Chapter Fifty-Two
Considering how long it had taken for Damon to find Rebecca, and considering he hadn't heard anything about Chelsea, he was not in a good mood when he reached Chase.
Rebecca had obviously bitten Chase to strengthen herself enough to get away. And then, before running, she'd snapped Chase's neck - Damon proudly thought that he'd taught her that.
Chase had lost a lot of blood. It made it easier to restrain him. Damon didn't even want to know why Isobel had had chains here, but she had, and that was what he was using.
Now he had to wait for Chase to wake up.
Rebecca made it to the boardinghouse in record time. She'd been planning to go straight to the basement, but she stood in the doorway of the parlor. John was there . . . with Chelsea. Had he been the one who'd had her this whole time? Well . . . Chase had admitted to working with John, so . . .
"Oh, you are walking on very dangerous ground, Mr. Gilbert. Give me my sister."
Rebecca, ignoring the fact that she had blood on her chin and down her neck, stepped toward the light-haired Gilbert.
"Before I hand her over, I need your word that no harm will come to me by doing so."
"As long as no harm has come to my sister . . . I won't hurt you."
"She's been safe. Chase . . . will be dealt with. He's not a good partner. He's a liability."
"If you knew he was coming for me . . . wh - why didn't you tell me or Damon?"
"I assumed Damon would take care of the problem whether he knew Chase was after you or not."
"Well . . . Damon is taking care of it as we speak."
John handed Chelsea over, and Rebecca brought her to her chest.
"You took a risk coming here. How did you know you'd run into me instead of Damon?"
"I didn't. But I did know where you were. I figured that was leverage enough for him not to kill me."
"If Chase took Chelsea, why would he give her to you?"
John shook his head. "He wasn't going to, but I told him he couldn't hurt her. She's just a baby, a child."
So there was a line John wouldn't cross; that was good to know.
"You were bringing her back. To Damon or to whoever would be here when you got here."
"Yes. And assuming it was Damon, I would've told him where you were."
Rebecca, having way too many thoughts in her mind already, couldn't bring herself to care about why John would be helping them out. She knew he'd have a reason if she asked, but he'd probably lie about it too. She didn't have time for whatever he had to say.
"Thank you for bringing Chelsea back safely. Now leave."
She didn't wait to see if he actually left; she was desperately hungry and she needed to feed. Usually she wouldn't let Chelsea see her feed from a blood bag, but she needed the elixir badly enough that she didn't care what her sister saw, and she wasn't leaving Chelsea alone so soon. Not until she was sure no one else was coming for her.
Meanwhile, Damon had tied Chase up in a way in which Chase's shoulders would stay dislocated. Damon knew from experience how bad that hurt. Damon had no way of contacting anyone because he'd given Rebecca his phone. He didn't know where hers was. Whatever. If they couldn't find it, he'd get her a new one.
Chase wasn't cooperating. He was talking, just not about the right things. All he got from Chase was that Chelsea was supposedly safe.
"You know, I never realized how silky Rebecca's skin was until tonight," Chase taunted.
"I'm going to break every single one of your fingers if you don't be careful."
"You gonna kill me anyway. What do I care?"
"Yes, I am gonna kill you," Damon said. "I can drag it out painfully, or I can make it quick. And exactly how quick it's going to be depends on what exactly you did to Rebecca."
"Just scared her a little. No big deal."
Damon followed through on his threat and casually began breaking Chase's fingers one by one. By the third snap Chase was screaming almost nonstop.
Damon didn't need any switch to not care what was happening to Chase. Damon's mind kept going back to Rebecca's state of undress and he couldn't help but leap to the logical conclusion. Rebecca wouldn't have undressed herself, so . . .
Damon leaned in close to Chase's ear. "You know, in the middle east . . . when a man assaults a woman they actually castrate him. I wonder how long you'd stay alive if that happened to you."
Chase stopped breathing for a moment and Damon smirked. Chase was officially afraid of him, and fear was a powerful weapon.
"I hope, for your sake, that that's not what happened . . ."
Rebecca had called Stefan after she'd showered and changed to tell him to come home. She needed someone to watch Chelsea . . . someone who could actually defend her, protect her if someone came back for her.
When Stefan got there she explained the Sarah situation.
