As it turned out, Stefan – the little idiot – had already gotten the oh so desirable journal. Which meant that Jeremy had gone to the Grill for nothing. Just because Stefan had lied to Damon to keep up the act.
But if that wasn't enough, now, I had also been roped in to help dig up the grave of the Salvatore's father! Apparently, according to the journal and Stefan's logical thinking, the witch's grimoire which contained the spell needed to get Katherine out of the tomb was buried with Papa Salvatore.
Even though I'd told Elena I wouldn't help, here I was! Terrific.
The cemetery was dark, only a flickering fire, a torch and Elena's flashlight providing some light. But even with that, still, the only thing I could see was the obscurity of the soft earth. We had dug down a good meter and my sweat was beginning to break, instantly turning cold in the frosty air, when Stefan's shovel hit something hard. A look was shared, before he bent down to sweep away the top coat of earth covering a coffin. Elena's flashlight spread a dancing light over the scene as I did my best to not stand on top of the buried coffin's lid when Stefan tried to pry it open.
"Is that it?" Elena breathed heavily.
Even in this bad light, I could see the tears in Stefan's eyes as he looked down at his father's skeleton, unmoving. Even if the man had been an asshole in every way, your dad was still – and always would be – your dad. Even when he laid in his grave. Without thinking twice about it, I moved to retrieve the grimoire from the corpse's arms in Stefan's stead, shutting the lid with a confirming nod to the vampire. It was over. He looked grateful; in that humbly annoying way of his.
With ease, I lifted myself up from the dug up grave, brushing the earth off of my jeans once my feet stood stably on the correctly leveled ground. Whilst Stefan, still in the grave, and Elena were kneeling by the grimoire, I suddenly felt a tingling sensation in my neck. The feeling of being watched. I turned around to spy into the darkness, but could only hint silhouettes of trees or other old tombstones.
But then:
"Well, what do you know?" a voice suddenly called out, one that I recognized far too well by now.
Merely a few feet away, hidden by darkness, Damon was standing with his lips curled into a snarl. His gaze rapidly flew over the scene; Stefan and Elena startled beside me, the shovels, the fire and the dug up grave, to finally land on me. In that short moment, it felt as if someone had just fired a bullet into my chest, the pain in Damon's eyes spreading through me.
"This is an interesting turn of events," Damon spoke. Bitterly.
"I can't let you bring her back," Stefan explained simply. Tears still present in his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"So am I. For thinking for even a second that I could trust you."
"Oh. You're not capable of trust." Damon's jaw clenched at Stefan's words. "The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself."
"Of course I was going to do it by myself, because the only one I can count on is me!" Ouch. "You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan." Even if there was probably still more to the story than I knew, the pain of how Stefan's action had ultimately put Katherine in that tomb seemed to burn in Damon's eyes. "But you…" Damon's gaze drifted over to me as he continued. "I thought we were passed this." His face was full of emotion when he spoke. Whatever he meant by this, perhaps the detailed information we had shared about our lives, made me regret the decision to come and help Bonnie and Clyde dig up the damn book.
As much as I wanted to lower my gaze into the dirt, not bearing to see Damon's clenched jaws and his lips pressed into a thin line, I refused my own wish. And stared at those blue eyes only mirroring the fire's dancing light.
"So what are you going to do now? Because if you try and destroy that, I'll–" Damon's gaze once again left Stefan to land on me. I frowned. What was he thinking?
"You won't hurt her." Stefan spoke surely, glancing over at me to make sure I was still standing next to him, perfectly fine. Besides from the burning lump of guilt in my throat, of course.
It all happened so fast. My eyes were still locked with Damon's when I saw him make the decision. Instead of whooshing over to me, the sound traveled further and made me turn around to see his arm wrapped around Elena's throat, as she scratched at it to catch her breath.
"No!" I let out and tried to throw myself at him, fury beneath my skin wanting to be unleashed and play. But two firm arms wrapped around me in a second and kept me back. "You bastard!" I seethed, not entirely sure whether it was directed to Stefan or Damon. I struggled against the grip, but Stefan firmly held me back, preventing me from beating the shit out of that dickhead Damon! Even though he was probably just trying to hurt me as much as I had hurt him, this felt like crossing some kind of line. But we had now both betrayed the other's trust. And all in one tonight.
"I can do one better," Damon snapped back, biting into his wrist before pressing his bloody wound to Elena's lips. She struggled, only muffled words coming from her lips as Damon's blood was forced down her throat, and he went on. "Give me the book, or I'm snapping her neck. Then you two will have a newbie vampire on your hands." His blue, burning eyes flew between me and Stefan as he spoke.
