Chapter Forty-Six
"Howdy, partner."
That was John. Damon have been avoiding him since he'd agreed to work with him the day before. Now John was at his door, just walking in like he owned the place.
"You haven't returned any of my calls," John said casually.
"Most people would take that as a hint," Damon responded, his eyes following John, as he closed the door.
"Where do we start looking for vampires?" John was now in the parlor, looking around.
"Why the act, John? I mean, you obviously don't care about catching vampires. You're here talking to me."
"Actually, I care very much," John said, looking at Damon now.
Damon heard movement upstairs but didn't show it outwardly. What followed was a few mumbled words from Rebecca to Sarah, telling the younger girl to stay upstairs. Someone semi-dangerous was downstairs.
Then Rebecca was coming downstairs with Chelsea on her hip.
"Hello, John," she said.
John didn't look surprised to see her there. "Rebecca."
"You were saying something?" Rebecca asked innocently. She was being smart. Neither she nor Damon wanted John to know she'd been turned. Until they found out if he was really only there for the tombed vampires then he was definitely someone they would consider a threat. That meant she couldn't act like she'd heard anything that had been said.
"What does Isobel say about your little prejudice?" Damon asked. "Seeing as she is a vampire?"
"Isobel and I share a . . . mutual interest," John said very carefully. "The original Jonathan Gilbert had an invention that was stolen by a vampire. That vampire was then captured and burned in Fell's Church, or so Jonathan though, and the invention was lost forever."
"Hm." Damon made no other comment than that.
"But then . . . the vampires weren't killed, were they?" John was walking on thin ice here. "They were trapped."
"You already played the tomb-vampires card, John. Get on with it," Rebecca said. "What is it that you want?"
"I already told you what I wanted from you, Ms. Stone. Now, thanks to you and your friends . . ." He made it very clear what his opinion of her friends was. "The vampires are free and the invention I just mentioned is retrievable."
"Well, what is it?" Damon asked.
"The thing that matters is I want it back. And you're going to help me if you want your secret safe," John said nonchalantly.
"Why bring me into it, John? I mean, I don't even know what you're talking about, much less who has it," Damon said, appealing to common sense for once.
"Oh, come on, Damon. You were around back then. You know who these people are, what they look like." John paused to let Damon reassess the situation, and then . . . "He was friendly with a woman who turned out to be a vampire. Her name was Pearl. Does that ring a bell?"
Rebecca saw the change come over Damon almost instantly. John was digging for information and Damon was through with whatever game John was playing.
"I'm not playing anymore," Damon said. "Get out." Damon began walking to the door to show the unwanted guest out. "Get out."
"I beg your pardon. I'll tell the entire council what you are," John said.
It turned out Damon responded to threats just as well as Rebeca, only Damon was better at getting his point across.
"Go for it. I'll kill every last one of them, and then I'll sever your hand, pull your ring off and I'll kill you too. Do you understand that?" His eyes had become electric and wild, which meant he meant what he was saying and that John needed to be careful.
As it was John didn't seem to know what to say to Damon's threat, which, to Rebecca, meant that John didn't have as much leverage as he'd previously thought.
"I believe you've outgrown your welcome here, John," Rebecca said, seeing as to how Damon was still at the door waiting for the man to leave.
After John was gone Damon calmed down relatively fast; it proved John was only an annoyance right now. John's threat of telling the council had been cancelled out by Damon's almost-promise to kill them if John said anything. Rebecca didn't know if John was stupid enough to try Damon's patience further by carrying out his threat.
Damon had to meet Elena at the high school to rehearse some dance that he could've taught her himself in about two minutes.
He hadn't wanted to leave Rebecca alone so soon after John had left, but he and Elena had a deal - a deal was a deal. Hence meeting Elena in the high school cafeteria with the other participants and their escorts.
Mrs. Lockwood was the one teaching the dance and they had been through it twice already.
"Honor your partner," Carol instructed.
Damon bowed; Elena curtsied.
Damon remembered vividly that when he'd met Rebecca she'd curtsied too - mockingly - and he'd found it amusing.
"Let's focus," Carol said. "Right hand around. Flirt with your eyes."
Both Damon and Elena did as they were told. Damon noticed Elena was grinning. He saw nothing funny about this situation, so as they circled each other, only near-touching, he asked what she was thinking about.
