Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Vampire Diaries, TV show or books. However I decided to have a little play around with the characters (I would definitely like to play with Damon).
Elena woke up the next morning in her bed feeling extremely grumpy. She hated herself for dancing with Damon, but only because she was with Stefan, otherwise it had felt right. But in truth Elena was angry with Stefan, he was lying to her, involving Jeremy and on top of that compelling her brother without her permission. This was a major breach of trust. Knowing there was nobody she could physically turn to, she got out of bed, went to her desk and grabbed her diary before making her way over to her window seat where she sat down so she could pour her heart out to the blank pages of solace in front of her .
Dear diary,
I know its been a while. A long while. I haven't needed... I haven't wanted to write this stuff down, but I don't want to say it out loud either. The thing is: I'm a vampire and I hate it. I feel hopeless, depressed, angry, but most of all, I'm scared. Part of me just wants to end it, but then I think of Jeremy. I'm all that he has left, so I need to find a way through this. No matter what it takes.
The question is how to get through this without losing my friends, for example last night I went to a party with Damon and Bonnie so that Damon could teach me how to feed without hurting anyone. Bonnie left us alone for a while and Damon showed me what to do. I hate to admit it but I felt free, I loved it and I was having fun. But the problem is that Bonnie saw me and she wasn't happy. I was acting like Damon and she didn't approve. What if I am like Damon? Will my friends will hate me like they hate him? Can I pretend to be the old me and be happy? I need to know which is more important, being happy with myself or keeping my friends happy. At least I'll always have Damon and Jeremy, regardless of what choice I make.
My other problem is Stefan and what he is up to. Why has he started lying to me again? He's up to something with Klaus and he's gotten Jeremy is involved. I know he has because I could tell that Jeremy had been compelled. I can't believe that Stefan would go behind my back and do that to Jeremy, I feel betrayed. But I also lied to Stefan last night. I told him that I hated feeding which wasn't true. I also didn't tell him that I dirty danced with Damon. Yes it was a mistake, I shouldn't have done it. But just because I chose Stefan, it doesn't mean that I automatically turned off my feelings for Damon. If I'm going to be completely honest, my feelings for Damon are even stronger now than they were before I turned. The strange thing is that my feelings for Stefan haven't heightened, which I'd have thought that they would have considering I love him.
I'm so confused!
Elena
Elena closed her diary, got up and put it away before she got showered and dressed. Once ready she decided to head out, but as she opened her bedroom door, Damon suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sauntered into her room.
"Excuse me? What are you doing?" Elena asked, confused as to why Damon was at her house.
"Where's Stefan?" he asked, ignoring her question, turning around to faced her.
"Okay, uh, good morning to you too." Elena replied smiling sarcastically.
"He's not answering his phone and he's not here, which you know, big deal, we've only got a killer vampire hunter on the loose." Damon elaborated upon his need to know where Stefan was.
"I haven't talked to him yet today." Elena told him
"Hmm." He mused as he walked towards Elena and held out his hand. "Give me your phone. Maybe he's dodging me."
"Why would he be dodging you?" Elena asked as she began to dig through her bag as she looked for her phone.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the hot, sweaty dance party business." Damon suggested "I figured you spilled your guilty, little guts the minute I left last night." Damon winked but Elena didn't say anything, she just looked up at him guiltily giving away the fact she hadn't told Stefan. "Ohhh, you didn't tell him, did you?" he asked chuckling as a huge smile erupted all over his face.
"No, Damon. I didn't tell him that I got high on blood like some crackhead, and then dirty danced with you." Elena growled. "It was a mistake, okay? I wasn't myself and besides, he's already got enough to deal with trying to get me through this vampire stuff." Elena snapped, handing over her phone to Damon.
"No, I see, it's just a classic shame spiral." Damon teased as he dialled Stefan's number from Elena's phone.
"I'm not in a shame spiral." Elena ground her teeth.
"Oh, you so are." Damon smirked rolling his eyes. "Newbie vampire remorse? Oof, it's worse than a hangover." he teased, clearly loving the fact that Elena had lied to Stefan about what had happened.
"I'm not in a shame spiral, Damon." Elena retorted as she heard Stefan's voicemail come from her phone prompting Damon to hang up.
"So, either he's dodging both of us..." Damon frowned.
"...Or something's wrong." Elena finished.
Just then Damon's phone went off signalling a text message. He read the message before handing his phone for Elena to read what it out. "Hunter at Mystic Grill with hostages. They all die at sundown!" she said frowning.