"Let her go first," Stefan pleaded. His grip around me had loosened, as if he could feel that I wouldn't lunge at Damon. What good would that do now?
"The book!" Damon insisted after he finally released Elena's mouth from the bloodstream oozing from his wrist.
Endless threats built up inside of me. Scenarios playing out in my head, and all of them ending with a stake shoved into Damon's heart, as well as one or two in some other unpleasant places... But all I could do was stand there, benumbed with anger, and watch the scene.
After all, I had no leverage on Damon. Stefan was the one doing the bargaining. All I did was stand next to him, resisting the urge to grab the book and throw it in Damon's face, while my eyes made up for it by throwing daggers at him.
"I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me," Stefan spoke, sounding as if he was close to tears. I allowed my murdering gaze to leave Damon for a moment, eyeing Stefan in a new light instead. He truly cared for my sister. That still didn't mean I liked the guy, but he was willing to sacrifice the entire population of Mystic Falls – since a lot of people would probably die if Damon opened the tomb – only to save Elena. Stefan had the heart in the right place; or, around the same place as my own.
"Problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it back," Damon bit off.
"You just did the one thing that ensures that I will," Stefan said earnestly, his eyes still looking watery.
After a moment, Damon nodded for Stefan to put the book down, and the younger brother followed the instructions; why he didn't he just throw it at that bastard instead was beyond me. Instantly, I stepped out in front of Stefan, thereby totally cockblocking his and Elena's possibly romantically heroic reunion, but I didn't care!
Slowly, Damon released Elena from his grip, never breaking our eye contact. Not until my terrified sister had grabbed my hand. I pulled her into a tight hug and buried my face in her hair as she clung onto me for dear life, before I allowed her to embrace Stefan.
With one last stone cold look towards Damon, receiving the same from him in return, I backed away to follow the couple into the dark forest. Thus leaving the heartbroken and furious vampire alone with his damn book.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Let me check. Give me the flashlight."
"Ow! Why are you shining it into my eyes? Stop that!"
"Well, I don't have one of those small things that doctors have, so this will have to do. Just keep them open!"
"Parks!"
My sister shoved my hand away, visibly annoyed as we stood in a clearing near the road and parked car.
"You're crazy!" Elena fought my attempts to shine her eyes with the flashlight. "I'm fine! Can we just get in the car and get out of here? Now, please." She glanced back at the forest, perhaps fearing that Damon would show up and finish what he started. He would have to go through me first.
"Sounds like a good idea," Stefan spoke and began guiding me to the backseat of Elena's car. Roughly, I shrugged off his touch.
"Thanks," I said, a bit sharply. But it wasn't only for that act, as Elena thought when she rolled her eyes at my stubbornness, but because he'd chosen her just now; consequences be damned. Stefan seemed to understand that, removing his gentle hand from my back with a nod.
"This isn't the house," I stated once I had done a double take out the car window and seen my apartment building instead of the white villa I called my childhood home. I stuck my head in between the two front seats. "Are you two trying to ditch me?" My finger flew accusingly between the couple.
"It's been a long day, Parks," Elena sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I just wanna go home and sleep. You should do the same."
The worn out feeling that had filled my being ever since after my shift at the Grill was beginning to return now when the adrenaline's effect had started to wear off. I couldn't believe I was going to say this, but….
"You're right, Elena."
"I'm what now?" My sister turned around in her seat to stare at me with wide eyes. Shocked.
"Good night," I said loudly. Quickly, I swung the car door open and slammed it shut after me to block out any further words out of my sister's mouth, running up the stone steps to the door.
Once inside the dark stairwell, I sighed and leaned my back against the wall. Elena would be insufferable after this! Better to stay clear for a while.
If there was one thing that never seemed to change, it was how much I loved sleep. So much so that I didn't even hear the 600 calls from an unknown number, only noticing them once I woke up. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I frowned at the display before calling back.
"Hello?"
"Parker!"
"Stefan?" What did he want? "Why the sudden amount of crazy calls?" I inquired, muffling a yawn.
"Elena's been kidnapped."
"WHAT?" I almost fell off of my couch. Thankfully, my soft rug and fast reflexes helped ease the fall.
"But she's safe now."
"Thank God!" I put a hand over my pounding heart. "Are you trying to give me a heartattack, Stef? Saying things like that!" Stefan didn't answer, instead, I heard other voices on his side of the line.
"Parks!" a familiar soft voice called.
"Elena! You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I need your help."
Signing, I crawled back up onto the couch. Hadn't last night been enough? "Now what?"