"This is ridiculous," Elena said, almost giggling, as they began circling again, only this time it was "left had around."
"You're only saying that because you don't know how to do it," Damon said, now circling with "both hands around."
"Sorry only one of us was around when the dance was invented," Elena snarked without any really malice in her voice. Elena's eyes softened and so did her tone. "Thank you for doing this . . . whatever the reason may have been for doing it."
Damon wasn't used to being thanked by Elena so he shrugged it off like it was no big deal. She'd probably go back to hating him - or at the very least, only tolerating him - after this. She'd find something else to complain about.
The Fell cousins don't have a shot, Caroline's voice suddenly reached Damon's ears; she was right outside in the hallway - she was late. Amber Bradley is only on the court so the pageant doesn't look like it's founding families only, which it is. So that leaves Elena, and she totally has the sympathy vote since her parents died. How can I compete with that?
Very nice, very sensitive. And that was Bonnie - or as Damon now called her, Judge-y.
Oh, I'm sorry, Caroline said. This must sound completely unimportant in light of everything.
It's okay. I get it. You wanna win.
My grandmother was Miss Mystic and both of my aunts. My mom is the only one who didn't get the gene, and I want this. And I actually deserve this.
And then they were in the cafeteria and Elena stopped dancing.
"Bonnie, hey."
Bonnie and Caroline did a double-take when they saw that Elena wasn't with Stefan - and that Damon was the one she was with.
"I begged Bonnie to fill in for Matt," Caroline said. "He had to work today."
Caroline's obvious attempt to lure Elena into explaining herself worked like a charm.
"Damon's here because Stefan's sick. We're not sure how long it'll take him to recover, so . . ." Elena looked at Bonnie. "Do you have a minute?"
"We only have 30 minutes for rehearsal."
"Well, if you had bothered to show up on time . . ." Damon said, and he got a glare from the witch.
"It'll only take a minute," Elena said. "Please."
Bonnie relented and Elena followed her out, leaving Caroline alone with Damon. Neither said much, though Damon did mention that Rebecca still wasn't feeling like herself yet, and the late birthday party would have to wait.
Bonnie, you have to tell me what's wrong.
Damon felt no guilt in eavesdropping; he had to occupy himself somehow. Plus, he wanted to know what the witch's problem was, too.
It's not worth talking about.
What d'you mean, not worth it? You've barely said 10 words to me, and you won't even look at Damon. Is that what it is? Is it Damon?
Nothing was said for about fifteen seconds, and in those seconds Damon tried to think of something he had done to piss the witch off, but he hadn't done anything to her. In this he was innocent, so whatever the problem was . . . it couldn't have been him.
Listen, Elena, I can't just pretend like everything is okay, Bonnie said. Everything my Grams did was to protect us from those vampires in the tomb. And now they're out, which means she died for nothing.
I'm sorry, Bonnie. What can I do to make it better?
That's just it, Bonnie said. There's nothing you can do. I blame him, Elena. Him and Stefan, and I'm not gonna put you in a position where you have to choose sides. I'm just having a hard time with it. Okay?
And why do you blame Rebecca? Elena asked. You blame Stefan and Damon because they would've been stuck there, but what do you blame Rebecca for?
Grams died that night, Elena. Rebecca was the one who got us into that mess. She's the one who chose to help Anna instead of stopping her. Then Grams had to do that spell because -
"How quickly you forget that Rebecca almost died that night too," Damon said. He'd heard enough and had chosen to interrupt. "She almost died saving you if I recall correctly. Your Grams knew what she was doing when she gave the borrowed energy to you."
Damon understood now. The witch was blaming everyone but herself. The tombed vampires, Rebecca, him. When really she knew she'd been a full participant in the spell. She'd been for getting him and Stefan out of the tomb too. Yes, she'd done it for Rebecca and Elena, but she'd agreed with it. And he didn't like Bonnie insulting Rebecca when she wasn't around to defend herself.
Elena didn't even get mad at him for telling Bonnie that she was acting . . . well, like a bitch. Maybe Elena was only uptight around Stefan; he did have a tendency to suck the fun out of any given situation.
Damon ended up at the Grill after the rehearsal had ended; not much had changed since the first Miss Mystic pageant. there was a small dinner and then the participants and their escorts were announced. Then came the dance. The dance would be held that Friday and until then Damon decided to stay at least semi-drunk.
