Chapter Two
It is with a sense of clarity that Elena steps off the train at Penn Station in New York City and finds herself caught up in the traffic of people moving outside. Lifting her head and gazing at the buildings breaking up her view of the sky, she feels invigorated. She can't remember the last time she strayed this far from Mystic Falls, much less without a Salvatore bodyguard.
Shouldering her bag she hails and cab and climbs in. "The Four Seasons," she tells the driver. As she looks out the window at the city moving around her, she indulges herself in a rare moment of enjoyment after all, she is young and beautiful and in New York City, as a vampire she can do anything, have anything, and be anyone that she wants. Determined to enjoy her Katherine free day, Elena compels herself a room and sets out to explore New York.
On Fifth Avenue she stops for a few new outfits, in Times Square she picks up some disposable cell phones to call Damon without being traced, and while exploring Greenwich Village she hits the jackpot, a blood drive at NYU.
That evening on her way back to the hotel, Elena strolls past a salon. A poster in the window advertises a cut and colour special. She pauses for a moment contemplating; a new look would be a nice change, less work, and it would make it harder to mistake her for Katherine. Shrugging, she opens the door and walks in. Two hours later, after intense debate with the stylist, she emerges with her hair several shades darker and cropped to her shoulders.
Katherine never gave her a time to meet so Elena spends the following morning at the Starbucks across the street from Washington Square Park, watching for her. Finally, around mid-morning, she spots her get out a cab and stroll over to the centre of the Square. Armed with a take away mug she filled with a blood bag, Elena follows her.
"You showed." Katherine comments as Elena takes a seat on the bench next to her. "I'm surprised."
Elena shrugs. "I want to break the sire bond, you want to kill Klaus. We have a mutually beneficial goal."
"I see Stefan has been busy blabbing," Katherine says, tilting her head up to soak up a bit of winter sunlight. "Who else knows I was in town?"
"Just Damon and I. And as long as I'm alive and okay, they won't tell Klaus." Elena threatens, sipping her drink casually.
Katherine laughs. "Wow. Did you come up with that threat all by yourself?" She says with mocking admiration.
Elena ignores her, "How do you break the sire bond, Katherine?" She questions, exasperated.
"What is Klaus up to, Elena?" Katherine counters.
Elena raises her eyebrows. "What makes you think I know I if he's up to something? You know as well as anybody that Damon and Stefan are perfectly happy to leave me in the dark."
"I don't know, I'm taking a gamble that you do. My deal still stands. I'll help you break the sire bond, you tell me what you know and help me kill Klaus." Elena observes her coolly for a moment. "C'mon Elena. You know I can't kill him by myself. If I'm going find the witch I need and bring her back to Mystic Falls, it's going to have to be a group effort. As much as I hate it, I'm going to need all of you on my side."
Elena holds out her hand. "If you tell me what I want know and help me break the sire bond, we have a deal. I'll even get Stefan and Damon on board."
Katherine shakes it. "What do you want to know?"
"Tyler Lockwood told me that a sire bond doesn't affect how you feel about a person. That you can be bonded and still hate them at the same time. Is that true?"
"Do you know why a sire bond happens Elena?" Katherine asks.
"Not really," Elena responds. "Tyler said the hybrids bond to Klaus because they're grateful they no longer have to turn. So they break it by turning over and over. Is there a vampire equivalent?"
"No, this may surprise you Elena but vampires and hybrids are different," she says slowly, as if Elena is a particularly stupid child. "When a vampire is turned," Katherine continues, "sometimes they find it very traumatic to cope with. And if they already have strong a bond or feelings for the vampire who turned them, they subconsciously cleave themselves to them. Thus creating the sire bond."
"So it doesn't affect how you feel about someone?" Elena asks hopefully, "I just sired bonded to Damon as a coping mechanism?"
Katherine shrugs, "You could call it that. I prefer karmic justice though. All your pathetic little human issues are now biting you in the ass. It's almost poetic in a way." She pauses for a moment, examining her nails.
"If you want my help, you're going to have to try not insulting me." Elena spits.
"You can call me a psychotic bitch all you want, it's the truth." Katherine says, disinterested. "You sire bonded to Damon because you had a whole slew of issues that you couldn't cope with once they got amplified. And if you want my help breaking it you're going to stop getting constantly offended and let me finish."
Elena narrows her eyes but doesn't say anything further.