"We can't just leave her upstairs to rot, so I'm taking her in Damon's car to burn her. I think. We can't have another Vicki incident. I'm gonna go get Damon first, but I need to know that I can trust you with Chelsea. So if you're feeling any urges whatsoever you need to be honest with me."
"I'm fine," Stefan said.
"Uh-huh . . . the same kind of 'fine' you were before you killed me or, uh, really fine."
"Really fine. I won't hurt her," Stefan said firmly.
Rebecca nodded. "Okay." She hesitated before continuing. "I have to ask you something. That night you left and went to the quarry . . . Would you have killed yourself if Elena hadn't shown up?"
"That night . . . all I could think about were the people I've hurt and that you were one of them. I ruined everything that Damon and I had fixed in a moment of blind passion or hunger or whatever you want to call it."
"Yes, you did," Rebecca said bluntly. "Even then . . . if you had killed yourself, you wouldn't have been hurting anybody but the people you would've left behind. Damon, Elena . . . me. After being so mean to you, I would've hated myself for a long time if you had died."
"It hurts me, knowing what I've done, and that pain - that pain is with me all the time. And every day, I think that if I just - if I just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop. It would be that easy. And I'm terrified that one day I'm not gonna wanna fight anymore. The next time I hurt somebody it could be Elena."
Stefan had tears in his eyes and his voice was beginning to waver.
"Stefan . . ."
Rebecca couldn't believe it, but she was actually beginning to feel sorry for him. She understood the need for blood now. She had no idea what fresh human blood tasted like so she didn't know how she'd be if she ever had any, but she knew what it was like to be desperately hungry.
"Just watch her for me. Okay?"
"Okay."
Rebecca, praying she wasn't making a mistake by leaving her sister with Stefan, reluctantly went to the bedroom Sarah was in. Taking in the scene with all her senses really jarred her. Before, she hadn't really been able to care about Sarah being dead; she'd been too worried about finding Chelsea. But now . . . now she cared a lot.
Sarah hadn't asked to become a vampire, but given the choice . . . she'd picked it over dying; the girl hadn't wanted to die, and yet . . . here she was. Rebecca chose to believe that Sarah would've died to protect Chelsea, had died protecting Chelsea. Rebecca also chose to believe Sarah was better off dead. Maybe Sarah had been okay with it right then, before she'd been killed, but eventually the young girl would've hated being a vampire. She would've hated growing older but never maturing. Death was a better fate for her.
Rebecca gently pulled the stake out and winced at the small squish that sounded from the sharp wood being removed. She picked Sarah up, cradle style, and walked out of the room.
"So . . . what exactly happened between you and Rebecca?" Damon mused out loud. He sounded almost casual. "Do you get to keep your bits, or don't you?"
"Look, I told you where Chelsea is. So just go ahead and kill me; it's what you want."
It was true. Chase had finally told him what he'd done with Chelsea. John Gilbert had her. That idiot was so dead. He'd been in on the whole thing; he'd even helped kill Sarah, and he'd let Chase kidnap Rebecca so he could have his way with her.
That's what Chase had wanted.
Before Damon could continue his physical torture of the vampire tied to the chair, he heard a car pull into the driveway. No one but Rebecca knew he was there. Maybe John had come to pay Chase a visit.
Two birds, one stone.
He smirked at the bound vampire. "Don't go anywhere."
He made it to the front door and when he opened it . . . he was surprised to see his blue Camero parked in the front drive. Rebecca was hopping out of the driver's seat. What was she doing back here?
"Hey," he said. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "I had no way to get in touch with you. I got Chelsea back. Well, actually, John was waiting with her back at the boardinghouse. He, uh . . . I don't think he agreed with what Chase was doing. He was going to give her back and tell you where I was. The last part is only so you wouldn't kill him, I think. He doesn't care what happens to me anymore, if he ever did."
"So . . . she's safe?" Damon asked carefully.
"Stefan's watching her. He won't hurt her." Rebecca looked over Damon's shoulder, into the house. "Is he dead yet?"
"No." Her grabbed her hand. "I need to know . . . what he did to you. Before I kill him."
Rebecca shook her head and Damon thought that meant she wasn't going to talk about it.
