows how to blend in and be safe."
After that last statement Emily strolled off the porch and away from Rebecca.
Rebecca had taken to patrolling the area around Veritas. It wasn't so much that she didn't trust the vampires here, it was just that there we so many of them and she wanted to know what they were up to. It was nighttime now and she had snuck out of the house quite easily. Along with strength she'd also seemed to pick up the gift of stealth; she was quiet as a mouse.
Once in town - she knew she probably shouldn't have strayed that far - she tried to keep herself focused but there were people everywhere. Didn't people go to sleep early here? Or weren't they supposed to? People back in the day were supposed to be early-to-bed-early-to-rise type people. It would've been easier for her if that were true.
She ran into Pearl, Annabelle, and Harper, the last of which seemed strangely attached to Pearl. She exchanged pleasantries and went on her way. Then she came across Damon, who was coming out of a tavern; he wasn't drunk or anything so that was a plus. She wished she could tell him that the woman he'd been hanging around lately was a vampire, but he'd probably laugh in her face.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked, seemingly surprised to see her.
"Walking?" Innocent enough, right?
"Peculiar time for a walk."
Rebecca shrugged. "I guess. I have nothing else to do. My closest friend abandoned me." She glared at him pointedly.
Damon looked as if she had struck him. "I didn't. That's not what I'm doing."
"That's what it feels like. I mean, one minute you say that nothing will change the way you feel about me, and the next you're gallivanting around with Katherine. Like you're flaunting the fact that you're done with me."
"I . . ." His brow furrowed. "It's hard to explain, but I can't help it. I feel like I have to."
"What? You can't help it? You have to. What does that mean?"
Was he just making excuses?
"I don't know. Just that when I'm around her I have to do the things I do."
And just like that, it clicked. Katherine was compelling Damon for some reason. Boredom, maybe? But whatever it was, Katherine was making Damon infatuated with the wrong girl. Rebecca felt stupid for not thinking of compulsion before.
She was going to have to do something, something that would hopefully be non-violent. Maybe she could tell Katherine how important Damon was to her and that would be that. She'd have to do it soon because she hated not being able to spend time with Damon; he was the only reason she hadn't gone completely insane.
"Come along, Miss Rebecca. Let's get you home."
Home? Yes. Home was with him, wherever that was.
Back at Veritas Damon walked Rebecca back to her room and she appreciated it, but she waited until he was completely out of sight and then she went to the room next to hers; Katherine's room. She knocked first because she could ask nicely; she could be civil about this. At first.
Katherine opened the door and just like every other time Rebecca had seen her she had to stop and stare for a moment. She looked just like Elena.
"Yes?" Katherine asked.
"I want to talk to you."
"It's late," Katherine said.
"I'm aware. Let me in," Rebecca demanded. "Or I could tell everyone you're a you-know-what and they can deal with you. I'm sure Mr. Salvatore would be delighted to know his oldest son is spending time with you."
Katherine allowed Rebecca in. Rebecca felt a little bit smug knowing she had the upper hand at the moment.
"You know what I am," Katherine deduced.
Rebecca was surprised that Emily hadn't told Katherine about her. Or that Damon hadn't.
"I do. I also know how to kill you." Rebecca was surprised that she'd said that; she wasn't usually so confrontational. "Leave Damon alone."
"I'm not hurting him," Katherine said, her lips curling upward. "He's quite happy. And satisfied."
Oh, God, Damon had slept with her. Or Katherine was insinuating that they had been together in that way.
"Maybe. But you are taking away his freedom of choice and that's wrong. Find somebody else to play with."
Rebecca walked out of the room with the feeling that she'd made things a lot worse. What if she'd unwittingly endangered Damon's life? Katherine could easily hurt him or worse just to prove a point. That Rebecca did not have the upper hand.
The next morning Rebecca found herself knocking on Giuseppe's study door.
"Yes?"