Katherine continues. "The sire bond doesn't create feelings out of nothing. It doesn't really create anything out of nothing. Your vampire nature is amplifying whatever it was you felt before, or were before, it's not related to the sire bond, that's just being a vampire. All the sire bond means is that your subconscious is confusing Damon's desires with yours. If he tells you to do something or if he wants something, even if you didn't want that, your subconscious makes you think you do because you don't trust your own judgement anymore. It influences your actions in regards to him but whatever your feelings are for him, those are your own."
Elena sits leans back on the bench, processing this. "That explains a lot. Don't most vampires turn people because they have feelings for them though? Shouldn't that mean more it's more common?"
"They're not as rare as vampires think they are, although they are a lot rarer than they used to be."
"How do you know all this?"
"I've been around a long time Elena, I've seen more than one form, and more importantly, I've seen them break. In the middle ages, it was a sign of fealty for a vampire to bond with their sire, in fact a lot of them faked it to get more land or money or what have you. Some bonds are fairly weak, they can be broken with enough time and adjustment. Sometimes the vampires don't even realize they're bonded. But the stronger the relationship, the harder it is to break."
"But how do I do it?"
"I knew you as a human, you were obviously in denial about a lot facets of your personality and now that everything is amplified I'm betting you feel like a different person," Katherine says, rummaging through her purse and pulling out a compact. "You need to learn to trust your own judgement again and face all the things you've been in denial about. If you can manage that, your subconscious will stop cleaving itself to Damon."
"And you're going to help me with this how?"
"God you ask a lot of questions," she says, examining herself in the mirror. "I'm going to show you some things. Walk you through your issues." She cringes, snapping her compact shut. "Trust me. Spending time with you is the last thing I want to do but as much as I hate it, I need you. Come on." She says, getting up.
"Where are we going?" Elena asks.
"To see a witch. I'm going to show you something."
"I thought a witch couldn't help with the sire bond," Elena comments, confused.
"She can't. Well not without massive ritual sacrifice," she says flippantly. "But she can help me show you something."
She hails a cab and jumps into the front seat, Elena reluctantly climbs into the back.
"Sunset Park Brooklyn," Katherine compels the driver. "Has Damon taught you how to feed yet?" She asks Elena as he pulls into traffic.
"He's taught me snatch-eat-erase." Elena replies. "But I prefer to use blood bags if I can."
Katherine rolls her eyes. "I prefer snatch-eat-kill." she says, holding the drivers bleeding wrist out to Elena. The driver continues to drive with a blank expression his face.
Elena gapes at the dripping wrist in front of her. "I already ate." She says after a deep breath, holding up her now empty to go cup. "And please don't kill him."
Katherine shrugs and puts it to her own mouth instead. "You're a vampire Elena." She says after several moments of feeding. "This is what we do. You might have Damon whipped into some pious little not killing people frenzy but believe me, he will cave eventually and so will you. It's our nature."
"Don't you feel guilt Katherine?" She wonders aloud, "I know you haven't turned your humanity off, how do you do it?"
"After five hundred years it's easy. I've figured out how to accept what pleases me and reject what doesn't." She flings the cab drivers wrist back at him. "Now tell me about Klaus."
Elena settles back in her seat, crossing her arms. "He's convinced there's a cure for vampirism and he's trying to find it."
Katherine leans back pondering this. "So he can turn you back and make more hybrids," she sighs. "He really does have a one track mind doesn't he? Let me guess, Damon and Stefan are fully on board with this."
"I tried to talk them out of it but Stefan thinks he can fix me and Damon..." she hesitates.
"Damon thinks he can save you from himself," Katherine finishes for her. "They are so predictable. Especially when it comes to you. Where do they think it is?"
"They're not sure. They have a vampire hunter, one of the Five, and he has to kill enough vampires to complete a map that will lead to a cure."
"How long do you think we have before he does?"
"I'm not really in the loop but Damon thinks a few weeks. They're trying to find a way to get him to kill vampires without you know, killing of us. Once they do it's anyone's guess."
"Knowing Klaus, we don't have much time. We have to find the vampire who can lead us to the witch before they find the cure." Katherine says, mostly to herself as she ponders this.
"Who is this vampire we're looking for?" Elena asks, "Damon said he was ruthless."
"That is his reputation." Katherine responds, gazing out the window.
"So you don't know him?"