Ric was at the bar, too, so Damon decided to mosey on over and annoy to his heart's content.
"Hello, Ric," he said, making himself comfortable on the stool next to the teacher. "Every time I see you, you're drinking. Maybe you should seek professional help?"
"Damon." Ric nodded. "Now my day is complete."
Ric was drinking straight vodka, which probably meant Ric wanted to get hammered.
"Feel like some company or you wanna drink alone?"
"Nobody wants to drink alone. Force of habit."
"Hm." Damon ordered bourbon and told the bartender to leave the bottle. "So, why the drowning of the sorrows?"
"Oh, I don't know, Damon," Ric said sarcastically. "I have a step-daughter who is seventeen, who I just found out about. Isobel gave her up and never mentioned her. My wife, who I at one time thought was dead, turned out to not be dead, and now I'm here in Mystic Falls having a drink with the one who caused all this, all these problems in my life."
"Pretty sure I'm not responsible for the step daughter bit," Damon said, though Ric was half-drunk already so it went right over the teacher's head.
"Why are you drinking?" Ric asked.
"Why am I not drinking?" Damon muttered. Damon didn't open up, though, until he was half-drunk himself. Then he told about Stefan being locked up and Rebecca being turned and not being so happy about it and him feeling lousy because she was unhappy.
"Well, if you're so worried about her, why're you here drinking with me?"
Damon thought that answer was obvious. He was worried, but he didn't want to see Rebecca unhappy - and mostly he didn't want her to see him drunk because of her. But . . . Ric had a point. Damon was hiding away at the bar while Rebecca, the woman he loved, was at home suffering. He was taking the coward's way out and he wasn't a coward. So that was what decided him. He'd wasted time drinking when he should've been home helping Rebecca feel batter, adjust.
I can be such an ass sometimes, he scolded himself as he left the Grill.
Rebecca wasn't happy with Damon when she found out why he'd been gone so long. She'd been stuck in the house all day and Damon had been going out drinking when he should've been keeping her company. She'd been okay with Elena borrowing Damon for the Miss Mystic thing because she knew Damon would behave, and Elena needed an escort; it had been important to Elena's mother and Rebecca wasn't going to be the cause of her missing it. But Damon was not supposed to have been going out drinking with Ric. He wasn't supposed to leave her at home with Stefan down in the cellar.
She was still mad at him and she wasn't sorry for attacking him, but that didn't mean she wanted to do it again. Her biting him had just been payback. He'd bitten her; she'd bitten him. They were even now - for now. She might've even killed Stefan had Damon not dragged her away from him. But death to a vampire wasn't permanent unless one used a definitive method - stake to the heart, fire, beheading, so on and so forth. Stefan would've woken up shortly after the attack; he'd have been weak and disoriented, but he'd have been fine.
Whatever, the point she wanted to make was that she didn't want to be alone right now. She usually wasn't a clingy girlfriend and she didn't want to be one now, but she felt better when he was with her. She was sorry if it was an inconvenience to him that she needed taking care of at the moment, but she did need him now and she knew he knew that and that was why she was mad. He'd done it knowing she had wanted him with her. He'd been selfish for a moment, he'd had a moment of weakness. He'd made a mistake and she was good at forgiving mistakes, especially when it came to Damon.
Besides, she didn't want to argue, not now when her emotions could get the best of her. And she really didn't want to see who would win a fight if it came down to her or Damon.
Damon did seem apologetic even if he didn't apologize out loud, so . . . that was that.
"What are we going to do about John?" she asked to change the subject. "I know we can't just kill him."
Damon had told her already that if anything happened to John, the council would find out about Damon and Stefan.
So . . .
"I don't know, play it by ear."
Rebecca nodded. "We already know about the pocket watch, which Stefan gave to Elena, so it can't be that. What else did Jonathan Gilbert invent back then?"
"Well . . . until you told me about the compass I didn't know his inventions worked, so . . . But he was a crazy scientist."
"But you weren't lying when you told John that you didn't know what it was?"
"No, I wasn't lying about that." Damon shrugged. "First thing's first; we need to find out what it is."
