CHAPTER 10

General POV

Irina arrived to the Boarding House around 4 AM, heels in hand, and beyond drunk. After leaving the warehouse, she had every intention of going to Damon's but had, in the end, chosen otherwise. Instead, she found herself in a very crowded bar in Richmond. This was her environment: the city. And not a hell-hole town like Mystic Falls. She had never liked them; they were boring and had nothing to offer. And not to mention that everybody knew everybody, so her kills were a little more limited.

Before Damon, she would've picked a gorgeous guy, and perhaps a beautiful lady, and taken them home. She would've had a long night, filled with pleasure, and a blood fest; and then, in the morning, she would kill them with absolutely no remorse. But, that was then, and this was now. She sighed.

She didn't know what to expect when she'd return home. Maybe Damon getting mad, for once again bailing on him, and taking off to do who knows what, with God knows who. Or even the little gang, sitting in the parlor, still debating ways to get back their precious Elena. Only god knew what she'd find in the boarding house. But what she'd never expected was exactly what she had found.

A note. A note addressed to her, might she add. From who, she'd soon find out. With shaky hands, she opened the envelope, and retrieved the contents. Her blurry sight, quickly focused when she read the first words.

...

My dearest Irina:

853 years have passed since you and I have seen one another.

You may think that you've gotten away from me, and that you can escape from my hold over you. But you and I are very aware that you cannot. You and I know, you didn't get free from me on that eventful night in 1159. For centuries, you've lived your life as if you were safe from me; but it was because I let you, not because you actually were. All this time I've known exactly where you've been; and whom you've been with.

But after the events occurred in the last decade, I think it's time you and I reunite. Do you not?

I know you know where I'm staying. I caught your scent when I arrived. And I felt your presence in the tree just outside.

I want you to meet me there. 6 AM. Sharp. Oh, and make sure you bring the stake, your lover took the day Alaric Saltzman was killed.

P.S. This is not a request. You had better show up. If you do not, I'll have to pay your precious Damon a visit. And it will not be a pleasant one.

Forever, and ever, your maker,

Alexander.

...

Even in the paper, Irina could feel the menace Alexander meant. The threat implied by his last words. She could do nothing but stare at the offensive piece of paper, weighing her options.

Could she make it out of town, before he came and found her?

If she did, where would she go?

What would Alexander do? Would he follow through with his threat?

Would Damon get hurt?

Could she leave without him?

All these questions were running through her mind right at the moment. She felt hopeless, not quite sure what to do anymore.

If, and that was a big if, she was able to get the hell out of there, then there was a big chance that would be the last time she'd ever see Damon. But if she stayed, she wasn't sure if she'd live to see another day. She, more than anyone, knew what Alexander was capable of.

She grew more and more anxious as time ticked by. Two hours. It was how long she had left, to decide what her next course of action would be. She could only hope it would be enough.

Damon was sitting on the big couch in Bonnie's house, and although it was the first time he had been in her home, he wasn't exactly in the mood to do a look over. There were more pressing matters on his shoulders. Like why the fuck the spell didn't seem to be working.

Bonnie snorted exasperatedly, seeing as the result of the spell was only flames. She extended her hand for Damon's, and he immediately gave it to her.

He didn't even wince as the witch used the knife to cut through his palm, drawing blood into the big goblet she had before her, on the floor. When she had all the blood she needed, she released his hand, put hers together in front of her, and the chanting began once again.

The immediate result was the combustion of his blood into big flames that lit up the entire room. He had hope that this time it might work. But any resemblance of tiny hope he had, dissipated as soon as Bonnie shook her head, the exasperation once again plastered on her face.

"Why isn't it working? This is supposed to work!" Bonnie threw her arms in the air, and abruptly snapped shut the grimoire sitting on her crossed legs.

"Then perhaps, you should do a better research, before going around, giving us hope!2 Damon knew snapping would help absolutely no one, but he couldn't help it. It was Elena. His Elena.

"You know, you can stop being an ass. It's not helping matters" The witch spat back.

"Well, you're not exactly being helpful either." Damon threw, standing on his feet. He snapped the grimoire off of Bonnie's hands, and made his way to the exit.

"Hey, where're you going?" Bonnie stood, too, looking bewildered. "Gimme back my grimoire!" she extended her hand expectantly.

"If you can't do shit…" he turned to look at her. A condescending-yet-angry look upon his face. "I'll find someone who will." The next instant he was gone.

Bonnie could only stand there, dumfounded. Cursing the flown-off vampire.

Around half an hour later, Irina heard the front door being shut closed, and immediately knew it was Damon. He's finally decided tocome home… she thought sarcastically. But knew she was being hypocritical, given that she had fled off a couple times herself.

In an instant, he was in the room. He threw down the book he had with him at the entrance, and started unbuttoning his shirt. Although it was dark, she could see the wary and exhausted look in his face.

"Tough day?" even though her voice was hard, he could catch the caring beneath it.

"Tough week" he responded dejectedly, buttoning off his pants, and throwing them to the neat pile of laundry by the corner of his room.

"Wanna talk about what's bothering you?" she propositioned, making her way into the bathroom along with him.