"Not personally. He and Stefan go way back to 1917. They tore up Monterey together. From what I understand he's still in the area but Stefan said he was going after the Slayer so I don't know. He could be dead. If he is I don't know what we'll do."
"He went after the what?"
"The Slayer." Katherine clarifies as if this is obvious.
"I don't know what that is." Elena responds, confused.
Katherine turns around in her seat and faces her, her shocked expression revealing an usual amount of emotion. "You've been a vampire for what, four months? And in all that time, you're telling me that neither Damon and Stefan mentioned the Slayer."
"Um...no."
"God, no wonder you're useless. I can't believe they didn't tell you," she mutters to herself.
"Hey!" Elena exclaims.
"The Slayer is a girl who is called to hunt vampires." Katherine explains.
"Like one of the Five?"
"It's similar but the Slayer is always just one girl whereas the Five are always a group of men. It used to be that every generation there was one girl called up to fight the forces of evil, with supernatural strength and abilities to help her kill vampires. Sometimes idiots, like Spike apparently is, seek her out and try and take her on for bragging rights. I for one, keep my distance. But now that is getting harder because apparently someone undid the magic that bound the Slayer to one girl at a time and now there's more of them."
"Oh."
"Yeah, I'm betting the Salvatores don't know about that part yet. They've been out of the game since they met you. It's going to get all three of you killed if they don't pull their heads out of their asses."
Elena winces but continues with her line of questioning, "Damon said there were different kinds of vampires, that they were like a different breed?"
"Yes, they are. They're the ones that inspired all the legends about holy water and crucifixes and such. They don't have daylight rings either. I've met a few of them, trust me, they might be more ruthless, but we are much smarter."
"And this vampire will hopefully lead us to a witch who can help us?"
"Not just any witch. I have been hearing rumours that a witch exists who is so powerful she nearly brought on an apocalypse. Do you know how rare it is for a witch to channel that kind of power without killing herself?"
"Obviously," Elena retorts.
Katherine snorts, "Right, I forgot about your little Bennett witch."
The cab lurches to a halt in front of a small store front with dusty multi coloured crystals hanging in the window. Katherine glances at the driver.
"You're going to wait here until we're done and then you're going to drive us back. Understood?" The cab driver nods, blankly. Elena throws him an apologetic look as she and Katherine make their way into the store.
The door chimes as the girls enter the shop. The inside is filled with shelves and shelves of crystals and minerals. Elena wrinkles her nose at the reeking incense, waiting for an inevitable sneeze and then remembers she no longer as the capacity to do so.
"Katherine Pierce." A tall woman calls quietly from behind the counter. Her entire body seems to be draped in multi coloured scarves. "You're here to cash in on that favour aren't you?"
"I am. You're lucky it's a small one. I need you to do a memory transfer."
"Right now?" She asks, her eyes shifting from Elena to Katherine.
"Yes right now. Do you think I trekked all the way to Brooklyn for the fun of it?" Katherine snaps impatiently.
The woman sighs, "Come to the back room then and we'll get set up. Who is this?" She asks glancing at Elena, "You never mentioned you had a twin."
"She's a long story," Katherine replies tersely. "Let's get this over with."
The woman leads the way to a cramped back room that so covered in candles and draped fabric it is an inferno waiting to happen.
"If the two of you would have a seat please," the woman gestures to a small table with a few chairs at it. "Whose memory am I transferring?"
"You're starting with one of mine and then you're taking one of hers." Katherine explains, taking a seat.
"I'm sorry, what are we doing?" Elena asks, following suit.
"I told you. I need to show you something," Katherine says, annoyed. "You want to break the sire bond? You need to come to grips with all your issues. I'm going to show you something that might help you."
"A sire bond hmmm?" The witch says, scanning her bookshelf. "Those are tricky business. I didn't think you could break them."
"That's because you barely qualify as a witch," Katherine snaps.
"Katherine!" Elena exclaims, equal parts shocked and yet unsurprised by her rudeness.
"Shut up Elena." Katherine snipes. "I'm going to show you a few memories that might help you. And then you're going to show me what Klaus is doing. That way I know you're telling the truth and you know I am too."
The witch comes towards them with a book. "Alright. I'm going to need you to join hands. Elena, you need to try and clear your mind while Katherine brings up the memories she wants to show you. If it works, her memory is going to come up in your mind and you're going to see it through her eyes. Do you understand?"
"I do."