"Well…"
There was a lot up now, I would seem. Like Elena having been kidnapped by the Anna girl who'd try to worm her way into Jeremy's heart – mental note: make sure she stays far away from him in the future – who apparently also wanted the grimoire to free her mother from the tomb. Also, in the midst of the drama it turned out Bonnie had been kidnapped as well, by none other than Anna's accomplice: the bartender Ben; whose newbie vampire jock head I was going to rip clean off the second I saw him.
Now, they were cooking up a new plan, and they included Elena, Stefan, Bonnie and her Grams. So far, the plan was to open that damn tomb and free Katherine, finally getting rid of Damon. But for that they needed my help to persuade him that there would be no funny business this time. Ugh.
"Do I have to?" I whined and sank back into the light gray couch.
"Yes," Elena stated. "Damon trusts you, he'll listen." She almost sounded a little reluctant to admit it.
"Trusted," I corrected. "I broke that just as much as you two did last night." I could practically see Stefan pace around next to Elena, undoubtedly listening to my every word.
"Give me that," someone said in the background, and Bonnie of all people spoke to me through the phone. "You're scary good at manipulating people, Parks. If anyone can convince him, it's you." She had a point there, and if I did perhaps this whole madness would be over.
"Oh, you flatter me, Bonnie-Bear!" I purred, smugly. "Fine! I'll do it. Tell the other two they owe me. Big time."
"You got it!" Bonnie promised, before Elena took back the phone.
"That sounded like good news?" she tested.
"I'm doing it. I'll bring him to the tomb tonight." With that, I ended the call, and couldn't help but release a sigh. Not only would I miss my shift at the Grill for this, but I also had to meet the last person I wanted to talk to in the world right now.
What a day this would be…
"You should start locking your door!" I called through the Salvatore mansion.
A sound from further into the building – what seemed to be a library or study, given the endless rows of books – had me making my way towards it. As I twirled around the corner, grabbing onto the doorframe in the process, I was met by Damon's surprised face.
"Unless you enjoy uninvited guests, that is." Once further into the room, I leaned forward to take support by a dark wooden railing, peering down at Damon on the level a few feet below me. He held the grimoire in his arms, and hugged it tighter in my presence.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, frowning deeply.
"Offering you a deal," I stated. "Even though you threatened my sister only hours ago. And apparently refused to help save her from Jer's bitchy vamp-crush, as well." Or so I'd been told.
"Did you help stage a jailbreak?" A small, careful smirk crept onto Damon's face.
"I could have. But Stefan handled it all on his own."
"Ah, brother," Damon mumbled. "Ever the white knight." The air around us was chilly, even as Damon tried to seem relaxed by casually leaning against a dresser, the grimoire now loosely held by his hip.
"It's really annoying," I commented. "But that's not the point." I clapped my hands against the railing and allowed my fingers to smooth over it as I moved along it, taking the few steps down to Damon's level of the room. "I'm here because Bonnie agreed to help you open the tomb." I stopped before Damon with my arms folded over my chest.
"Oh, I doubt that," he answered bitterly.
"Are you gonna bitch because you didn't get to help dig the book up? By all means! It was so much fun to grab it from you father's corpse. A true sight to behold." Unlike Stefan, Damon seemed unmoved by the description of my act.
"Well, at least you're honest." His dismissive comment followed the usual defensive pattern.
"I only helped my newly heroic sister to get to it. I don't, nor have I ever, wanted any part in this mess," I empathized. "Blame your brother for that."
"I already blame him for a lot of things."
"I know," I spoke, seriously. Damon avoided my gaze, presumably also reliving the moment in the car. "I might have betrayed our…understanding last night," I started out softly, however, that sort of thing never worked for me. "But you did the very same thing," I went on to point out. And something dark was still twisting inside of me because of it. "Yet here I am, offering you a once in a lifetime deal! What could you possibly lose by taking it?" I tilted my head to the side and awaited his response.
After a moment, Damon groaned. "I wish I could believe you."
"You can." I moved closer, taking his hand to place it on my heart. It was a bold move, but I was out of anything else to offer. "You said it yourself, not even a fantastic liar can prevent the heart from betraying them. Ask me, and you'll both hear and feel that I'm being honest." I forced his blue gaze to meet mine. Damon looked down at his hand, staring at it and my hand laid over his for a long moment. He sighed, turning his gaze back up at my serious face again. Slowly, he removed my hand from his and dropped his own from my chest.
"I'm trusting you." His blue eyes seemed to tell the truth. "Don't make me regret it," he warned, his brows furrowed.
"Wouldn't dream of it," I replied. I could only hope he wouldn't take my heart suddenly skipping a beat as lying.