Elena, Katie and Bonnie were staying over at Caroline's house last night after what happened with the werewolves. Everyone in the room was woken up by the sound of Elena's phone ringing. Elena falls off the bed, reaches over and answers her phone. She then crawls out into the hallway to talk privately with whoever was on the phone. Everyone guessed that it was Stefan. The rest of the girls decided to get ready while Elena was on the phone. While Katie was brushing her teeth, her phone rang. She answered it without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello." She answered.
"Hi Katie, it's Carol."
"Mrs Lockwood hi. What can I do for you?" She asks
"We're holding a small gathering Elijah, the author, just to get to know him and know more about the book and I was wondering if you could attend?"
"I'd love to but I made plans with my sister."
"Here's the thing Katie, Elijah has requested your presence."
Katie is surprised to hear this. "Really?"
"Yes, he seemed very insistent that you attend." She tells Katie.
"Well I couldn't possible say no then, could I."
"Great. Elijah said he will pick you up at your place about 12. I'll see you then." She says and hangs up.
Katie puts her phone down and finishes brushing her teeth and washing up. She exits the bathroom and bumps into Elena. "Elena, I'm sorry but I have to cancel our plan to hang out. Mrs Lockwood called and told me my presence has been requested for this gathering she's having."
Elena looks a little confused. "Requested by who?"
"Elijah."
"Be careful, Katie."
"Don't worry, sis. Elijah won't try anything in a room full of innocent people." Katie reassures her sister.
"Ok. Now I don't feel so bad that I have to cancel on you to. Stefan and I are going to the lakehouse to spend some quality time together." Elena smiles.
"That's great. He better look after you."
"He will. Don't worry." Elena hugs her sister and shoos her out of the bathroom.
After getting ready Katie and Elena say goodbye to Bonnie and Caroline and head home. When they arrive home, Stefan is waiting outside. "Hey Stefan." Katie greets him as she unlocks the door.
"Hey Katie." Stefan greets her. He and Elena go to her room and Katie goes to hers.
Katie goes through her wardrobe trying to find something suitable to wear. In the end, she decides on a pair of black jeans, a lilac dress top with a pair of black heels. She puts on the clothes and gets ready to do her hair and makeup. She hears Elena shouting up to her that she and Stefan are leaving. "Ok have fun, lovebirds." Katie shouts back to her sister. She hears the door close and proceeds to straighten her hair. After that she puts on some lip gloss and some lilac eyeshadow. Not long after she has finished her makeup, the door bell rings. She puts on a spruce of perfume before going downstairs to answer it. When she opens the door, she is greeted by Elijah standing there.
"Elijah, hi." She says, greeting him with a smile.
"Hello Katie. May I say you look quite beautiful." He says taking her hand and planting a kiss upon it.
Katie blushes at his comment. "Thank you Elijah. You look handsome yourself. Let me just grab my coat and we can go."
Katie gets her coat, closes the door, locking it behind her and escorts Elijah to his car. "Nice car." She comments as Elijah helps her in.
"Thank you, Katie." He replies, closing the door. He gets in the driver's seat and they are then on their way to the Lockwood estate.
"Elijah, I gotta ask. Why did you request that I go to this gathering?" She asks him.
They stopped at a red light and Elijah responded. "I enjoy your company Katie." He simply says.
When the light turns green, they continue on their way. Within moments, they are at the Lockwood estate. Upon their arrival, they are greeted by Carol Lockwood. "Katie, Elijah. So good to see you. Please come in." She says, leading the way into the house. Once inside, Carol gives a speech about why there are here and to enjoy themselves. After her speech, she talk to Katie and Elijah. "So Elijah, have you spent much time in Richmond for your book? There's such a wealth of history here."
"No. I'm mostly focusing on the smaller regions of Virginia. Lots of research. Strictly academic."
"That's fascinating. You know if you ever need help with your research, I'm sure Katie will be more than happy to help you out. Her mother was a bit of a history enthusiast."
"Sure. I'd be happy to." Katie replies with a smile.
As Elijah and Mrs Lockwood continue their conversation, Katie spots Damon arriving. He make his way over to her but is stopped by Jenna and Andie. He holds a quick conversation with them and proceed on his way to Katie. "Damon, what a surprise." Carol remarks as she notices Damon.
"Carol, hi." Damon says, as he shakes her hand and kisses her on the cheek. "Katie, fancy seeing you here."
"Fancy seeing you here to Damon."
"Elijah," Carol says, "I would like you to meet Damon Salvatore. His family is one of the founding families of Mystic Falls."
Elijah and Damon stare at each other and Katie can't help but feel a little tense. "Such a pleasure to meet you." Damon says holding out his hand for Elijah to shake.
"The pleasure is mine." Elijah shakes Damon's hand.
Carol makes her excuses and leaves the three of them standing there. "Katie," Elijah says, "Do you mind excusing me for a minute? Damon and I have some things to discuss."