Elena and Katherine reluctantly join hands, a moment later the witch begins to chant. After a few seconds, Elena feels a blur, then a shift. She finds herself standing in a dark hallway, to her left is a door, a small crack of light seeping from under it. Beyond it, she can hear raised voices.
"Are you not aware people in town are beginning to talk? I have been lenient with you Damon but you have more than recovered from your injuries! It is time you returned to the war!" There is a thud of a fist hitting a table.
"What about my duties here father?" Damon's voice responds, slightly more quietly. Katherine remains at the edge of the hallway, listening.
"What duties? All I've seen you do this week is flirt with Miss Pierce and lark about with Stefan! I won't have you leading your brother down the same path as you Damon!"
"And what path is that?" Damon questions, obviously becoming angrier by the second.
"A cowardly one that allows other men to die in your place while you flirt and dance and play football. You should be ashamed of yourself. You're going to bring this family to ruin!" Giuseppe Salvatore shouts, his words are shaky, slightly slurred with either anger or drink.
"I should be ashamed of myself?" Damon responds in disbelief, "While I was off fighting in the war you left the running of this entire plantation in Stefan's hands while you drank your demons away! What path do you think you're leading him down?"
"Stefan knows his duty to this family and to the Confederacy." Mr. Salvatore replies curtly, lowering his voice slightly.
"You have berated me incessantly to fight in this war but I can't help but notice you haven't said a word to Stefan." Damon points out.
Giuseppe sputters, "He's too young," he finally says. "He's not ready."
"Please, he's old enough now and willing enough," Damon says evenly. "And we both know he's far more prepared to go to war then he is to run a plantation. Face it father, the only thing keeping him here is your insistence that he stay. Because even you aren't committed enough to the Confederacy to sacrifice your favourite son for it, are you?"
"How dare you speak to me that way!" He erupts. "Do you realize that you accuse me of treason, I who has supported the Cause from its very inception!" There is a crash and a shattering of glass. "When the time comes, I will proudly see Stefan off to fulfil his duty to his country! At least he wants to go! But you Damon, are nothing but a coward. I hope to god your poor mother can't see what you've become!" Katherine takes a step back into the shadows as Giuseppe Salvatore storms out of the room, slamming the door. Muttering to himself, he stumbles and into a room further down the hall. Katherine waits a moment and then slowly creeps into the room where Damon remains. Quietly, she opens it. Damon is standing with his back to the door, poking the fire absently, a smashed decanter at his feet.
"Damon?" Katherine says quietly.
Damon glances up and turns to face her. "Miss Katherine. I apologise, I didn't know you were here." He says, granting her a small bow.
Katherine moves closer and drops to a quick curtsey. "I came to see if you wanted to join us downstairs for a hand of cards but I'm afraid I interrupted something.
"I apologise if you overheard my father's rough words. I'm afraid he's rather angry with me." Damon's eyes flick to the broken glass on the floor.
"There is no need to apologise, Mr. Salvatore." Katherine says sweetly. "If I do say so myself, your father is the one who owes you an apology. He is quite unfair to you."
"You are too kind Miss Katherine." Damon responds.
"I speak only the truth." She says, laying a hand on his arm. "There is nothing cowardly about refusing to die for a cause you do not believe in. You are a far better man then people give you credit for."
Damon gives a half smile. "You are a rare woman indeed Miss Katherine. Both beautiful and charming." Katherine tilts her head, giving him a simpering smile.
"I've told you, you may call me Katherine."
He offers her his arm. "Come, then Katherine, perhaps you can charm me out of my mood, shall we join my brother for a hand of cards?"
There is a blur and Elena can tell the memory is several weeks later. She finds herself lying in bed, her forehead touching Damon's. He brushes a lock of her hair from her face, his eyes regard her tenderly but they have a sense of melancholy behind them.
"I don't want to go back," he says whispering. Katherine's hand comes up, stroking a scar that stretches all the way across his shoulder. "All those men dying for nothing. I know everyone thinks your kind are demons but compare to the things I have seen men do..." He sighs. "I don't want Stefan to have to go either. It's horrible Katherine."
"Shhhhh." Katherine says, placing a finger over his lips. "I will turn you soon and all of this will be over. You will never have to think of it again. We will do whatever we want, no war, no responsibilities, no rules."
"Nothing but us, forever." Damon says sleepily against her hand.