"Well it looks like Stefan has gone AWOL on us, so lets go for the next best thing for back-up." Damon suggested to a worried looking Elena. "Blondie." he clarified, rolling his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
After half an hour and a number of phone calls later, Damon and Elena arrived at the Lockwood mansion to be greeted by an eager looking Tyler, who told them he was hell bent on killing the hunter after having been shot by him on more than one occasion. In the parlor they were greeted by Caroline who quickly left to make further calls for help with Damon's plan. Elena sat on the couch listening to Damon explain what he was planning whilst Tyler stood behind her, hands resting on the back of couch taking all of the information in. The purpose of the meeting was to come up with a plan of attack which Elena could see Damon was itching to get going.
"So, we each take a different entrance, hit them at the same time." Damon instructed the group whilst pacing up and down, just as Stefan walked in the room.
Although Elena was still pissed at Stefan, she was thankful that he was alive and hadn't been killed by the hunter, therefore the moment she saw him she got up and walked over to him. "Stefan!" Elena smiled with relief.
"Where the hell have you been?" Damon asked in an irritated tone as Stefan reached his arm out possessively towards Elena pulling her into an embrace.
"Coming up with a plan." Stefan quickly told them.
"Yeah, we have a plan. The plan is I'm gonna rip Connor's heart out and I'm going to feed it to him." Damon grinned.
"That's not a plan. We need to be careful. Connor has Jeremy and who knows how many other hostages." Stefan protested.
"Hence, the open heart surgery." Damon explained.
"Damon's right. Connor's strong, but he's not going to be able to take all of us." Elena defended Damon being that she was just as eager as Damon to bring Connor down.
"I called in the hybrids to help too." Tyler offered as Caroline entered in the room.
"My mom put squad cars blocking the streets." Caroline informed them that she'd played her part in executing the plan. "They're saying it's a faulty gas main. We're good to go." This brought a smile to Damon's lips.
"Good, great. No cops, no witnesses, no reason to wait around." he announced.
"All right, hold on, you're not all going." Stefan demanded looking towards Caroline and Elena.
"He shot me like nine times. If we're killing him, I want in." Tyler insisted.
Elena turned to face Stefan. "He's got Jeremy. I'm going." she told him defiantly.
Stefan held his hands out in an effort to calm the group down. "Listen, nobody is going anywhere until I figure out what we're walking into." he told them.
Damon slowly walked over to Stefan."Until you figure it out?" he asked suspiciously. "Is that where you've been all morning? Out buying bossy pants?"
"This guy is known for setting traps, right?" Stefan told them, seemingly in an effort to explain his reluctance to just barge in all guns blazing. "We'd be pretty dumb to walk into one, especially if he has werewolf venom."
"Does he?" Elena asked surprised by Stefan's intimate knowledge of the hunter.
"He's had it before." Stefan reminded her. Realizing he was right, Elena knew they might have to come up with another plan.
This potential new twist had put a kink in Damon's plan, which clearly made him angry but Elena could tell that Damon knew Stefan might be right."Fine. Fine, if you want to take some time to do re-con, you get one hour. But we're gonna need some extra help. So, where the hell's the Wicked Witch of the West?" he asked.
"She can't do magic." Caroline told him.
"Really?" Damon raised his eyebrows. "Well, call her, tell her Jeremy's life is in danger; maybe that will bring her out of retirement." he suggested before he stormed out of the room, hitting Stefan with his shoulder as he left. Elena looked at Stefan and before following Damon.
"Where are you going?" Elena asked as she caught up with Damon.
Damon stopped and turned to her. "I'm going to Ric's apartment." he told her. "That way I can see what's going on as it faces the grill. I can keep an eye on my little brother to see what shit he's up to and whilst I'm there waiting for my little brother to come up with some super master plan to get rid of this hunter, I'm going to raid Ric's stash of weapons and whiskey."
Elena looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot. "Do you think Stefan is up to something with Klaus?" she whispered. Damon nodded his head in response. "Can I come with you?" she asked, this time not caring who heard.
"Sure why not?" Damon replied before they set off to Ric's old apartment.
Soon after, Damon and Elena arrived at Ric's loft. Elena wandered over to the windows overlooking the Grill. She lifted the blinds only to see Stefan talking to someone on his phone before and then hanging up. Whilst Elena was watching Stefan, Damon was rummaging through one of Ric's chest of drawers looking for weapons. Elena turned around to see him take out some vervain darts and a mini crossbow, before throwing them on Ric's bed as they wouldn't be much use against the hunter.
"Who was he talking to?" Elena asked although she figured Damon knew about as much as she did.
"Bonnie, hopefully. Maybe she decided to make herself useful again." Damon said as he took out a large map and started to spread it on a table, a sugar jar on one of the corners and a phone on the other to stop the map from rolling back together.