She assumed that meant she could enter so she stepped inside. Giuseppe was sitting behind his desk writing in a leather bound book. A journal, maybe?
"Mr. Salvatore, I'd like to speak with you. Here. Privately."
"Certainly. Have a seat."
"I'd rather stand, thank you." She started pacing the length of the room. "I know a lot about vampires. I don't want to have anything to do with killing them, but I can tell you what to do, their weaknesses."
"Any of your input would be very welcome, Miss Stone."
"Okay. First and foremost, vampires need blood to survive, but I think the vampires in this town are feeding on animal blood, or at the very least . . . They're not killing when they feed. It's blood, if they don't drink, they'll starve. I can't fault them for wanting to survive."
"That's quite a soft way of thinking," Giuseppe insulted.
"If you don't like it, I can leave. Let you figure all this out on your own," she shot back.
Giuseppe looked like he wanted to tell her off for speaking to him that way, but he didn't.
"Proceed," was all he said.
"Vampires have a way of controlling you. It's called compulsion. They get into your mind, make you do what they want. But you can stop it with an herb called vervain. I don't know how or why, but if it's in you or on you a vampire can't control you. You can drink it or wear it."
She grabbed at the cross at her neck; she hadn't taken it off since Sheila had given it to her.
"My necklace has liquid vervain in it, so I can't be compelled."
Onto the next topic . . .
"Vampires look human. Only when they feed do they show who they really are - or if they lose control, but that's a different story altogether. They don't have to kill when they feed, but some choose to. Others feed and then erase the memory of the victim having been attacked. I've seen it happen. It doesn't make it right, but the victim is left alive and relatively okay. Weak the next day, but alive."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly; she was about to lie a little - or omit a truth really.
"Vampires are nocturnal by nature."
The only reason Rebecca said that was because she didn't want to say anything that would endanger Stefan and Damon from the future, and telling about the Lapis Lazuli stone being able to protect them would definitely endanger them. She was assuming, of course, that she hadn't already messed up their futures.
"When a vampire walks in the sunlight, they will burn. Fire, beheading, stake to the heart. They will die and stay dead. It will get the job done. Oh, and vervain can make vampires weak if it gets in their system. I suggest you start ingesting it. In case you're attacked. You need to find a way to obtain some."
"The servants already grow it, for the fragrance."
"Well, good. Start using it. The vampires may be closer than you think."
Rebecca's little talk with Katherine hadn't made things better at all. Now instead of Damon just spending time with Katherine, he was claiming he loved her. Apparently, Giuseppe hadn't gotten the vervain yet or if he had, Damon hadn't been dosed with it yet.
So Rebecca was pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place. She couldn't help Damon by killing Katherine because if Rebecca killed Katherine while Damon was under the impression that he loved her, he would hate Rebecca forever. Katherine had made Damon forget his love for Rebecca and had made him loyal to her. And the bitch was that Rebecca couldn't do anything about it, not without hurting Damon and she didn't want to do that.
Of course, Katherine knew that and she was using it against her. It seemed she held all the cards right now.
Elena and Katherine may have looked alike, but Katherine was the complete opposite of Elena. Elena cared about others; Katherine was all about number one, which to her was herself. Katherine was an evil-bitch-monster-of-death. That was Rebecca's name for Katherine now.
Katherine had begun playing with both brothers - she was even feeding from Stefan; Rebecca hadn't seen any bite marks, but she knew the signs. Stefan had become pale and weak - he seemed exhausted all the time.
Worse than that, though, was she'd found out that while she'd been 'minding her own business' Katherine and maybe some of the other vampires had been turning the citizens of the surrounding towns. People hadn't been going missing, really, because they were still there. They weren't alive anymore, they were undead.
"Miss Stone?"
Giuseppe knocked on her door and cracked it open enough for him to speak to her.
"Yes, Mr. Salvatore?"
"Get dressed. I'm heading to a meeting and you're coming with me. Since you've told me all you know the town's people have formed a council. The Lockwood's, the Forbes', the Gilbert's, my family, the Fells'."
