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).
Damon woke to the sound of his phone ringing. Opening his eyes he spotted it on the bedside table, next to the clock, telling him that it was already after eight which was probably why he could smell bacon cooking from downstairs. He picked up his phone and looked over his shoulder to where Elena was still sleeping, hoping the call wouldn't disturb her. Noticing that the caller ID was coming up as Liz, he frowned. Liz never called unless it was important.
"Good morning to you Liz, my favorite Sheriff, how can I help?" he asked quietly.
"Hi Damon, I'm sorry if I've disturbed you, I know it's early, but we have a situation." she told him. "Carol Lockwood was found dead last night." Liz told him.
"How?" he asked stunned.
"She drowned in the Winter Wonderland Fountain." Damon could hear Liz's voice almost breaking.
"Hush, it's okay Liz." Damon tried to calm her down in a whisper as Elena began to stir next to him. "What can I do to help?"
"Well, first of all, as you're one of the more senior council members, I have a duty to offer you the role of interim mayor if you want it." she told him. "Although I have a feeling I already know your answer."
"Sorry Liz. No can do." he apologized. "People will start asking questions when in ten years time when I still look twenty five years old. Plus I'm starting to think the job is cursed or something, and I'd like to continue being a living dead person."
"I knew that would be your answer." Liz said. "But I'm sure you appreciate that I still had to ask."
"No problem. Is there anything else I can do?" Damon offered as he noticed Elena open her eyes and frown at him. He covered the mouthpiece and silently mouthed Liz to her as she nodded in recognition of the caller.
"Well, there's going to be a church memorial tomorrow, if you can help with that." she asked.
"Sure, whatever I can do, I'll be back in Mystic Falls later today.." he reassured her. "Was it an accident?" Damon asked, although he had a sneaky suspicion that it was something to do with revenge on Tyler by Klaus for him helping the hybrids break their sire bonds.
"There were contusions all over the back of her neck. So what do you think?" Liz asked dryly.
"Klaus." Damon snarled. "It has to be."
"There's nothing we can do even if it is. Nobody has seen him since last night." Liz told him. "We've ruled Carol's death as head trauma from a fall-that's the official autopsy." Can't have too many questions asked." she told him. "Well look Damon, I gotta go. I've got a new Mayor to find." she said as she hung up the phone.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked, confusion etched all over her face.
"Carol Lockwood was found dead last night, drowned in the Winter Wonderland Fountain." he told her with a worried face as Elena's eye opened wide and her jaw dropped. Damon's face was clearly angry and in shock, he'd worked closely with Carol over the last year and knew her well.
"Oh my god!" Elena gasped. "You said Klaus. You think he did it?" she asked frowning.
"Liz said there were marks on the back of her neck, so it wasn't an accident." Damon explained. "Tyler has been helping the hybrids break the sire bond, my guess is Klaus found out and was a little pissed." he grimaced.
"Poor Tyler." Elena's face dropped.
"You reap what you sow." Damon said coldly as Elena frowned at him. "What?" he shrugged looking at her questioningly before he got out of bed and began to walk around it to the bathroom.
"How can you be so unsympathetic towards him? He just lost his mom." she admonished.
"While he was too busy being a dick and wanting to play pack 'Alpha', did he never once stop to think about the possible consequences if it all went wrong?" Damon asked, his voice growing ever so slightly louder. "He was playing with fire Elena. What did he think would happen when Klaus found out? Huh? A congratulatory handshake and a golden doggie dish? He has his mother's blood on his hands and he knows it. It's not grief he's feeling right now, it's guilt. And so he fucking should be!" Damon shouted as he slammed the bathroom door behind him causing Elena to flinch.
Elena waited a few moments to let Damon calm down when she heard the shower being switched on. She quietly opened the bathroom door and saw Damon was already in the shower. Already naked from sleeping in the nude, Elena slipped into the shower behind him.
"Elena...Not now." he groaned.
"I'm not here for that. Now pass me the shampoo." Elena demanded.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because, dumbass, I'm going to wash your hair. Now hand it here." Elena instructed as Damon sighed and passed her the shampoo. "You know, I'm here for you, no matter what." she told him as she gently began to massaged the gel into his scalp whilst he had his back to her. "That's my job as your girlfriend. I'm here to help you when you're angry, upset, hurt. If I can't stop or ease the pain, I'll try and carry some of the burden." she continued as she pushed him under the spray and picked up the soap from behind her and began to lather it over his shoulders, earning her a moan of pleasure. "I'm here for you, no matter what. I will argue, I may offer a different opinion, but I'll try not to judge. It's possible that we can both be right and both be wrong at the same time." Elena continued washing his body, yet it was not a sexual act, it was an act of cleansing of the soul. "What matters is that we're here for each other." She turned him around, and knelt down as began to wash the front of his body, starting from his feet and working her way up. "You don't need to hide from me, and you don't need to push me away." she continued as she made her way up towards his chest. She'd intentionally left out his intimate parts for him to wash to prove the act not about sex, but about emotional needs.