"He told me some things and I'll explain later - everything. Now, I just want him dead. All you need to know right now is that he wanted to, but he didn't. So whatever you've done, it's enough. Just kill him so we can take him and burn him. We've gotta take care of Sarah too."
"Right." Damon had almost forgotten. "You're safe and Chelsea's safe. Guess we don't need him alive anymore."
Damon was going to take great pleasure in killing Chase.
While Damon was taking care of Chase, Rebecca kept going over everything she'd learned. All the things that had happened to her, every attempt made to kill her, had been because of Katherine Pierce. Like Damon had said . . . someone had been making her their prey. And the predator had been Katherine.
Katherine didn't have Damon to use against her anymore, so she'd let Chase use Chelsea. That bitch! But she'd also learned that Katherine was afraid of her. She wouldn't face Rebecca herself. All Rebecca knew was that John had okay-ed the whole thing; it didn't matter how it had ended - he'd helped set the thing in motion. John had to be dealt with; they needed to find a way to get rid of him. A way that wouldn't expose them. They needed to get rid of his files and information about Mystic Falls and the more-than-human citizens.
Rebecca thought she knew exactly how to pull it off. She just needed to be alone before trying it out.
Oh, God. I'm thinking about murdering someone, she thought. This can't be me.
But it was her now. The need to kill - or the urge - was there all the time. Sometimes it was stronger than others, but it was always there.
"Damon, kill him and let's go," she said. "We have things to do."
Inside, Damon heard her and unchained the now dead body from the chair. He lifted Chase over his shoulder and went outside. Rebecca seemed strung a little tight and Damon wasn't going to press yet.
Rebecca was sitting on the porch looking very resigned about something when he got outside.
"You ready?" he asked.
She didn't nod or speak; she just hopped up and walked back to the car.
By the time Damon and Rebecca got home, Rebecca was exhausted. She'd cried on the way home from burning Sarah. Rebecca couldn't care less about Chase being dead. He'd kidnapped her and had planned on doing gross and obscene things to her. But Sarah? Sarah shouldn't have died that way.
The first thing Rebecca did when she stepped inside the house was go to Stefan and grab Chelsea. Chelsea was fine, not fussing. No harm had come to her from Chase, John, or Stefan.
"Thank you," she told Stefan. "Really."
"No problem."
She stumbled up the stairs toward her and Damon's room. She knew Damon was silently following behind. When they reached the room Rebecca laid on the bed with Chelsea in her arms.
Damon could see something was wrong other than the obvious, so he laid down behind Rebecca and spooned, wrapping an arm around her. Rebecca's back was stiff from being put through an emotional wringer. He heard her start sniffling and Damon felt something clench in his chest. He didn't know what she was feeling, and she wasn't talking on her own. He didn't know whether he should ask or just let her speak in her own time.
"I don't understand what's wrong, I don't know how to help you," Damon admitted out loud. "Tell me what you want me to do." There was a pleading to his voice that Damon didn't use with anyone else. He didn't care as much about anyone else.
"We almost lost Chelsea today," she whispered.
Damon watched Rebecca slide a hand over her sister's stomach. Rebecca's hand was trembling; in fact, her whole body was.
"And John was in on it, and . . ." Rebecca sighed. "I learned a lot from Chase. That every attempt that's been made to kill me has been because of Katherine."
Damon subconsciously pulled Rebecca closer. Katherine wanted Rebecca dead. Chase had been working with John, John had been working with Isobel, and Isobel knew Katherine. Everything had come full circle.
"Is she here?" Damon asked, and felt a shrug come from the girl he was holding.
"Chase said he thinks she's scared of me. She won't face me alone."
"Well, you are bad-ass," Damon said lightly, trying to making her feel better.
"Doesn't matter. If Katherine's gonna come for me, she's going to use the people I love to do it. And I want John dead." Rebecca stiffened again. "And I'm gonna be the one to do it. I know a way to make it safe for us."
"Ah . . ."
Rebecca, along with a happy but tired Chelsea, turned over so Damon could see them both. It was awful seeing Rebecca so torn up about something. Her eyes were red and her skin was becoming blotchy.