"Well, I can call Anna and she can ask Pearl." It was a shame that Rebecca hadn't known about the invention before because she could've asked Anna before instead of them having to wait. Aside from Stefan Anna, Pearl, and Harper, were the only other vampires still in Mystic Falls that had been around in 1864. Jonathan Gilbert had been infatuated with Pearl until he'd found out that she was a vampire, then he'd helped capture her and would've killed her had the tomb not been available. Some infatuation.
That night Rebecca made a visit to another one of her friends; Jeremy. Elena was at the boardinghouse with Damon, so Rebecca thought that now would be a perfect time to see Jeremy. Elena couldn't interfere.
Rebecca got an invitation from Jenna and went up to Jeremy's room. He seemed surprised to see her there since it was so late.
"Yeah, well, I have something I need to tell you and it isn't something I wanted to say over the phone."
"Okay."
Jeremy led her to the bed and they both sat down.
"The night of the Founder's party, after you left my house, I was attacked . . ."
"Well, are you okay? You seem fine," he said, looking her over, sort of like Elena had. "Was it a . . . vampire?"
"It was," Rebecca answered. "It was bad and Damon had to save me."
"Save you how? What d'you mean?"
"I died that night, Jer. I'm a vampire now."
Jeremy looked like he was wondering whether or not she was joking.
"That's why I haven't been around to see you and haven't called. I couldn't come out during the day and I didn't know how to tell you without us being face to face."
Jeremy's puppy eyes fell to the necklace around Rebecca's neck - the one Damon had given her, the one that had contained vervain for her when she'd been human; the one that had a lapis lazuli stone embedded for her now that she was a vampire.
"Doesn't that let you get around when the sun is out?"
Rebecca hadn't told him that part - she hadn't thought it important - so how did he know?
"Did Anna tell you that?"
"No," Jeremy said guiltily. "Elena's diary told me that."
"Jer! You read her diary? That's -"
"Before you go on about the invasion of her privacy, I read a bit about Elena asking Damon to erase my memories of what happened to Vicki. You forgot to mention that part when you were explaining everything, huh?"
"Jer, I - I told Elena not to do that. I never wanted you to forget. I'm sorry."
Rebecca didn't know why she was apologizing. She hadn't done anything wrong; she'd been against Jeremy losing his memories from the second Elena had suggested it. Jeremy couldn't be mad at her for something she hadn't done.
"I know you didn't agree with it. Elena had a lot to say about that. She didn't trust you alone with me for quite a while after that."
"Yeah, I - I remember."
Rebecca inhaled and then held her breath. She'd suddenly gotten a big whiff of Jeremy's scent. The window was open and the air made the scent flow around the room. She hadn't fed before she'd come and it was coming back to haunt her.
"What's the matter?" Jeremy asked, concerned.
"Nothing. I'm still new, that's all." And he smelled really good. "I, uh, I need to leave. I don't want to risk hurting you; I just wanted you to know since I knew Elena wouldn't tell you."
"Right. She would just lie. That's all she does is lie."
Rebecca was going to mention that Jeremy was being unfair, but then she remembered she'd thought that too back when Jeremy had had his memories taken away. She hadn't liked all the secrecy then and she didn't like it now, but she understood it more now than she had then.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "that she lied to you and that you had to read her diary to find out about your memories. But I'm getting hungry, so I really need to go. I don't have control of myself yet."
"Well, you haven't attacked me."
"Yet," she said, half joking and half serious. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure . . . You're . . . you're not going to tell Elena about me reading her diary, are you?"
"No, Jer, I wouldn't do that. I kept Elena's secret from you, so it's only fair that I keep yours from her. But you should tell her some time, hear her out before you actually get mad at her."
As against it as she had been . . . Rebecca knew now that Elena had only asked Damon to alter Jeremy's memories because she loved him; she hadn't wanted him to be hurt.
Rebecca left the Gilbert residence feeling uneasy and happy at the same time. Uneasy because of the fallout that would eventually come from Jeremy having read Elena's diary and learned everything pertaining to him and all the vampires. But she was happy because Jeremy hadn't made a big deal about her dying and becoming a vampire. To Jeremy, Rebecca was just going through another stage in her life. She was still her.
Best of all, Jeremy was still her friend.
Back at the boarding house, Damon was talking to Elena about Stefan's blood addiction.
"A month ago I would've rejoiced, but with the council back on alert it is not a good time for Stefan to be flying off the handle. He has a fridge of stolen blood-bank contraband in the house.