"What good deed did I ever do to deserve you?" he said with a croaky voice as he washed the one part she'd left out. Elena tried to avert her eyes knowing the effect it would have on her if she watched him, and right now was not the time for getting turned on.
"You let me see the real Damon Salvatore." she told him. "The one behind the cocky arrogant vampire exterior. The man who can be selfless, caring sweet, protective, a little insecure and slightly neurotic when it comes to cleaning." she smiled before looking him in the eyes as he began to laugh.
"I'm not neurotic when it comes to cleaning." Damon pouted, before saying "Come here." as he said wrapping his arms around her waist as Elena responded by hooking hers around his neck as they rested their foreheads together, whilst they stared at each other in the eyes. They stood there like that under the spray of the shower for what seemed an eternity, although it was probably no longer than a minute, before Damon broke away and kissed Elena chastely on the lips. "Now turn around and pass me the shampoo." he asked "It's your turn, before the water gets cold." he instructed her as he began to wash Elena's hair.
Three days later Elena was sat in the school gym whilst Sheriff Forbes held a student memorial for Carol Lockwood. She and Damon had recovered pretty quickly from their argument as she could see his point, but the mayors death had meant that they'd had to cut their break short and return back to Mystic Falls, where Damon had determined that they might be safer, as Klaus had suddenly disappeared off the radar. They'd had Bonnie put a spell on the Gilbert residence to protect them from Klaus or Stefan getting in and Damon had taken to staying overnight under the pretense of babysitting Jeremy. Although they figured Jeremy was safe from Klaus, it was decided that Damon would watch over him when he was at work at the Grill. However, Damon's real reason was Stefan avoidance. His brother had been acting weird since he'd returned from the Lake House and Damon suspected that Stefan had worked out that he and Elena were more than just friends, either that or Blondie had blabbed, she wasn't exactly known for being able to keep her mouth shut.
The major concern they had was Bonnie. When they'd returned to Mystic Falls, they'd discovered Klaus had wiped out twelve hybrids, the exact same numbers required for a sacrifice. Damon was all ready to go back to New Orleans and find out more about it from the witch Nandi, but Elena managed to talk him out of going, citing she wouldn't feel safe without him. He wanted to know if the more powerful the sacrificial creature was, the more powerful magic she was able to access. She'd already been struggling to control her human powered magic, Damon was worried how much fuel hybrid power would give her and if it would make her potentially dangerous. Elena suggested they should wait for the following weekend, then they could fly out to New Orleans and maybe even take Bonnie and Jeremy with them, just so that Bonnie could hear it from a witch who knew more about it and was likely to give a more honest answer than Professor Shane.
"Carol Lockwood always said that togetherness in times of tragedy leads to healing, that one community is stronger than a thousand of its members." Sheriff Forbes said as she began addressing the students, breaking Elena from her reverie. "But how does a community stay strong after losing its leader? And Carol was so much more than a leader; she was an open-minded friend and a concerned mother, taken from us too soon by a terrible accident." she went on.
"Fuck this." Elena overheard Tyler swear angrily under his breath.
"What? Tyler? Tyler?" Caroline whispered as Elena turned to watch as Tyler stood up and left the gym.
"Please join me in observing a minute silence in her memory." Elena heard Sheriff Forbes instruct the assembly.
Everyone put their heads down to respect the minute of silence as Elena looked over to the other side of the gym where Tyler had disappeared to see if she could see where he'd gone, but instead to her surprise, she saw Rebekah. She closed her eyes, figuring she must be a figment of her imagination as Elena knew that Klaus had daggered his sister. When Elena opened her eyes again Rebekah was gone.
"Are you okay?" Bonnie whispered.
"Be right back." Elena advised her as she stood up to leave the gym and set off in the general direction of where she'd seen Rebekah.
"Thank you so much. In the wake of this tragedy, the town has selected an interim mayor. Many of you may already know him. Please welcome Mr. Rudy Hopkins." Elena heard Sheriff Forbes introduce the new mayor as she made her way past the row of people and down the steps to the exit.
"Thank you so much, Sheriff. Carol Lockwood put this town first. That's why I'm here to talk to you guys. You folks are the future of Mystic Falls..." Elena heard Mayor Hopkins greet the students as his voice tailed off in the background as she set off walking down the hallway. She suddenly heard someone crying, which prompting her to stop and look for who was crying, as she turned around the corner to follow the sound, she immediately found the source as April Young was stood in the hallway with tears in her eyes.