Katie is a bit cautious about Elijah and Damon being in the same room alone but agrees to leave them to talk. She spots Alaric and heads over to chat with him. "Hey Alaric. How are you enjoying this little party?" She asks him.
"I've been to better parties." He jokes. "What are you doing here?"
"Elijah asked that I be here. With Elena at the lakehouse with Stefan, I thought why not."
Alaric chuckles at her answer but his face falls when he sees John approaching. "What is Damon doing with Elijah?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"You're his little helper." John replies.
"Whatever you say John."
"Does Jenna know about your extracurricular activities? Maybe it's time she found out. She can't stay in the dark forever."
"Hey leave Aunt Jenna out of this Uncle John." Katie confronts him.
"You shouldn't be here Katie."
"Says who." She says to him defiantly.
"I say Katie. Now Alaric," He says turning his attention to Alaric, "I don't think you should sleep over anymore. It's inappropriate with children in the house."
"Hey Elena, Jeremy and I are not kids. We're fine with Alaric staying over. You do this everytime you come into town. You cause trouble. Maybe it would be better if you just stopped and stayed out of everyone's lives." Katie storms away from the two men and heads outside to get some fresh air.
While all that was happening, Elijah and Damon were busy talking. "What can I do for you, Damon?"
"I was hoping we could have a chat." Damon says, turning round to face Elijah.
"Katie tells me that Elena is with Stefan."
"Yeah. She'll be safe with him. They decided to lay low. You know, werewolf problems and all."
"Oh yeah. I heard about that." Elijah says as he looks around the room.
"I'm sure you did considering it was your witch who saved the day."
"You are welcome."
"Which adds to my confusion," Damon adds, "exactly why you're here."
Elijah smirks at him. "Why don't you just stay focused on keeping Elena and Katie safe and leave everything else to me. Now if you don't mind, I really should be getting back to Katie." He says as he starts to walk away.
Damon speeds over to him, blocking his path. "You better not harm Katie or I will find some way to kill you and as for your plan, it isn't good enough."
At the mention of Damon implying that he would hurt Katie, Elijah grabs him by the throat and slams him into the wall behind him. Damon tries to grab him but Elijah breaks his wrist. "Let me make one thing clear, Damon. I would never hurt Katie. Unlike yourself, she is willing to co-operate with me. Don't come in here and challenge me."
"You can't kill me. It's not what you agreed with the twins." Damon says, struggling to get out of Elijah's grip.
"Be silent." He stabs Damon in the neck with a pencil and drops him to the ground. He pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his hands. "Never doubt my ability to protect Katie. In the future you might want to try and show me some respect." He throws the handkerchief to Damon. "The moment you cease to be of use to me, you're dead."
He walks out of the room to look for Katie. Carol Lockwood informs him that she saw Katie sitting on a bench outside. He goes outside and spots Katie where Mrs Lockwood said she would be. Upon his approach, he notices Katie looks a little stressed. "Are you ok, Katie?" He asks as he sits down next to her.
Katie runs a hand through her hair. "Yeah. I just had an argument with my uncle John."
"Would you like to talk about it?"
"No it's ok. How did your talk with Damon go?" She asks him.
Elijah decided to leave out specific details. "We came to an understanding."
"That's great."
"I have to leave now, Katie. Would you like me to take you home?"
"No it's ok. I'm gonna hang out with Damon for a while."
Elijah stand up and hands her a piece of paper. "Here is my number. Call me to let me know you get home safely."
Katie grins as she gets up and takes the paper from him. "Thanks. I will do."
Elijah gives her one final smile before going to his car and driving away. Katie heads back inside and finds Damon. "Everything ok?" She asks.
"Where's Elijah?"
"He went away." She replies.
Damon and Katie meet up with Alaric and they head back to the Salvatore mansion. Katie sends a quick text to Jenna letting her know where she is.
"Today was a bust." Damon says as they sit in the living room. Alaric is sat on a chair and Katie is laying on one of the couches, asleep.
"Yeah, it sure was." Alaric replies. "How's the throat?"
"Sore."
"Yeah Elijah is one scary dude but with great hair."
"You should have seen how mad he got when I basically implied that he couldn't protect Katie. I thought he was gonna kill me." Damon tells Alaric.
"Should we be worried about Elijah's behaviour?" He asks Damon out of concern for Katie.
Damon thinks about it before replying, "No. He pretty much showed he'll stop at nothing to make sure she's safe."
"Ok." Alaric says getting up from the couch. "Do you want another?" He asks grabbing Damon's glass to refill.
"He's gonna be hard to kill."
"Yeah, I'd think twice before I'd trust that dagger and some ashes to do the job." He pours them both a drink. "You should get more info before you do anything else."
"I'm out of sources." Damon tells him.
They then talk about Damon and Andie's relationship. Alaric looks at his phone. "I gotta go and pick Jenna up. Will you make sure Katie gets home ok when she wakes up?"
"Yeah don't worry." Alaric walks out of the room and Damon lays back in his chair. Just a minute later, he hears a crash which wakes Katie up.
"What's going on Damon." She asks, frightened.