Katherine replaces her finger with her lips, as she kisses him, the room blurs Elena finds herself back in the store, blinking. Across from her, Katherine smirks.
"Why did you show me that?" Elena cries, reeling. "What does that have to do with the sire bond?"
"Think about it." Katherine retorts. "You'll figure it out. In the mean time I need you to show me what you know about Klaus."
Elena takes a few breaths, resisting the urge to attack her. She turns to the witch impatiently. "How do I do this?"
"You just need to focus on the memory you want to show her in as much detail as you can and I will do the rest."
Elena closes her eyes and thinks back to the morning Damon told her about the cure. She was sitting in her bed, he was sitting on the edge, holding her hand. She remembers the softness of the light, the feeling of his hand in hers, and the timbre of his voice.
The next thing she knows, she is back in her bedroom and Damon is speaking. "I am about to take a very high, annoying road," he says. She sits quietly as he continues to confess the full extent of what he and Stefan knew at the time. When he finishes, Elena feels the memory beginning to warp, she blinks her eyes open, meeting Katherine's identical ones.
"So your brother is one of the Five?" She states, "Your life really is pathetic, Elena. I almost feel sorry for you." She lets go of Elena's hand. "Almost."
Elena decides not to dignify her with a response. With a curt nod to the witch in thanks, she strolls out of the store, blank faced.
"Oh don't be like this Elena." Katherine calls after her. "I showed you what I did because I needed you to see it."
"Did it occur to you that Damon might not have wanted me to see that?"
"That was part of the point Elena. I'm trying to weaken the bond. " She holds open the door to the cab for her. "I never said this was going to be easy. It might even be painful. But if you're going to do have to learn to do this my way."
"I don't trust you." Elena says, getting into the cab, Katherine slides in next to her.
"Good. You're smarter than I thought you were. You should never trust anyone but yourself, Elena."
"That's a sad way to live." Elena comments.
"It's the only way to live if you want to keep yourself alive. Where are we going by the way?" Katherine asks.
"I'm at the Four Seasons." She replies.
Katherine smirks, "Well at least you have taste."
Back at the hotel, Elena immediately heads for the liquor cabinet, hoping to soothe her conflicting feelings. As she knocks back a shot of scotch she contemplates what she has witnessed. In the years she's known him, she's seen Damon at his very best and at his very worst but she has never seen him look so unguarded. Standing in front of that fireplace as Katherine walked in, he seemed so young, so far from the self assured man she has come to know. A part of her feels guilty that she was witness to such intimate moments, moments he would never want her to see but a small part of her is jealous too, that Katherine has seen a part of him she has only glimpsed. More than anything though, she wants to hear his voice.
She has her cell phone with her filled with text messages from her friends but she knows for their safety she can't answer any of them. Instead, she flicks on some music loud enough in case Katherine is trying to listen from her room across the hall and reaches for one of the prepaid disposable cell phones.
"Hello?" He picks up on the second ring, there is a sound of rustling behind him.
"Damon?" She asks.
"I'm here." He says soothingly, Elena leans back on the bed, feeling a sense of relief.
"I'm glad. It's nice to hear your voice. I miss you. I have...things to tell you."
"Are you alright?" He asks, his voice filled with concern. "Wait. How do I know you're you and not Katherine? Tell me something only you would know. What's your favourite book?"
Elena smiles, "Wuthering Heights. Which you hate and are convinced Emily Bronte wrote as a joke."
"She did. Nobody was that emo."
"I'm sorry, were you there? No."
"I was... alive." Damon retorts.
"I looked it up. You were seven and you were obviously on the other side of the Atlantic." Elena teases.
"Hey," Damon protests, "I remember 1847. That's the year Stefan was born...and something happened with Mexico... and it was hot and there was lots of...cotton... Anyways, how is everything?"
"I have something to tell you but you first, is Jeremy alright? Did you tell Stefan? What is the Klaus situation?"
"Calm down. Everyone is fine. Nobody's dead...yet."
"Damon..."
"Relax. Klaus is super pissed you took off but I think Caroline managed to talk him out of any immediate violent retribution. He thinks you've gotten fed up with Stefan and I and ran off to clear your head. You owe Caroline big time by the way."
"Yeah I know."
"No, not just for that. I told Stefan about us."
"Did he take it badly?" Elena asks, concerned.