"April, what's wrong?" Elena asked.
"Nothing. I'm fine." April sniffled.
"But you're crying?" Elena offered sympathetically.
"It's just the whole mayor thing, you know. It's bringing stuff up about my dad." April explained as Elena nodded sympathetically "And I know you're a vampire." April added startling Elena.
"Wait, what?" Elena asked in complete shock at this revelation as she suddenly heard a whoosh, a sudden pain in her neck combined with a cracking noise and everything went dark.
"Was that necessary?" April asked.
"No, but it was fun. " Rebekah grinned.
Stefan was still reeling from shock after finding out that Damon and Elena had taken their 'relationship' to the next level. It turned out Klaus had been more than right about referring Damon and Elena's babysitting trip being more of a romantic getaway than trying to keep Jeremy and Bonnie alive. Typical Damon, always thinking of his own selfish needs. Because of that, he'd been trying to avoid Damon since he and Elena had returned three days ago from their trip to the Lake House. Fortunately, Damon had made life easier by staying at Elena's under the false pretenses of protecting Jeremy. Unfortunately, the knowledge of the real reason behind Damon staying at Elena's made him angry because they were lying to him, but he'd promised Caroline that he wouldn't go on a ripper binge and he wanted to keep it that way, so he opted for the next best thing, alcohol and copious amounts of it. This is what had led him to be sat in the Mystic Grill drinking the bar dry instead of attending the school memorial for Carol Lockwood. Suddenly his phone rang, checking the caller ID he saw it was Caroline, knowing that she wouldn't stop calling he might as well answer it.
"Hey, you just missed the mandatory school assembly." Caroline chided.
"Well, that's because I'm at a mandatory all-day drinking party." Stefan sneered taking a sip from his glass of whiskey.
"Seriously? You decided to go on a ripper bender now?" Caroline growled.
"My brother slept with Elena. It kinda puts a damper on things." Stefan told her sarcastically.
"First of all, you weren't supposed to know that, and second of all, Tyler is already spiraling, and he gets top priority." Caroline admonished.
"His mother just died. What do you expect?" Stefan asked.
"I'm his girlfriend. I expect him to talk to me. Instead, he's all angry, and it doesn't help that everyone keeps referring to his mother's death as an accident, which is just a really polite way of saying she was drunk." Caroline sighed.
"You think Klaus killed her?" Stefan asked.
"Hmm, I don't think she drowned in her martini glass. Just, get it together. I can't do it alone." Caroline insisted before hanging up.
Elena woke to find she was sat down leaning against a bookshelf in the library. Taking in her surroundings, she checked to see if she could see Rebekah, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. Believing she was safe, Elena got up as she noticed April walk in.
"The assembly is over." April told her.
"What the hell is going on?" Elena groaned.
"The school will be empty soon..." April informed her. "How many times did you compel me?" she demanded as Elena looks at her confused."Don't...don't lie. Rebekah says you lie."
"Rebekah isn't who you think she is April." Elena warned.
"What? She's not a thousand-year-old Original vampire" April shrugged.
"Listen, we can figure this out, but we have to get out of here." Elena said trying to urge April into leaving by pulling her along, however as they turned down the next aisle of bookshelves Elena saw Rebekah standing there.
"Sorry, not allowed." Rebekah said dryly as she walked up to Elena. "Why don't you take a seat? The rest of the class will be here shortly." she smiled as she compelled Elena.
Stefan's was still sat in the Grill getting drunk after his conversation with Caroline as his phone began ringing again. Expecting it to be Caroline again, he looked at the caller ID, to his surprise it said 'Unknown Caller'. Annoyed by the distraction he answered it.
"What?" he snapped.
"Guess who? I'm back, dagger-free, and I'm holding Elena hostage at the high school. Just thought you should know." he heard Rebekah sneer.
"Who the hell was dumb enough to pull that dagger out of you?" Stefan asked shocked.
"I'll be asking the questions today. See you soon." Rebekah corrected him as she hung up.
Stefan downed the last of his drink and called Caroline.
"I'm only ready to talk to you if you're ready to rejoin civilization." Caroline chided.
"How would you like to drive the white oak stake through Rebekah's heart?" Stefan asked as he got up to leave and headed towards the exit.
"If it means that you're not drinking your way through the Mystic Grill, sure." Caroline agreed.