"What is that?" Elena asked as she walked up to look at the map.
"It's our way in. Courtesy of Alaric Saltzman's interest in the Mystic Falls Underground Railroad." Damon explained to her as he took his phone from his inside jacket pocket.
"The tunnels, like the ones in the Lockwood cellar?" Elena asked.
"Bam!" Damon muttered to himself as he took a picture of the map with his phone. "Yep." he replied putting his phone away just as Elena's own cell phone began to ring.
Searching through her bag she pulled her phone out, seeing Stefan's name as the caller ID, she answered it and puts it straight to speakerphone. "What did you find out?" she asked.
"I can only make out the voices." Stefan replied.
"How many hostages?" Damon asked.
"Three." Stefan told them. "But Elena, it's Matt and April Young."
"What?!" Elena's eyes widened with fear.
"Those two idiots." Damon grumbled. "They're like danger magnets."
"We have to get them out of there." Elena begged.
"I just need a little more time." Stefan told them.
"Well, the clock's ticking, brother." Damon informed him.
"You know, I could do without the colored commentary." Stefan snapped as he hung up.
"I'm going in these tunnels." Elena warned as she started to walk off.
Damon grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her. "No, you're not. This guy doesn't know that you're a vampire, let's keep it that way."
"Well, maybe that's it. I can offer to trade myself in exchange for the hostages." she suggested as tried to leave again, but Damon refused let her go.
"No!" Damon insisted. "Best case scenario is now you're a hostage. Worst case scenario: he figures you out, kills you on the spot."
"Stop treating me like I can't handle myself." Elena complained as she managed to release her wrist from his grasp. "Alaric trained me and I've been practicing with Stefan." she said as she walked towards the door.
"So what?" Damon asked. "Now you're gonna take on a professional killer?" Elena turned and looked at him.
In a flash, Damon vamp-sped to the bed, grabbed the crossbow and pointed it directly at Elena's head. "Bang. You're dead. Now what?" he asked before Elena vamp-sped over to Damon, knocking the crossbow out of his hand and grabbing it whilst at the same time pushing Damon onto the bed. In a flash she'd ended up straddling his hips, pointing the crossbow straight at his heart.
"Head shot's no good, it has to be the heart." Elena informed him smugly, cocking her head to one side. "So, now you're dead."
Damon chuckled. "For someone who doesn't want to be like me, you sure are good at it." he said, slowly pushing Elena's hands away, so that the crossbow was no longer pointing a his chest.
"My brother is the only thing that's holding me together right now, Damon." Elena warned him. "If anything happens to him..."
"We'll get him out. I promise." Damon reassured her as she got up, releasing him from her hold.
Elena began to pace as Damon called Stefan to find out where he was. She walked over to the window and pulled the blinds apart again and looked down at the Grill. Right at this moment she was scared. She had to find a way of getting Jeremy out of there, and there was no way Stefan and Damon were going to leave her behind.
Damon hung up on Stefan and walked over to her. "Stefan is on his way." he told her. "This will be over soon."
"Will it?" Elena asked. "I mean, haven't we already been here before with Jeremy? Isn't this why we sent him to Denver?"
"Well, we'll get him out of this and we'll compel him down to the Bahamas. Maybe he'll find an island girl." Damon joked, causing Elena to give him a pointed look.
Just then Stefan arrived, interrupting their conversation. "Did you find the tunnel map?" he asked.
"Got it." Damon informed him. "It was in his weapons drawer along with seven stakes, some weird MacGyver crossbow, and the last remaining vervain in Mystic Falls, so how about we get this party started." he asked.
"Not yet." Stefan told them. "Klaus is sending one of his men. He'll take the front, you and I can take the tunnels."
"Since when did we team up with Klaus and the Lollipop Guild?" Damon asked confused, whilst Elena eyed Stefan with suspicion.
"Well, I already told you, Connor has werewolf venom." Stefan stated confidently. This only increased Elena's suspicion towards Stefan. "We need someone to draw his fire, the hybrids are immune to it so they're our best bets."
"Well, how are you sure that he even has werewolf venom?" Damon's voice was also laced with suspicion. "Why is Klaus involved, Stefan?"
Stefan turned around and started fiddling with something, although Elena couldn't see what it was. "Stop being paranoid, Damon." Stefan said brushing Damon's question aside.
"Start telling the truth, Stefan." Damon demanded. "Why is Klaus involved? Did he compel you?"
"I am telling you the truth." Stefan insisted. "This is the best way to get everyone out."
"Okay, what is with you two?" Elena asked beginning to get angry. "We're wasting time."