"Oh, my God," Elena said.
"Stefan doesn't know what normal is; his entire existence isn't normal." Vampires were supposed to drink from humans, not animals; it wasn't natural. "Normal for a vampire is drinking human blood. He's spent all this time fighting it, when he should've been learning to control it. And now it's controlling him instead."
"Is that why he attacked Rebecca?" Elena asked.
What had started this whole conversation was Elena asking him why the blood changed Stefan so much. So Damon had told her.
"He's Stefan on human blood, Elena. He'll do anything; he'll say anything, because he's not gonna wanna stop. Trust me."
"Then this is all my fault. I'm the one who forced him to drink my blood in the first place." Elena brought her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. "Rebecca told me not to do it, and I didn't listen, and now . . ."
Damon hadn't explained everything to Elena just for her to feel bad about it. But Elena was good at making everything about her; everything that happened was always twisted around in Elena's mind until it was her fault. No one else made it where she was to blame, that was all on Elena.
"You saved his life, Elena. You'd do the same thing again if you had to."
The road to hell was paved with good intentions. And now they were keeping Stefan all vervained up until the human blood got out of his system.
When Rebecca got home, she played with Chelsea for a bit - after she had fed properly, or course. Since they were to be living with Damon and Stefan, Rebecca thought long and hard about what they were going to do about Chelsea when she got old enough to repeat everything back to other people. Chelsea would be a gold mine of information when she got older. Chelsea would be in danger if she ever fell into the wrong hands.
So all that thinking about giving it a try had been for nothing, and she was going to have to do what was best for Chelsea, which was . . . do whatever it took to keep her safe. Even if it meant giving her up.
Even if it meant telling Damon they had to give her up.
So . . . after Chelsea was put to bed, and after Elena had settled into Stefan's room for the night, Rebecca told Damon exactly what she'd been thinking about. Damon was not happy about the conversation even coming up, so that meant Damon became distant with her, like she'd thought he would.
He pretended like he didn't care. He said, "Whatever, she's your sister."
"Don't do that. You love her, too. And you know I'm right about this. She'd be in danger if anyone ever wanted to get to me or you. And the only reason I'm talking to you about this is because you're part of her life. You have a say in it. If -"
"Well, who's gonna take care of her?" Damon demanded. "Not your dad."
Rebecca knew where Damon was coming from on this. Giuseppe had never really approved of Damon, had never really cared about him the way a father should. Damon didn't want that happening to Chelsea. He'd compelled Robert to care for Rebecca because he hadn't agreed with Robert's parenting skills.
"You could stop supplying vervain for a few days and we could compel him to take care of her. He doesn't have to love her, but he will take care of her." But even as she said that last bit, her whole being was protesting. Their grandparents were in California - they would love Chelsea and that was where Robert wanted to go, but, God, it was too far away.
Damon seemed to have to think about it because he didn't answer right away. Rebecca grabbed his hands and waited for him to look her way.
"Please, Damon. I mean, if you have a better idea, please, I'm all ears. I don't want to give her away any more than you do, but I can't let her grow up like this, either. She needs at least a semi-normal life. She can't have that with us."
"I don't care!" Damon said, looking into Rebecca's green eyes that were brimming with tears. Rebecca didn't want to give Chelsea up anymore than he did. She was only looking at for her sister. But he wasn't willing to just let Chelsea go, not when he'd actually accepted her as his own.
"I don't care," he repeated softly. "We're not sending her to California. We can't keep her safe if she's not here. Sending her away is the last resort. She's a child, and she's attached to us. Her having a normal existence doesn't compete with growing up with people who care about her.
"You said I have a say in this, so . . . I'm not letting you send her away. We'll take care of her together, here, and we'll make sure she stays safe. I promise you."
"Yeah, but what if -"
Damon did something he hadn't done in a very long time. He kissed her to shut her up. He knew she was worried about Chelsea getting hurt if she stayed here, but the truth was that if somebody wanted to get to Chelsea bad enough, it wouldn't matter where in the world she was. They would find her.
So keeping her close was the smartest option.
Okay, as you can see, Damon and Rebecca have a difference in opinion on how to keep Chelsea safe. Anyway. . . let me know what you think. I can go either way with Chelsea. I know a bunch of options for if she stays and I know a bunch of options for if they send her to California.
Let me know what you think about it!