It wasn't until Chelsea was asleep that Rebecca was able to take Chelsea to her room, and she didn't really want to separate for that. Damon was waiting at the doorway when she came back. He opened his arms and she almost collapsed against him. He pulled her close to him, close enough to feel her breasts against his chest. His hand went to her hair and his fingers played through it.
Damon realized his own body was shaking with the need to protect her from the words she had said. When she looked up he saw the tears and knew that even though her crying had been silent . . . her pain was very real.
Rebecca tilted her mouth just so and moved to kiss him. It was a soft kiss, but it was also one that easily became full of passion. She moved on to Damon's neck and sucked and bit lovingly at it.
In her distress, she began fumbling with his belt and the zipper on his jeans. She groaned impatiently and Damon grabbed her hands, stopping her actions. Then Damon was kissing her. He picked her up and carried her over to the bed. They both fell to the bed. He only stopped kissing her long enough to pull her shirt over her head.
He noticed that she didn't have a bra on and realized Chase must've taken it off of her. He began making love to her breasts with his hands. When his mouth followed he looked up at her through half-lidded eyes. She was no longer crying. He felt her hands beginning to tug at his shirt and he helped her remove it. Her mouth felt soft and sweet when she attached her lips to his chest.
Damon heard a small whimper spill from her lips. That was when Damon realized she wasn't doing this because she wanted it; she needed this. She was practically writhing underneath him. Damon stopped, lifted himself off of her, and sank beside her. He watched as she began removing her pants. Not long after that he was as bare as she was and on top of her again, her hand at his achingly hard member, guiding him toward her entrance.
She cried out when he sheathed himself inside her. She pulled him closer and latched her mouth onto his. Her hips slammed up to meet his and she moaned.
Damon froze; it hadn't been a good moan.
"Don't stop," she whispered in his ear. "Please, just . . ."
Rebecca was using him, Damon realized. She wasn't even enjoying this - she wasn't even wet; he'd realized that when he'd pushed his way into her. She wanted him to hurt her. Well, she was sadly mistaken if she thought he was going to go along with that.
He began to pull out of her but she wrapped her legs around him and held him in place.
"Damon, please. I -"
Rebecca seemed to want to be in control because she shifted to flip them over so she could be on top. She braced herself on his chest and set an almost punishing pace for herself, and for him because he didn't want Rebecca this way - he never wanted to do this for selfish reasons, not with her. And it shouldn't be about pain, but that's what this was - she was trying to hurt herself.
The first time they were together that night . . . they weren't making love; they were fucking, plain and simple, and she was almost brutal in everything she did. It was because she'd been introduced to the murderer, the predator, within herself.
And this . . . this was worse than Damon because Damon's little escapades weren't usually premeditated. He usually just snapped and killed someone because it made sense at the time. This was worse than Stefan, even, because Stefan couldn't control himself. He didn't mean to go crazy; he just did.
But Rebecca was in complete control. She knew John wouldn't hesitate to use Chelsea again. He might not have come up with the plan to use her this time, but he now knew it worked like a charm; he knew how much of a weakness Chelsea was for both her and Damon. John wouldn't leave it alone. He had to be taken care of.
A few minutes after Rebecca had pulled away from Damon she realized exactly what she'd done to him. She'd basically forced herself on him. She was just as bad a Chase! He'd wanted to stop and she hadn't let him. She hadn't let him because she'd needed to feel him there even if it hurt. She'd wanted to be hurt. She'd decided on becoming a killer and so she deserved to be punished.
She looked him over and realized he hadn't enjoyed anything she'd done. He hadn't even let himself come. The worst thing was that Damon didn't even look mad. He looked worried . . . about her.
"Oh, Damon, I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling tears sting her eyes. "I don't know what - what happened, I just . . ."
"You used me," Damon said. Rebecca felt worse than ever now because Damon's voice held disbelief. He hadn't thought she would ever do anything like that and she had let him down. "You used me to hurt yourself."
"I know." Rebecca didn't know what to say other than that.
Suddenly Damon was on top of her again and had her hands held above her head. He was staring intently into her eyes like he was trying to compel her.
"Never do that again."
Then instead of leaving or, more likely, tossing her out - which she would've completely understood - he began to kiss her jawline tenderly.