"Then shouldn't Stefan and Damon be going?"
"Stefan isn't looking well, and my other good-for-nothing -"
"Don't talk about him like that," Rebecca cut him off. "Just because he doesn't follow you blindly doesn't make him a bad person. Or a bad son."
Giuseppe stepped inside the room. "He's insolent and -"
"He does what he wants and you can't stand it. You're overbearing and you treat him harshly -"
Giuseppe then swung his fist at her - reflex reaction probably - and she was too shocked to respond quickly enough to stop him.
"I've had about enough of your back talking!"
"Father?"
Damon had entered the room just as Rebecca's head snapped to the side from the force of Giuseppe's strike. Damon looked indignant and concerned.
"What kind of man are you that strikes a lady? She's a guest in our house and you treat her like this?"
Giuseppe didn't even acknowledge Damon's presence. He only turned to Rebecca and said, "I'll be waiting downstairs."
"Hold your breath until I get there," Rebecca seethed.
As Giuseppe left Damon came further into the room and stopped in front of her. He tilted her chin up to examine the damage; Rebecca knew her bottom lip had been spilt, she'd felt the sting as it had happened.
Damon wiped the blood away with his thumb and she could tell by the tenderness he was showing her that, even though Katherine was controlling him, he could still feel some of what he had before. Katherine could compel him to think he didn't love her anymore, but she couldn't compel his heart to believe the same. It felt so good knowing that that her heart almost burst with joy.
"Are you alright?" he asked, leading her to the bed and making her sit. "I didn't mean to intrude, but I heard voices and I heard what you said. You . . . defended me and I saw what Father did. He's a bastard, anyway.
"I'm fine."
Damon walked over to her wash basin - it always had fresh water in it, thanks to Tabitha - and wet a cloth, which he then placed on her lip. The water was cold enough to keep her lip from swelling.
"He shouldn't have laid a hand on you."
"No, he shouldn't have," Rebecca agreed.
"Why didn't you stop him? You could have."
She smiled softly and shrugged. "I was surprised. I didn't expect him to do that."
She noticed Damon was doing that thing where he examined her expressions.
"What?"
"I don't know why, but I had this urgent need to . . . comfort you," Damon sort of blurted out.
Her smile grew wider even though it sort of hurt to smile. "Maybe you're fond of me." Then more seriously, she added, "And I defended you because it's true. That's how I feel. You being with Katherine doesn't change that. As long as I'm here, I'll be here for you."
"Thank you," he almost whispered, a small but sincere smile gracing his lips. She obviously still got to him.
Rebecca reached up to touch his cheek briefly and then sighed knowing she was probably getting ready to say the wrong thing.
"Look, this isn't going to make any sense to you right now, but . . . I know you still feel something for me or you wouldn't be here. Don't you . . . remember anything about us? We were better together than you and Katherine. You deserve better than her. Please . . ."
As Damon sat there on the bed with her, listening to her talk about him, he couldn't help but wonder what she was talking about. He knew they had a history, but that was done, wasn't it? Katherine had taken her place - very easily if Damon was being honest with himself; too easily. Damon could see he had hurt Rebecca and he hadn't meant to. He had a feeling by doing that he had hurt himself too, or had deprived himself of something good.
"You're been spending a lot of time with Katherine," she said softly, sadly. "But so has Stefan. You realize she's playing with you both?"
"She is . . . undecided about what she wants," Damon defended, much like he would have defended Rebecca not too long ago.
"Hm."
Damon bit his lip, feeling quite undecided himself at the moment. "I owe you an apology. When you told me about who you are I couldn't believe you."
"And now?" she asked, breath catching in her throat.
"Now, given who I have been spending time with . . . I see you were right."
"You mean you know about Katherine? She told you?"
"Yes. She also told me that you know. How did you find out?"
