No one has ever accused me of inaction. Usually, I act first and regret later, or at least I did B.E., Before Elena. But, as soon as I saw Matt and Bonnie's faces on that TV screen, I froze. I have no idea how long I sat there, waiting for the news cycle to repeat, just to make sure I had really seen it. When the story did roll back around, I was grateful for my super-enhanced vamp hearing. The news anchor confirmed what I was too afraid to hope for. Matt and Bonnie were the only occupants of the car.
Of course, that only led to more questions, most importantly, where the hell was Elena? Those idiots had obviously split up after I told them over and over to stay together. Now, I was left wondering where my girl was while two of her best friends were lying on steel autopsy tables in a morgue in Chicago. I didn't know whether to hope that it was some kind of horrible accident or assume that somehow, someway this was Klaus's doing.
As for Lockwood, if he had gone off and left Elena alone to save his own ass, then he better start running now. There might only be two ways to kill a hybrid, but I was pretty damn good at ripping out hearts and chopping off heads. One way or another, he would be dead if he had abandoned her.
By the time I unlocked my phone to call Elena, I had moved from the despair of wondering if she were dead to anger at her obvious and unrelenting disregard for her safety. I waited for her to answer, counting the rings, wondering if she had the guts to ignore my call.
"Damon! Hi! Everything OK?"
"Elena, where are you?" I spoke slowly, enunciating each word in an effort to keep my anger under control.
"We're driving down a highway in a state that I can't name. Remember, you didn't want to know exactly where we were."
"We who, Elena?"
I apparently caught her off guard with that one, because she hesitated a few seconds too long before answering.
"Uh, me, Tyler, Matt and Bonnie."
"You're lying!" Several of the patrons in the café turned to look at me, my voice raising to an unacceptable level while in public.
"There's no way you could know that, unless… Did Matt tattle? He promised he wouldn't call you."
That's when I realized she didn't know. The girl who had lost almost everyone she had ever cared about in her life – her parents, both biological and adoptive, her aunt, her pseudo-guardian, her brother, my brother, her best friend – had just lost two more friends and she didn't even know it. Once again, I would have to tell her. This time I wouldn't be there to comfort her, to hold her in my arms while she cried, to whisper in her ear that everything would be okay, that she would survive this just like everything else.
"Is Tyler with you?"
She sighed, giving up on her attempt at deception. "Yes, he is. We left Matt and Bonnie in Indianapolis. We're driving to New Orleans now. We want to help you."
"Later we will discuss how you know where I am, but for now, I want you off the road. Right. Now. You stop at the first hotel, motel, bed and breakfast or barn you see and stay there until you hear from me."
I looked up and saw a woman walking toward me. No one had approached me for the hour I had sat at that table in the back of the café. I had to assume that the witch, Cecile, was finally making her appearance.
"Elena, I can't talk right now. My witch is here. I will call you as soon as I'm done with her. This discussion is not over. Understand?" I paused, waiting for any type of acknowledgement, but she remained silent. "Elena, off the road, locked in a hotel room until you hear from me. Okay?"
More silence. Damn, she could be so stubborn.
"Elena," I said, drawing out each syllable. Normally she would respond with an equally drawn out version of my name. This time she just answered with a very quiet "yes."
"And, Elena, don't turn on the TV. I'll explain when I call."
I ended the call, almost relieved that I could put off telling her about her friends for a little while longer.
By the time the witch had reached my table, I had turned on my famous Salvatore charm, which was a complete waste of time. I had forgotten how little most witches seemed to be affected by my awesomeness. She just wanted to get down to business, which, actually was just fine with me. Her coven was more than willing to desiccate Klaus. The power of the twelve witches should be enough to do it. She had even found a volunteer for the 'balance' portion of the spell – a human willing to have her heart stopped, hopefully only temporarily.
All of the major pieces were in place after a slight disagreement over who would be disposing of Klaus's body. I won that battle. I had already compelled the captain of a fishing boat to take me and a Klaus-laden coffin deep in to the Gulf. It wasn't ideal, but I really didn't want to risk driving across the country just to dump him in the Atlantic. The sooner I had him offloaded, the better for Elena and me. Even the witch agreed that I had more than enough motivation to see this through.
After my war council with the witch, I knew it was a bold choice for me to walk back to my hotel. There I was, in broad daylight, walking through the city of Klaus without a care in the world. At least, that's what it probably looked like to those passing by me on the street. Internally, however, I felt as if I had ALL the cares of the world and I didn't know how to deal with a single one of them.
I needed to call Elena. Yes, I was dreading it. Not only did I have to ream her about taking off with Tyler, I had to tell her about Matt and Bonnie. Knowing my girl the way I do, she would find some way to take the blame for their deaths. There was a part of me that was very tempted to hide it from her, but you know what? A vampire closing in on one hundred and eighty years on this earth can learn new tricks. She would never forgive me if, no when, she found out that I had lied to her about this. I gave myself a deadline. I would call her when I got back to my hotel.
Next up, informing Matt and Bonnie's families about their deaths. I knew it might be hard for the authorities to track them down. As far as I knew, Mama Donovan hadn't been seen since Matt gave her the boot years ago. As for Bonnie's mom, Abby, I wasn't even sure she deserved to be told. She did abandon Bonnie for fifteen years, returned only when Bonnie sought her out and bailed again after becoming a vamp. It was sad, even to me, that these two kids' real family was us, not the parents that had raised them.
As I walked, my thoughts had come full circle, back to Klaus's demise. It went against my every instinct to put so much trust in a group of witches, especially ones that I hadn't met. I had to hope they wanted to get rid of him just as much as I did. If not, if they had any connection or loyalty to Klaus, I was screwed and probably soon to be staked. It was a possibility I refused to consider. I had heard too many stories about the power struggle in New Orleans to believe there were any witches on his side. So, I shut down my fatalistic view and accepted that this was the only plan available.
I stopped when I realized I had passed by my hotel two blocks earlier. Turning back, I pulled my phone from my pocket to call Elena. Before I could even unlock it, it began to vibrate in my hand and play Werewolf in London. Great, Lockwood was calling. This should be interesting. Maybe I could take out most of my anger on him before I called Elena.
"What do you want, Lockwood?"
"Damon, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry." He sounded frantic, out of breath.
I, of course, thought he was apologizing for splitting the group up. Elena had to have told him how angry I was.
"What now, Lockwood? Should I know what you're talking about?" I'll admit it, I wasn't above playing a little dumb just to see how nervous I could make him, how much he would grovel.
"I didn't have a choice, Damon. I don't know why I did it. I just had to. Maybe Klaus compelled me. I just couldn't stop myself."
All I could think was NO, NO, NO! There was only one thing Klaus could compel Tyler to do that would have him freaking out this much.
Through clenched teeth, I barked out at him. "Lockwood! What. Did. You. Do?"
"I bit Elena."