The second time they were together they were making love. Damon set the pace this time. It was what she had wanted. To be made love to. She hadn't known but he had, that only him showing how much he loved her would help. She needed to know someone cared about her because she didn't much care for herself just then.
Damon exploded inside of her, but didn't make a move to get off of her. He wasn't heavy on her; it was almost protective - like he wanted to be a shield for her, wanted to keep all bad things in the world away from her because he loved her that much. Damon dropped little butterfly kisses over her cheeks and lips and neck. Damon had noticed that Rebecca had responded more when he'd been tender rather than when she'd been rough and fast. That was how he'd known that, whether she'd acknowledged it or not, she'd needed to be made love to.
"Can you really make it safe for us to kill John?" Damon asked as he moved off of her. "If you can do that, I can take care of the rest."
Rebecca shook her head against his chest. "Thank you, but no. Chelsea is my sister, so I have to be the one to do it."
Things were silent for a moment and then Rebecca kissed Damon's chest and said, "You trust me on this, right? Than I can sort everything out to where no harm will come to us."
"I trust that you wouldn't be contemplating this unless you were certain, yes."
"Good. Then please don't ask me about it until it's done. I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"
"Sure," Damon said softly.
Rebecca was focused on her new mission, which was making sure John died. What she had to do was get rid of John's files on Mystic Falls first. Rebecca was working on that now.
She had called Diana, her ex-Watcher, and she was now at the Grill meeting with her. Diana had been surprised to hear from Rebecca. One: Diana had betrayed Rebecca and, in so doing, had almost gotten her killed. Two: Diana had known Rebecca had been killed. A new Slayer had been called, so . . . Diana knew Rebecca was a vampire now.
Rebecca hadn't told Damon that Diana was back in town; it stood to reason that Diana wouldn't last long at all if he knew the Watcher was meeting with Rebecca.
When the gray-haired woman arrived and sat down Rebecca could tell how nervous she was. Maybe the woman thought Rebecca would hurt her.
"Why did you want to meet me here?"
"It's a public place. I thought you'd feel safer." Rebecca shrugged. "And I wanted to know you wouldn't try anything. A lot of things you've done has resulted in my near-death, and now I am dead, so . . . I need your help. I need someone who can cut through the metaphorical red tape."
This was the part Rebecca didn't know how Diana would react to. Yes, things that Diana had done, things she shouldn't have ever done, had resulted in Rebecca getting hurt. But that had been because of Diana's job. This was her asking Diana to be an accomplice to murder.
"There's a man here named John Gilbert; you may or may not have heard of him. He's causing problems for me and for Damon. He's . . . he has certain files and records that could do even more damage if he chose to use them. Information about me and the Salvatore's,' and as if that isn't bad enough, he's not above using Chelsea to get to me."
Diana looked confused. "What exactly are you asking me to do?"
"I need you to find a way to get rid of the files. I don't want that hanging over my head."
"You want him dead," Diana surmised.
Rebecca shrugged uncomfortably. "I can't do my job if he's here. I don't want to kill him. If you have a way to get rid of him that won't result in his death, fine . . . otherwise, yes, that's what I'm saying. And before you get all high and mighty, you had no problem agreeing to the plot that almost killed me."
"And now you are dead," Diana said softly, regret filling her voice. "Did Damon . . ."
"No, Damon did not," Rebecca almost hissed. "If you must know, it was Stefan. There was an . . . accident and he lost control. He bit me and Damon gave me his blood so I would heal, but it was too late; I'd lost too much blood already."
Rebecca bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and then eyed her ex-Watcher. "So . . . can you help me? Or . . . will you help me?"
Diana sighed. "Do I really have a choice?"
"Yes, actually. Damon doesn't know you're here. You're free to leave, if you want. But . . . you owe me. After everything you've done to me, you owe me this. All you have to do is get rid of the files that Mr. Gilbert has on Mystic Falls and it's less-than-human citizens. Yeah?"
"I will not take part in killing a human being," Diana said. "Whatever my previous actions have made you believe . . . I never wanted any harm to come to you. When I administered the drugs to you, I was led to believe that the test you would be put through would be in a controlled environment. No real harm should've come to you."
"Yeah, well, it did." Rebecca's curiosity had been piqued, however. "How did you give me the drugs without me knowing about it?"