"You know what, she's right." Damon told Stefan angrily. "Screw your plan. I'll kill Connor myself." Damon insisted as he and Elena started to walk towards the door. But within a flash, Stefan had rushed at Damon and stabbed him in the back with a vervain dart.
"Stefan!" Elena cried in shock as she saw Damon beginning to lose consciousness as Stefan slowly lowered him to the ground. As soon as Damon was out, Stefan picked Damon up and laid him down on the couch, before taking Damon's phone from inside his jacket pocket.
"Why are you doing this?" Elena demanded.
"Damon had the right idea with the tunnels." Stefan explained as he opened up the picture of the map on Damon's phone. "But, I'm not gonna go in there if I can't count on him to do it my way."
"If you can't count on him?" Elena asked, confused by his statement. "You just vervained him."
"Do you think he cares about April or Matt?" Stefan argued. "He'll get Jeremy out for you, but then he'll go right after Connor, no matter who gets hurt."
"Then I'm coming with you." Elena said as Stefan walked towards her.
"You're not coming with me, Elena." her told her.
"You need my help, Stefan." Elena insisted.
"What if Connor attacks and you have to defend yourself?" Stefan demanded. "And what if you kill him? The guilt will wreck you."
"You don't think that I...I...I'm afraid of that?" Elena stammered before regaining her composure. "Of course, I am. Stefan, I'm barely holding it together. If Jeremy gets hurt..." Elena continued, but Stefan stopped her by gently grabbing her face in his hands.
"I'll get Jeremy out, okay? I promise you." he said softly.
"No." Elena told him defiantly. For some reason she was finding it hard to trust him.
"Elena, listen to me, listen to me." Stefan pleaded, his voice sounded genuine, which helped Elena to calm down. "This is the most important thing that I have ever asked you to do. I just need you to trust me. Please." he begged. Although still not entirely convinced, Elena closed her eyes and nodded as Stefan kissed her. Their lips parted and Elena opened her eyes only to find Stefan had already gone.
Resigned to being left out of the plans again, Elena went over to Damon to wait for him to wake up. However just a few minutes later, Elena heard a huge explosion. She rushed over to the window to see that the explosion had gone off in the grill. Elena ran over to the table and got her phone and called Stefan, however her call went straight to voicemail. "Stefan, call me! There was an explosion at the Grill. I need to know what's happening!" Elena panicked as she heard Damon groan from the couch.
Hanging up her phone she rushed towards Damon. "Damon, hey. Can you get up?" she asked frantically kneeling beside him.
"Ohh, where's Stefan? I'm gonna kill him." Damon groaned angrily as he began to sit up slowly, but as he caught the rays of sunlight coming through the window he started to burn, causing him to quickly lay back down. "Ow! Ow!" he cried in pain.
"He took your ring?" Elena gasped in shock. "Why would he do that?!" she asked as Damon rolled off the couch and onto the ground. Elena stood up, getting out of his way.
"Because he's playing us." Damon told her. "All this stalling, getting hybrids, taking my ring, add it up." Damon managed to get up and sit on the arm of the sofa away from the sunlight. "Just like we suspected last night, he's either made a deal with Klaus or he's compelled."
"Then I need to get in there." Elena informed him as she started to leave.
"No, Elena, this guy is dangerous!" Damon told her.
Elena turned around and looked at him angrily. "So am I, Damon!" she said.
Damon looked up at her, his eyes a mixture of pride and defeat, it was time to let her fight her own battles. "Then you need to be smart." Damon warned her. He doesn't know you're a vampire. You get as close as you can and you kill him."
Elena left Ric's apartment and headed off to the Grill. She'd taken a picture of a copy of the map of the cellars on her phone, just in case they were needed. The plan was to dupe the Hunter into thinking she was human and then kill him. However her priority was still Jeremy, Matt and April. If she could save them she'd be more than happy to leave the killing to Stefan. Elena got to the Grill and waited outside pushing her hair behind her ear as she listened to the conversation going off inside, hoping it would give her any clues about what was going on and when it was the best time to make her move.
"Listen to me, if you die right now, then your whole life, all that killing; it'll all be for nothing." Elena heard Stefan say to the Hunter. "I can give you the truth. Just put down the gun and let Jeremy go!"
Elena frowned at that comment, so obviously he did know something, which cemented her reasons to no longer trust the man she was once in love with. However now was not the time to dwell on Stefan's lies, now was time for action. Elena opened the front door to the Grill and gingerly walked in. The Hunter was holding the gun, pointed towards where Elena suspected Stefan was hiding. Elena walked into the Grill, hoping her presence would distract him. The Hunter turned his head to look at her.