Damon was on babysitting duty whilst Little Gilbert was at work and Elena was at the school memorial assembly for Carol Lockwood. Jeremy had managed to escape as he was working a shift at the Grill and he had to start before the assembly finished. Damon had just made his way to the bar having just walked past Stefan who was in a hurry to leave and ignored him. As Damon and was just settling down for his first glass of whiskey he overheard Liz Forbes voice talking to the new Mayor.
"Here are the pictures." he heard Liz say.
"She did not go gently, did she? Any leads?" Mayor Hopkins replied.
"We have ideas." Liz told him. Having heard enough, Damon decided, standing up, it was time to introduce himself to the newly appointed interim Mayor of Mystic Falls.
"Hello Mayor Hopkins. Damon Salvatore." Damon introduced himself smiling as he held his hand out for the Mayor.
"Well hello Mr Salvatore." Mayor Hopkins replied taking Damon's hand and shaking it..
"You can call me Damon." Damon grinned.
"Hey Damon." Liz smiled.
"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about Mayor Lockwood's death." he whispered.
"How the hell...?" Mayor Hopkins asked as Damon raised an eyebrow.
"Don't pretend like you don't know what I am." Damon snorted. "Anyway, lets cut to the chase. Carol's 'accident' was let's say, more of a Klaus retaliation incident instead."
"Klaus?" Mayor Hopkins glance alternated between Damon and Liz. "As in Klaus Mikaelson?" he asked in a whisper.
"Let's just say Tyler Lockwood provoked him and I'm guessing this is how he got his revenge." Damon nodded.
"So what are we planning on doing about it?" Mayor Hopkins asked.
"Nobody's seen or heard from him since the night of the 'accident'." Liz told him, the use of the word accident caused Damon to hiss in displeasure. "What do you want me to say Damon?" she chastised to him before returning her attention back to Mayor Hopkins. "Even if we had, there's nothing the law or the council can do about it."
"You mean the council Pastor Young blew up?" Damon raised an eyebrow to Liz before turning to address the Mayor. "Look, Klaus Mikaelson is an evil one thousand year old hybrid who has his sights set on world domination and Ca..." Damon stopped before he said too much, he didn't want to worry Liz that Klaus may have a thing for her daughter. "Creating an army of hybrids." he backtracked. "The only thing that will kill him is a special stake and there is only one of its kind in existence. Now there is a long line of people wanting to kill Klaus, myself included. However there's just one little problem with that. You see, you kill him, you kill his entire bloodline. Every vampire that was changed by his blood will die. Now it just so happens that every vampire in Mystic Falls is part of his bloodline, including your ex wife, which makes him the most well protected vampire in town. So I wouldn't try anything if I were you." Damon warned.
"Are you threatening me?" Mayor Hopkins asked.
"Nope, but your daughter might." Damon smiled. "Well, I need another drink. I'll be at the bar if anyone needs me. Bye Liz, bye Mayor Hopkins, it's been a pleasure getting to know you." he said smiling and nodding his head before he turned and walked back towards direction of the bar.
"So, first speech under your belt, and now you've met Damon Salvatore. You sure you want this? I mean, six people were offered this job before you. They all said no for a reason." Liz warned.
"I'm saying 'yes' for a reason, and my reason just walked in." Rudy said nodding towards the door as Bonnie walks in.
"Well thanks a lot for taking this job on. Good luck. Your gonna need it." Liz told him.
"Thank you, Sheriff." Mayor Hopkins smiled as Liz got up to leave.
"Hey, Sheriff." Bonnie smiled.
"Hello Bonnie." Liz smiled. "Mayor." she nodded to Mayor Hopkins before leaving and Bonnie sitting down and taking Liz's seat at the table.
"Hey, dad." Bonnie greeted as she sat down.
"Hey." Mayor Hopkins replied.
"So...Far cry from being a traveling pharmaceutical rep." Bonnie asked.
"I noticed a few of your friends missing from the assembly. So much for mandatory, I guess, huh?" Mayor Hopkins chastised.
"Dad, stop. You can't come in here and start making rules." Bonnie complained.
"I think this town could use a few more rules." Mayor Hopkins warned.
"You're forgetting I can help protect the town." Bonnie insisted.
"I'm well-aware of your gifts, Bonnie. But don't forget I'm your father. That means I get to protect you." Mayor Hopkins told her.
Stefan met Caroline at the school and handed her the white oak stake, it had been in his possession since he'd taken it from Elena at Rebekah's party. Now he wished he'd let Elena dagger her in the first place. Instead Caroline now had it as they scoured the school for Rebekah and Elena. Stefan received a text from Caroline telling him 2nd floor clear He continued down the hallway looking in classrooms until he heard a noise and looks towards the end of the hallway. He replied to Caroline informing her of his discovery, 1st floor. I'll distract her. You stake her. However, as he pressed send he looked up, he saw Rebekah standing right in front of him.