"Her necklace." Rebecca sounded hesitant; that was the first time she'd ever hesitated to tell him anything. Damon didn't like it. He liked when he was able to talk to her about anything, when she could talk to him about anything.
"And I have a built-in detector; I can feel when vampires are around." She bit her lip. "You know I would never do anything to hurt you, right? So . . . As long as you love her I won't tell. I couldn't hurt you like that."
It may have been a weakness to think that way, but she couldn't help it. Her feelings were getting ready to make her offer something she really didn't want to offer.
"Your father and some of the other townspeople have gotten together. They have meetings that your father wants me to go to. I can . . . keep up with what they're doing, how far they're getting. I can warn you if they get close to the truth. If you want me to."
"Why would you do that?"
She grabbed his hand and he let her lace their fingers together. He seemed to be entranced even though she couldn't compel anyone. Then she admitted something to him that she hadn't before.
"Because I love you, Damon. No matter what Katherine makes you think, I love you."
She felt his hand jerk in hers, but he wasn't trying to get away. It was as if he'd been shocked that she'd said that.
His eyes were softening, almost like they used to do when he would look at her. It made her smile then she let his hand go.
"I need to go to that inane meeting. I'll talk to you in the morning?"
Damon nodded. "Thank you. I won't forget this."
"I know you won't," Rebecca said. "Which is why I don't mind doing this."
She then kissed him on the cheek but kept it friendly. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable.
Rebecca decided to play nice with Giuseppe, though if he ever hit her again she wouldn't just let him get away with it. He hadn't seen ornery from her yet. No matter what time period she was in, women didn't deserve to be hit by men.
Giuseppe and Rebecca got in a carriage that had been set up by a stable boy. They didn't talk at all, which she was completely content with. She wasn't very fond of Giuseppe; she wondered if he ever hit Damon.
The first time he spoke, he said, "Here we are."
Here was an old mansion on the other side of town. The mansion was falling apart; she hoped it didn't collapse while she was inside.
"This is the Gilbert mansion," Giuseppe explained. "He inherited it from his father."
Rebecca didn't really care, but she didn't want to get into it with him again. She followed him obediently - since that was his favorite word - up the steps.
A man, small in stature, opened the door. He had a head and face full of dark hair.
"Ah, you must be Miss Stone," the man said, offering her his hand. "Jonathan Gilbert. Please come in."
Rebecca went in, wondering what exactly Giuseppe had been telling the council.
"You shouldn't invite just anyone into your house, Mr. Gilbert. Vampires can't get in without an invitation. If either Mr. Salvatore or myself had been turned you would probably be dead now."
Jonathan's face went pale and she shook her head, almost amused.
"I'm not a vampire, promise. You are completely safe."
Jonathan then led her and Giuseppe to a study/library type room. Sheriff Forbes, Mayor Lockwood, and Honoria Fell were there. Rebecca understood Jonathan, Giuseppe, the Sheriff, and the Mayor, but . . . Honoria Fell? Wasn't she just a dressmaker? Maybe she was standing in for her husband, assuming she had one.
Giuseppe introduced her properly even though she'd spoken briefly to each of them at least once before. As they were all introduced, they began sitting down, all of them, on wooden chairs. Rebecca felt so out of place in that room, so young around this group of old people. They were acting stuffy and, amusingly enough, dead.
"Let's begin," Giuseppe said.
Jonathan, who was seated behind a desk, began riffling through papers and suddenly drew tools and other odds and ends out of the drawers in the desk.
"Fire," Giuseppe said. "Fire kills them as does beheading and a stake to the heart. There are herbs that can protect us. Vervain."
"Vervain?" Honoria asked.
"If you wear it, it will protect you," Rebecca said. She then explained it as she had to Giuseppe that it could be ingested as well as worn. It would weaken vampires if it got in their system.
"You're telling me that a flower will protect me?" Mayor Lockwood asked skeptically.