"Crystals. I made you go into a trace and I fed it through you intravenously. You never felt a thing."
"You poisoned me," Rebecca said softly. "Do you realize that?"
Things were tense and silent as Rebecca and Diana took each other in. Rebecca wasn't speaking because she was waiting to see what Diana was going to decide.
"Hypothetically speaking . . . if I help . . . how do I get in touch with you? I can't stay here. Damon would kill me."
Rebecca couldn't argue with that, but she knew if Damon knew Diana was helping her with something, he wouldn't kill her until the job was done, anyway. And, depending on whether or not the ex-Watcher had redeemed herself in Damon's eyes, Diana might survive.
Not for the first time, Rebecca thought that if something happened to Diana that it would be considered collateral damage. Sometimes when one is getting a job done, people got hurt. She hated herself for thinking that way, but she did.
"Damon won't hurt you if I ask him not to. Besides, you're the only one who can help us now; he can't do anything to you without taking that away."
Rebecca told her about not having been able to use her apartment. Technically nobody could get in. It wasn't bank-owned, and Diana had left the apartment to Rebecca but she had never gotten around to signing the lease. Now she didn't have to. Diana could live there again.
"Damon and I were going to get all your books from the apartment, but we never got around to it. You'll have to invite me in so I can get them."
"Just you?" Diana asked.
"Just me," Rebecca concurred. "That way you'll have a safe haven from Damon, just in case."
After the talk with Diana was over, Rebecca left to go to the school. Everyone was still setting up for the parade, and Caroline had asked her for help. Rebecca hadn't been able to help the last time because of the Isobel thing, so she'd promised to help this time around.
Caroline was with Elena and Bonnie; Matt couldn't help because his arm was broken. Rebecca passed by Carol Lockwood who was talking to a group of teenage boys. Jeremy and Tyler were in that group; they were going to be part of a reenactment of the Battle of Willow Creek. The town's historical version of it, anyway.
When Rebecca reached Caroline and the other two girls, she embraced them all and asked them what they were doing.
"Well," Caroline began, "we're almost done with the float for the Mystic Queen and her court. All we have to do is make sure the streamers are secure. Then I promised to help Tyler with the float for the battle reenactment; painting, mostly. then . . ." Caroline paused for dramatic effect; the girl was almost beaming with enthusiasm. "We get to pick dresses from the town's historical society."
The way Caroline's voice was, all excited, Rebecca thought the blond wouldn't have been happier if she'd won the lottery. Rebecca would've taken the money any day of the week. She was glad Caroline was so excited though.
Once the streamers were all set, the girls walked over to where the battle float was. The history team, led by Tyler Lockwood, had built a sturdy replica of Old Fell's Church. The soldiers for the display would borrow uniforms and model guns from the historical society.
Rebecca took note of the tension between Elena and Jeremy. Elena had obviously found out about Jeremy reading her diary and Jeremy still hadn't forgiven Elena for keeping things from him.
Mr. Saltzman was supervising the history team - he was the history teacher, so it made sense - and even though Rebecca was as young as a student she didn't feel like one, so she was fine with thinking of him as a potential friend.
"Hey, Ric," she said softly, stopping beside him.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Not much. I was actually wondering how you were."
"Uh, I should be asking you that," he said, chuckling. "But I'm fine. I feel . . . free now, I guess. Like . . . I have closure now. Seeing her, it sealed up a lot of things for me."
"Well, you had a lot of questions before. You have the answers now." Rebecca smiled softly. "She told me before she left that it was never about you, her deciding to turn. It was what she wanted."
"I know," Ric said sadly. "And it's over now; there's nothing I can do about it."
"But you're gonna be okay, right?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna be fine."
Rebecca lightly hit him on the arm. "Maybe now you can move onto Jenna . . ."
Her tone was light and playful. She could've sworn that Ric was blushing.
"You're a demon child," he muttered without any real malice in his voice.
"You know you love me," she said simply. "You can call me, though, if you need anything. Me or Damon will help. He's not a complete ass."
Okay so here's what happened with Chase. I was also a little iffy about putting in that sex scene because it was so angsty and all. But Rebecca just really thought she deserved the hurt she was putting herself through, and then there was Damon showing her how it should've been. Let me know what you think?