"Please!" Elena begged as the Hunter pointed his gun at Elena. "Don't hurt him."
The Hunter turned his gun on Jeremy. "You come any closer, he's dead." he warned her.
"Elena, get out of here!" Jeremy screamed at her.
"He's the only family that I have left." Elena pleaded. "Just – just let him go."
"You hear that? Your girl is watching." The Hunter shouted out loudly, Elena presumed he was speaking to Stefan whilst pointing the gun at Jeremy. "I will shoot the boy right in front of her! On the count of three! One! Two!"
Elena saw Stefan emerge from behind a pillar near the bar. He stood up and raised his hands in surrender. The Hunter turned and pointed the gun at Stefan instead. Elena took this as her cue for action and rushed at the Hunter. He responded by shooting his gun and hit Jeremy in the stomach with a bullet. Elena threw the Hunter to the ground and sat on top of him. She grabbed him by the throat and started choking him. Elena could smell Jeremy's blood, out of the corner of her eye she could see he was bleeding profusely and clutching his wound. Elena heard Stefan suddenly rush towards Jeremy and grab him, throwing himself and Jeremy over a table. Then suddenly a bomb exploded. Momentarily distracting Elena as she looked up to see what was happening.
"Jeremy?!" she cried in panic.
Her moment of distraction was enough for the hunter to respond. He managed to rip her hand off his throat and tossed her to the side, rolling on top of her and grabbing her by the hair. He pulled a stake out of nowhere and attempted to go for the heart, but Elena was stronger and faster. She grabbed his wrist and fighting back, whilst Stefan rushed at the Hunter, knocking him from Elena. Stefan knelt down next to the Hunter and grabbed him by the throat. Elena got up and looked around the Grill, but Stefan and the hunter had disappeared.
As much as Elena wanted to follow them, Jeremy was bleeding heavily and he was her priority. Biting her wrist she fed her blood to Jeremy and waited for the wound to heal. She knew the smell the blood was causing her eyes to start to become red with hunger as she could feel the tickling of the veins around her eyes and her canines trying to elongate, wanting to break free. Elena took deep breaths, concentrating on the fact that it was Jeremy and not food to try and calm down the blood lust as Caroline had taught her, eventually she felt eyes go back to normal but she still backed away to be on the safe side.
"I'm sorry Jer... I..." Elena tried to apologize as she turned her face away to hide what she was in front of Jeremy.
"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to hide it." Jeremy reassured her. "I know you're not going to hurt me."
"What happened to Matt and April?" Elena asked trying to change the subject.
"I dunno." Jeremy told her. "They headed out back, that's the last that I saw of them."
"I'm going to do a quick sweep and see what happened to them." Elena told him as she stood up, before walking over to the kitchens.
Once inside Elena looked around and decided to use her sense of smell. Usually it wasn't her favourite vampire power to use, especially in a kitchen. The smell of rotting food and bad body odour was not exactly appealing, but this time it was going to come in useful. She tracked Matt and April's scent to what looked like a vent which had been opened and could see that someone had chopped through the bricks. The smell of brick dust suggested it had happened recently. Elena just hoped that they'd escaped down that route because her priority was Jeremy. Elena went back to check on Jeremy, but he was sufficiently healed and was standing up, looking as if nothing had happened apart from the blood on his shirt.
"Jeremy." Elena instructed. "I need you to leave and go straight home. We'll discuss what happened when I get back. I just want to make sure Matt and April are okay, I think they managed to escape through the one of the old cellars." Jeremy nodded in response as Elena waited for him to leave the building. Just as she began to make her way into the kitchen to start her search she heard Jeremy call her name from outside the grill. In a moment of panic Elena rushed out of the grill into the daylight only to find Jeremy outside talking to Matt and April. Elena breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were all safe and walked over to them. Deciding that April needed to forget what had happened to her, Elena decided she needed to compel her for her own good.
Elena stood in front of April and stared at her. "You were on your way to the Grill but it was closed due to a gas leak. You bumped into me Matt and Jeremy outside. That's all you remember." she said.
"I went to the Grill but it was closed due to a gas leak, I saw you Matt and Jeremy outside. That's all I remember." April said blankly.
"Hey guys." Elena smiled at them before turning to Jeremy. "Jer, we need to go home."
"Hey, April!" Elena heard Jeremy call. She looked around to see him talking to April. She tuned out of the conversation until she could see he was about to leave.
"Okay." Jeremy said before turning to Matt and April. "I'll see you guys later. And April, that bracelet looks great on you." he smiled at her, before he and Elena headed home to discuss that had happened at the Grill.