Damon turned on the hot water, and shed off his boxers, leaving him in all his naked glory. He shook his head as he entered the shower, letting the warmth of the water wash away the tension on his back.

"Nothing is bothering me" he answered and had she not had vampire hearing, she wouldn't have been able to catch up on his answer.

Irina found it rather weird that that had been the longest conversation they had had since they came back to Mystic Falls.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she quickly shed off her own clothes, and threw herself in the shower.

"You seem to be forgetting that before you significant other, I'm your friend" she massaged his back, encouraging him to talk. "Talk to me, Damon. It hurts how apart we've come since we set feet in this town."

His shoulders were shaking, indicating his bottling up emotions were about to burst away.

"Leave it, Irina. Let's not start something that might be the beginning of the end" he warned her. He didn't want to talk about what was bothering him, because he was afraid that as soon as he did, their already so fragile relationship would come crashing down.

Irina gasped at the harshness in his voice. It wasn't as if it was the first time he'd used his harsh voice with her, but the meaning of his words were what hurt the most.

She didn't need him to tell him what the matter was, because it had all been revealed by the gang of humans, vampires and hybrids earlier on. But she wanted to hear him say it. She wanted him to be honest with her. They couldn't keep building their relationship over lies of omission, like they had been doing for so long. She didn't fear their relationship would be destroyed by the lies, but because of what it all meant.

If they could so easily lie to each other then, would their union ever be real? She didn't think so. But she was also afraid of losing him. He had been the only constant in her life for the past three years. Hell, he had been the only constant in her whole fucking life. She didn't want to let him go. But she would, if needed be.

"Stop it, Damon! Stop pretending everything is fine. Every-fucking-thing is not fine! Far from it actually!" the Russian spat, unable to contain it within anymore.

"Irina, stop! I do not need this at the moment! There are more pressing things at the moment!" Damon fired back, turning around and pinning her to the wall with his forearm on her wet chest.

"Like your precious Elena?! Don't go around thinking I didn't see how really worried you actually were, when those morons broke the news to you. And the guilt! You might think you're good at masking your emotions. But if there's something I learned in my long life on earth is to do it better. You think you can hide things from me, but you're wrong. I can read you like an open book! So don't ever think for one moment you can fool me!" Irina easily overpowered his grip on her.

"Guilt?I don't do guilt, Irina. But you knew that already. It's such a human thing, and we're not human!"

"But you wished you were" it wasn't a question, but a statement. She realized what he was doing. He was spinning the whole situation around. "Don't change the topic on me, Salvatore"

Damon's frustration finally broke down.

"You think this is easy for me?! It wasn't supposed to be like this! It was supposed to be easy. Come here, get that damned stake and then get the hell away from here, as soon as we had it! Elena wasn't supposed to be put in danger! She wasn't supposed to suffer anymore. That was the only reason I left town in the first place! So she and Stefan could be happy! But then we come here, and they're not even together! ALL THE PAIN WAS FOR NOTHING! MINE! ELENA'S! STEFAN'S! AND EVEN YOURS! I HATE THAT MY DOUBT IS SLOWLY KILLING YOU, AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE HURT FROM ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME! I SWORE I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU!"

"So that's what's really bothering you, isn't it? The fact that Stefan and Elena aren't together, and yet you can't be with her, because you feel like you owe it to me? Not to go back to her!"

"I don't want to be with Elena!"

"You can feed all that bullshit to all of your pathetic little friends, but not me! I told you, you can't lie to me!" Irina yelled, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation.

"I'm not lying. If I say I don't wanna be with her, then I don't want to fucking be with her!" Damon stressed out.

"Wanna try that again?" she smirked.

"What's the matter with you?" he said through clenched teeth. "Shouldn't you be glad that I don't care about, Elena anymore? That has always been your biggest fear since you confessed you loved me. That I might still love Elena, that I might not be over her as I said I was!"

"You don't care about her, huh?" the smirked was kept in place on Irina's face.

"No, I don't" Damon lied.

"Then, you wouldn't want to know where she is, would you?" she had the satisfaction of watching his body tense, and the color leave his face. In a second, he had her pinned to the wall once again. All his strength on the arm holding her against the tiles.

"What the hell do you know?!" he demanded, spitting the question on her face.

"You should know that I know everything, Damon. Going to the witch was a mistake. She can't help you" Irina muttered.

"And you can?" Damon's face was scrunched up in disgust. He couldn't believe Irina had known all along were Elena was, and she hadn't bothered to share it with him. In truth he was hurt. But he would never admit it out loud.

"Yes, I can. And I will" she finally broke free from his constriction, getting out of the shower. She dried off, and walked into the bedroom. Damon shook his head and followed.

"Why would you want to help me find the person you see as your rival?"

"I won't help you find her. I already have. I will, however, help you bring her back"

"But why?"

"I'm not doing it for her. I'm doing it for myself."

"What do you mean? What do you get out of it?"

"My revenge. Her captor is the one who turned me."

Damon's mouth opened a bit, but he closed it as soon as he realized it had. He felt torn. On one hand there was Elena, and the possibility of saving her. But on the other, there was Irina, and there danger it might mean to her by saving Elena. What if they were able to get the doppelganger back, but Irina died in the process? And what if they didn't go find her and Elena got killed?

"How do we do this?"