"Well..." Damon hesitates, "the good news is, he hasn't massacred the entire town, mostly thanks to Caroline. But... bad news, he's not speaking to me and I haven't seen him sober in..." Damon hesitates trying to think. "...a really long time. And he keeps breaking my stuff. Basically he's turning into our father."
"Is he going to be okay?" Elena inquires anxiously.
"I don't know, Elena," Damon responds, frustrated. "I'm hoping it's just a temporary temper tantrum but it's not like there's a handbook for what to do to keep your brother from mass murder after you tell him you're sleeping with his ex. Speaking of psychotic brothers— I'm at the lake house with yours. Morticia and Uncle Fester are trying to brainwash him as we speak."
"He's alright?"
"He's fine, Elena. I promised you I would keep him safe."
"Thank you." She says, a relieved smile tugging at her lips.
"What is it you wanted to tell me?" Damon asks.
Elena hesitates, "Katherine showed me something today, it was...strange."
"What did she do?" Damon asks, suddenly accusatory.
"She took me to a witch and we did a memory transfer."
"A what?"
"Basically Katherine pulled up a couple of memories and the witch made it so I could see them."
"Oh. What were they?"
"They were of you. She showed me you before you turned...I've never seen you like that before. You were so...human."
Damon doesn't say anything for a moment. "What exactly did you see?" He says finally.
"She showed me...she was lurking in the hallway and your father was yelling at you about going back to the war. He was..." she hesitates searching for a word that isn't loaded but gives up, "...he was cruel," she says finally. She can hear Damon take a ragged breath.
"I wish you hadn't seen that," he exhales after a long pause.
"I feel like I've invaded your privacy, I'm sorry," Elena confesses.
"It's not your fault Elena, it's Katherine's." He spits angrily. "She's messing with you, trying to get into your head. Is that all she showed you?"
"No. She showed me the two of you in bed together."
"She did, what!" Damon responds. "Put her on the phone!"
"Damon, calm down it wasn't so bad, I mean, I saw it through her eyes so it was like I was lying in bed with you, just you know, in 1864. You were talking about the war. You had a scar on your shoulder; you don't have that anymore, do you?"
"No. It went away when I turned." He says quietly.
"Was it from the war? I didn't even know you'd been in it."
"Yes." He says curtly.
"What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it Elena."
"Damon, we need to talk about this," she pleads.
"Elena, we are not having this conversation over the phone. Or preferably at all."
"I admire you," Elena insists, "You were brave. You were trying to do the right thing, you were then and you are now."
"No Elena, I was weak. I begged her to turn me. I hated my life and my father and I thought it would be a way out. It was wrong of me. And then I spent the next century and a half trying to get the stupid bitch out of the tomb—"
"Wait!" Elena exclaims, realizing something.
"What?" Damon asks, unhappy about being interrupted from his favourite past time of insulting Katherine.
"Damon, is it possible you were sire bonded to Katherine?"
"What! What kind of roofied Kool-Aid does she have you drinking? Why would you think that?"
Elena ignores him, "What you just said, you spent a century and a half trying to get her out of the tomb."
"Elena, I am not sire bonded to Katherine." Damon insists.
"Not anymore." Elena says excitedly, "But what if you broke it on your own when you found out she wasn't in the tomb?"
Damon sighs. "Elena, put Katherine on the phone. Now."
"Hang on." Elena turns down the music and treads down the hall. Katherine is sitting in her suite watching tv and receiving a pedicure from a compelled nail specialist she nabbed from the hotel spa. "Damon wants to talk to you." Elena says, hitting a few buttons. "Damon, you're on speaker."
"What do you want?" Katherine asks.
"And a pleasure speaking to you too Miss Katherine," Damon responds caustically. "Please tell me what the hell is going on."
"I think Elena just figured it out."
"I am not sire bonded to you." He insists.
"Well not anymore you aren't. Unfortunately. But I think you were. I mean when I turned you, I knew there was a risk of it. Why do you think I avoided you for a century and a half?"
"Gee, I don't know, out of self preservation?"
"We both know you'd have been very happy to see me. And judging by that kiss, you were."
"Only because I thought you were Elena."
"Who is basically me."
"I'm not even going to dignify that one with a response. We were never sire bonded. Like you would have turned down a willing lackey? Please."