"It's an herb," Rebecca said, irritated by the mostly male energy in the room. "Wear it, don't wear it. Ingest it, don't ingest it. I don't really care, but I'm telling you the truth."
"We can discuss vervain later," Jonathan Gilbert said. "Honoria and Rebecca can assure we have a steady supply. But there are other ways to find the vampires."
All eyes fell on Jonathan as he spread a paper out over his desk. There was a complicated drawing on said paper of . . . compass parts?
"A compass?"
"Yes," Jonathan said excitedly. "But instead of finding north, it finds vampires."
"It'll work?" Giuseppe asked skeptically; Rebecca couldn't blame him for that one.
"It will."
"Hm. Here's what I propose then. Vervain. Mr. Gilbert, make sure the compass works and we make a plan. By month's end our town will be safe."
Once outside Rebecca told Giuseppe that she'd walk home. She used the excuse of patrolling when, in reality, she just wanted to be alone.
So far all she knew was that by the end of November, the town would find a way to get rid of all the vampires or they would die trying.
As Rebecca walked she found herself missing her I-pod. That was one material thing she missed from her time period - her music; so much better in her world.
She missed her dad in a weird way. Her dad was overbearing too, but at least he'd never hit her. She missed Jeremy and his little brother ways. She missed Elena, who was so much different than her look-alike. She missed Bonnie, who was sweet and caring. She even missed obnoxious Caroline.
She missed Chelsea and the complete innocence one could feel just from looking at her. She even missed taking care of her; Rebecca had taken it upon herself to be the girl's mom since she didn't have one.
Rebecca had held these things back in her subconscious for so long - Damon had helped - but now that they had dredged themselves up she couldn't push them back down. She had tried so hard to pretend she could make it here, but the truth was this wasn't her world. She wanted to go home; she just didn't know how to go about doing that. She wanted to take Damon with her even though she had one in her time period already. But the one from her world was completely different from 1864 Damon. She didn't really know him and she wasn't exactly sure how he felt about her. Sure, they got along okay, but she didn't know how much of that was an act and how much was real.
Then suddenly someone lifted her and threw her against a tree. Ow. She hadn't been paying attention and now she was paying for it. Her back hit the solid tree and she fell to the ground and landed on her knees. A guy with black hair and a beard had attacked her.
She recognized him as Fredrick.
"You know it's not safe out here at night," he said, his tone mocking. "Especially for a slayer like yourself."
How did he know what she was? It wasn't like she wore a Slayer jacket or anything like that.
"I've been around a while," he said, obviously sensing her confusion. "I've met a few of your kind."
"Oh?" Rebecca stood up and grabbed the first branch thick enough to use as a stake. "Did you know it's rude to sneak up on people?"
He didn't say anything; he just moved so fast it was almost a blur and grabbed her by the throat and began choking her. For a split second she panicked. Then she grabbed his hand and twisted until he let go. That's when she realized . . . She was stronger than him. He seemed shocked by that fact.
"Fredrick, leave the girl alone," a commanding voice said from the shadows of the trees. "Let me handle it."
About ten other vampires stepped out of the darkness, two of which were Pearl and her daughter Annabelle. The others looked familiar, but she didn't know their names.
"Miss Stone, I'm going to try to convince Katherine that we should leave." Pearl said. "I realize she's taken something from you - or more precisely, someone - I'll try to get her to give him back."
"You don't know what it's like for us," Annabelle said. "People notice when we don't grow older. I like it here. I don't want to be sent away."
She didn't have to worry about being sent away, if the council had its way all the vampires would soon die.
"The animal attacks?" Rebecca asked.
"We need blood to live; we don't need it from humans. We can get it from animals. Some of us have less self-control than others."
Pearl looked pointedly at Fredrick.
"Now we are all being hunted. Just this afternoon Giuseppe Salvatore brought a vervain concoction to the apothecary. I know you told him about the vervain and I know you had a good reason. But people are going to start buying it now, which means they will start using it."