"Hello, Stefan." she sneered as he put his phone back in his pocket.
"I'm here. What do you want?" Stefan demanded.
"The same thing I wanted when you helped Niklaus dagger me." Rebekah told him.
"The cure." Stefan deduced as Rebekah grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him against the lockers. Using all of his strength Stefan took hold of Rebekah by the neck, swung them around and pushed her against the lockers.
"I hope you're not waiting for Caroline to show up and stake me..." Rebekah said as she showed him the stake. "...because I already found her." Rebekah smirked as she grabbed back hold of him and dragged him along with her into the library.
"Stefan..." Elena gasped getting up.
"Did I say you could move?" Rebekah asked as Elena sat back down.
Damon was still at the Mystic Grill, drinking and watching Jeremy clear tables. He'd been there an hour already and was wondering if Elena had gone straight home from the memorial for Carol. He'd seen Bonnie arrive and leave with her dad the mayor, so he knew the assembly was over. He was about to get his phone out and call Elena when he heard a voice from behind with a British accent.
"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt drinking time?" Klaus's voice seemed to appear out of nowhere, prompting Damon to turn around and see the Original sat in Ric's seat.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon grimaced, deciding not to say anything about the seat being taken on this occasion.
"I'm simply having a drink at my local pub. You see I've got a bit of planning to do. People to turn into vampires for Connor to kill and all, and what better place to find unsired help than the pub." Klaus grinned, suggesting that he was up to something.
"And how are you going to do that now you don't have any of your little minions left to do your dirty work." Damon said, deciding to take the bait as he took a sip from his glass of whiskey.
"Yeah, see, minions, that's not a number. Twelve. That's a number. That's how many of my hybrids I slaughtered with my sword. Three. That's how many days it took to quell the urge to kill your brother after he knowingly watched as I walked into a death trap. One. That's the number of purposes you serve. No idea, that's the number of vampire required to complete the Hunter's mark, which you are going to help me with." Klaus informed him.
"No can do, I'm busy." Damon growled prompting Klaus to smirk.
"Looks like it." Klaus observed as he looked down at Damon's glass of whiskey. "That's a pity. I'm going to need that cure sooner rather than later. Hybrid shortage and all. I thought you'd be desperate to get your hands on it, what with the sire bond. It must be so frustrating not knowing whether the lovely Elena's feelings for you are real." Klaus smirked
"There is no sire bond." Damon grimaced. "My idiot of a brother told you that because he can't get over the fact that she left him for me. If there was a sire bond, you wouldn't be here asking for my help to grow Connor's mark. You know why? Because he'd be dead. Elena would've killed him because I told her to." he smirked.
"That's a pity. But aren't you curious to know why she had a sudden change of heart." Klaus asked, sounding sincere. "I mean she was so in love with Stefan, and yet the moment she became a vampire she switched brothers. My guess is you don't want her to become human again because you know you'll lose her to Stefan. You're being selfish Damon, you know she wants to be human. If you truly love her, you'll let her have her wish and set her free. And that's where I can help." Klaus said smugly. Deep down Damon knew Klaus had a point. It would always be at the back of his mind that human Elena had picked Stefan. She'd had feelings for him as a human, but she was never in love with him, however Elena had made herself clear, the cure would involve mass killings and she wouldn't want Damon turning hundreds of people just to get her humanity back.
Damon pondered over on Klaus's statement for a minute with a frown, prompting an ever growing smile on the Original's face. However, Damon turned his mind to the immediate problems and decided he needed to call Elena and warn her that Klaus was back in town. He stood up to head to the bathroom so that he could call Elena quickly in private, but before he could, he had another matter to settle with Klaus. Therefore just as he was about to walk off towards the bathroom he swung his fist and punched Klaus in the face.
"That's for Carol Lockwood." Damon growled as he headed towards the bathroom, whilst Klaus looked up at him in surprise. Once inside he turned on the taps and started searching frantically through his pockets, hoping they'd contain an emergency vial of vervain whilst at the same time taking out his phone to call Elena, however all it was doing was going straight to voicemail, he decided to leave a message.
"Elena, look wherever you are, don't come to the Grill until I say. Klaus is here and he wants me and him to go on some vamp production road trip. I told him to go to hell but..." Damon stopped as the door opened and Klaus entered the bathroom.
"I was being polite in my offer, but I never said it was optional." Klaus smiled before moving forward and grabbing Damon by the shoulders and staring him in the eye. "You will come with me to make vampires for Connor to kill." Klaus compelled him.