"I thought about it. But you it was too dangerous to be seen with either of you. Think about it Damon. A sire bond forms because the new vampire has profoundly lost a sense of who they are and they have strong feelings for their sire. Elena sired to you because all of the things about herself she was in denial about became amplified and she couldn't cope. And you sired to me for similar reasons, you were lost, you couldn't handle who you were. You coped with it by spending the next century and a half obsessed with trying to get me out of that tomb."
"Great story Kath. Prove it."
"I can't prove we were sire bonded, Damon." She snipes. "That's not the point of this little exercise."
"What's the point then?"
"God you people are idiots. I was trying to show her that it can be broken. That you're not that different, you had vulnerabilities too and you still have them."
"I am not vulnerable."
"I am perfectly aware of Damon's vulnerabilities," Elena protests. "You didn't have to invade his privacy by showing me that!"
"I am not vulnerable!" Damon insists.
"Shut up Damon!" Katherine snaps. "You did too need to see it," she says to Elena. "You might know some of them. But these are the ones that run deep."
"Katherine, please stop talking." Damon begs.
"Hey, I'm just trying to help her break the sire bond here. And I'm doing it my way."
"Well, while you're doing it your way, let me remind you that if anything, and I mean anything happens to her while she is with you or near you or in any way ever. I don't care how long it takes to find you, I will hunt you down and I will rip you into tiny little pieces and I will kill you very slowly and painfully. And you won't even be able to enjoy whatever it is you think you're going to accomplish because you will be very, very dead. Do you understand?"
"Would you get over yourself?" Katherine complains, "Even if I wanted to kill her, she's seriously too boring to bother. It's no wonder she sire bonded to you, you've spent years forcing her to rely on you because you never tell her anything. Did you seriously think it was a good idea to send her out into the world without even knowing about the Slayer? No wonder she can't handle herself. You're lucky she's with me, on her own she'd be dead in two days."
"I'm standing right here!" Elena reminds her.
Katherine turns to her, "All I'm saying is I thought maybe you'd be slightly more interesting as a vampire. But all that got amplified was your boringness."
She flings picks up the phone and flings it at Elena who catches it and storms out with a lingering glare at Katherine.
"Sure you don't want to come home?" Damon asks. "I bet our homicidal brothers are looking pretty good to you about now."
"I'll pass." She says, shutting her bedroom door and turning her music back up.
"Are you sure? Stefan may or may not burn the house down later. Could be fun. I'm bringing marshmallows."
"Don't joke." She reprimands, flopping down on the bed.
"Oh c'mon Elena. At this point there's nothing to do but laugh about it. And lament the loss of all the furniture he's destroyed. He broke my TV."
"Damon!" Elena cries in frustration.
"Alright. I'm sorry. I can't speak for Stefan but for what's worth, I never told you about the Slayer because I honestly just forgot about it."
"That's not all there is though, there's a lot of things you guys haven't told me, aren't there? Like about your father or your childhood."
"It's not important."
"Katherine seems to think it is."
"Yeah well I trust her judgement about as far as I can throw it. And oh, would you look at that, I can't throw it at all."
"Look, we don't have to talk about it now, but someday will you tell me about your human life?"
"It's all really boring Elena," Damon says defensively.
"Not to me it's not."
Damon huffs. "Fine. Someday."
"Promise?" She says hopefully.
"I promise. Hey listen, I wanted to tell you. You don't have to tell me where you are but if you are where I think Stefan told you to go, there's someone you should look up who might be able to help you."
"Who?" Elena says excitedly, sitting up.
"Her name is Cordelia Chase. She's an old acquaintance of an old acquaintance. But I guess she used to run with this vampire who was on some sort of Stefan like road to redemption or something. She might be able to help you. She worked at this place called Angel Investigations."
"I'll see what I can find." Elena says, reaching for her laptop.
"I only met her once but I remembered it might be useful right after you left. Listen I should go. I told Bonnie I'd help them test out how well Jeremy is deprogrammed. If it works I'm going to stay out here with him and Matt and get them started killing vamps."
"Be careful. Please. And don't hurt him."
"We'll be fine. You're the one who is shacking up with the world's number one psychopath." Damon points out.
"Thank you Damon," she says lovingly.
"For what?"
"For everything. For telling Stefan and helping Jeremy and just being—"
"Hey, you just do what you've got to do and come home as soon as you can alright?" He says comforting.
A smile tugs at her lips, "I miss you. And I know it's not the sire bond."
"I know," he replies. "I miss you too."
A/N: I'm still looking for a beta if anyone is interested. Thanks for reading!