"Vervain is the least of your problems," Rebecca said. She didn't have a problem with Pearl or Annabelle or any of the others - aside from Katherine and now Fredrick. "The council is planning on rounding up all the vampires by the end of the month. Trust me, it would be in your best interest to leave as soon as possible."
Rebecca threw down her stake and turned to walk away. "We're done here," she said over her shoulder.
A little over a week later the town had its very first Founder's Ball. Rebecca didn't want to go; she really wasn't interested in those types of things. She knew that Giuseppe, his sons, and Katherine were going; Katherine was going with Stefan, which left Damon alone, sadly. So . . . That was how she found herself at the Founder's Ball watching Damon wish he were at the dance with Katherine.
Rebecca couldn't stay long. She had other, more pressing matters to attend to, but for now . . . she was at the original Lockwood mansion.
After the first waltz was over she took Damon's hand and led him away from the dance floor.
"Okay. This is a last ditch effort." Before Damon could comment on her terrible language, she continued. "I'm going to say something that you might not want to hear. You're . . . you need to snap out of it. Katherine is using a form of mind compulsion on you and it's making you miserable. You are wasting your time on someone who doesn't even see what a good thing she has."
"Mind compulsion?" Damon shook his head. "No, that's not possible."
"Really? Then you forgot about me all on your own? I mean that little to you?" That was all she had to hold onto. The fact that Katherine couldn't erase feelings. Memories, yes; feelings, no. They were still there even if Damon didn't remember why.
When Damon didn't say anything Rebecca just shook her head. There was no reasoning with someone who was being compelled.
"Okay, well . . . I can't say I didn't try. I'm going to go for a walk and then I'm going to go home."
"You shouldn't walk back alone. It isn't safe."
"Then come with me," she whispered. "Forget about Katherine for a few hours."
Damon sighed but let a small smile through anyway. "As you wish."
The walk home was quiet, peaceful and comfortable. Rebecca noticed Damon did his best to fulfill her wish. He dropped her off at her room, kissed her goodnight on the cheek in a friendly way, and she watched as he went to his own room.
After Rebecca was sure the house was empty save for the servants and Damon she snuck into Giuseppe's study. She'd told anyone who'd asked that she was looking for a book. Good excuse because the study was also the library.
Once inside she left the door unlocked; nothing said suspicious like locking a door once you got inside a room. The study was musty and hot even though it was the second week of November. She tried not to move anything much so that when Giuseppe returned he wouldn't know she'd been there. There was a leather bound book, which she took for a journal and found she was right when she opened it.
It was the same book he'd been writing in when she'd spoken to him that one time.
She didn't read much; she didn't care enough to. But she saw enough to know that her name was mentioned more than once and it made her laugh when she was called 'willful and insolent'. It was also hinted that the rest of the council members kept journals too. She needed to get her hands on those, see if she'd been written about. People in the future could not know she had poofed back into the past somehow.
Another thing she was interested in was the fact that Giuseppe knew about Emily being a witch. Emily Bennett; she was going to do something to help the council find the vampires. She was putting herself at risk to help the townspeople.
Putting the journal back in place, she moved on to the other things on the desk. A drawn out map of the town on the desk showed the places the council suspected vampires were residing. The apothecary was one of them.
Pearl and Annabelle. Rebecca felt a jolt of sympathy for Annabelle, who had been turned when she was so young she'd never have a chance at any kind of normal life. She would never be able to stay more than a few years in one place at any given time.
Then she went back to the journal to see what the map was about. The council was planning to catch all the vampires and take them to a church nearby. Fells Church. They were going to burn them to death. It would happen on the last day of November.
Okay, here's another chapter done! As you can see I've changed it to where Damon was being compelled the whole time. Katherine is using Damon as a means to make sure Rebecca behaves because Katherine wouldn't understand that if she'd left Becca alone, Becca would've probably left her alone.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Thanks in advance, LOL. :)