"I don't know. Stay here." He tells her before investigating the source of the crash.
Katie waits nervously for Damon to come back. She then hears more crashing followed by some grunts of pain and leaps of the couch to see what's going on. He sees Alaric on the ground with a stake impaled in his stomach and a man standing over Damon with a syringe in his hand. The man turns to look at her. "You're the doppelganger." He rushes behind her and grabs her by the hair. Katie yelps in pain and Damon tries to get up to help her but is too weak from the vervain.
A familiar face walks in with a group of men holding a weapon. "Hi Damon. Nice to see you again."
"We lucked out Jules. Looks like we have the doppelganger." The man holding Katie tells Jules.
"Yeah we were told that there were two doppelgangers. Take her into that room and keep control of her." She point to the rest of her group. "Grab those two." She says pointing to Alaric and Damon.
Katie struggles to get out of the man's grip as he drags her into the room. "Quit fidgeting."
"Look please don't hurt him." She pleads with the men tying Damon to a chair.
"Why are you protecting a vampire?" One of the men asks.
"He's my friend."
"Interesting friends you have then." Jules announces as she walks into the room.
Damon starts to wake up. "Morning sunshine. I saw this movie once, some torture porn flick. They had this really cool collar device so I modified it with some wooden nails and when I pull." The man holding the chains to Damon's collar pulls and Damon groans in pain.
"No leave him alone." Katie cries out as she continues to struggle out of her captor's grip.
"Be quiet." Jules tells her. "I hear you have the moonstone."
Damon laughs at her. "If only you knew the irony of this moment right now. Let me tell you how this is gonna go. You're gonna torture me, I don't talk, someone loses a heart. Last time, it was your boy Mason."
"This time," Jules says walking up to him, "it'll be you."
The man pulls on Damon's collar again. "Please he doesn't have the moonstone." Katie tells Jules.
"Do you know where the moonstone is?" Jules asks her.
"No."
"Well shut up then." She shouts at Katie. She then turns her attention to Damon. "Do you know what the great thing about buckshot is? It scatters through the body. Maximum damage." She points the gun at Damon. "Where's the moonstone?"
"Get over it, honey." Damon replies cockily. "You're never gonna get it."
"Looking for this?" A new voice speaks out. Everyone turns around to see Elijah standing there holding the moonstone. Katie lets out a sigh of relief at Elijah's presence. Elijah looks at Katie and is angered that these werewolves would dare touch her. He walks further into the room and puts the moonstone on the table. "Let the girl go and you can all walk out of here with the moonstone."
The man holding Katie throws her to the ground and rushes for the moonstone. Elijah is quicker and disposes of the man. Two other rush towards him and he kills them to. Jules flees the scene leaving someone behind. Elijah bends down to help Katie up. "Are you alright?" He asks, checking her over for injuries.
"I'm fine Elijah."
The man beside Damon's chair, crouches down and pulls his hood over his head in an attempt at hiding. Elijah approaches the man and pulls him to his feet. "What about you sweetheart. You want to have a go? Yes, no." He looks around the room. "Where's the girl?"
"Don't know." Damon replies.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter." He breaks the man's neck and frees Damon from the contraption. "You realise this is the third time I've saved your life now. You have also put Katie's life in danger and that is something that I cannot tolerate." He steps closer to Damon. "Make sure it doesn't happen again." He turns back to Katie. "I'll take you home now Katie."
Elijah drives Katie home and walks her to her front door. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"
"Yeah I'm just going to go to bed and sleep it off."
Elijah reaches out and cups her cheek, stroking it with his thumb. "You will call me if you need anything, at any time."
"I will Elijah." She says, enjoying the feeling of his thumb stroking her cheek. She eyes his lips and can't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them. She unconsciously moves closer to Elijah and he does the same. Elijah has been thinking about this ever since he met Katie. She looks like his love, Valencia, but at the same time she is different. Their lips are only inches apart. They both look into each others eyes and finally they close the distance between them. To both of them, the kiss is unlike anything they could have imagined. It felt like they were the only ones that existed in the world and they felt all their problems melt away.
They break the kiss and look at each other with content. "You need your rest and I should be going. We should talk about this tomorrow. Would you like to meet me for lunch at the grill?" Elijah asks her.
"Yeah I'd like that." She says smiling at him.
He strokes her cheek one more time before bidding her goodnight. She enters her house and sees Elijah still standing there. "Goodnight." She smiles at him before closing the door.
"Everything ok?" Jenna asks her seeing the grin on her face.
"Yeah. Everything is great." She replies before heading upstairs to get ready for bed. The kiss still fresh in her mind.
I can't believe it's been near enough a year since I worked on this story. I thought it was about time I got off my butt and got working on it. I want to thank everyone that has reviewed, faved and followed the story since then. It means a lot to hear what you think of the story. Hope that this chapter makes up for the wait. I have a bunch of stories planned so I will be starting a couple of those but don't worry, I won't be abandoning this story. Next chapter should be interesting. Till then.
Lady Wesker xxx
