Hey, guys! Super, super, SUPER long chapter here... a little over 12,000 words. This is the first episode I've done where I have inserts of 3rd POV with other characters. And, we will also be getting more in depth into Audrey and Stefan's relationship...
Okay, so I'm not going to bore you with a long A/N, especially since the chapter's so long. So, please enjoy the chapter and make sure to review at the end! Oh, and please do me a favor and read the bottom A/N for instructions about the poll on my profile! I need some help :)
Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)
The Devil Inside
"Could you loosen your grip, Iron Woman?" I spat to Nadia, who held me extremely tightly by the upper arm as she pulled me off to the side where we watched Katherine, in Elena's body, walk over to my friend Matt. "You've already compelled me not to leave your side."
Nadia hesitantly removed her iron hold from my arm, and I rubbed it gently, trying to soothe the irritated skin. As much as I hated to admit it, I was compelled not to leave. My hand travelled up to my neck, but it began to grow nostalgic when it couldn't find the circular locket around the collarbone. I sighed out of frustration.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
"Come on," Nadia barked at me, but I didn't have much of a choice with the answer. Again, she gripped my arm with that same iron hold and flashed us over to where Katherine was, making my stomach churn and my face turn green. As I stumbled, Nadia shoved Matt's shoulders down and pushed him onto the bench. "Just compel him already," Nadia shot, her voice rising a pitch, towards Katherine.
"Take the fun right out of it, why don't you?" Katherine returned, scrunching her nose up, slightly angry.
"Can I sit or are you two going to compel me to stand for the rest of the day?" I asked, giving both vampires a hateful stare. Matt looked up at me, confused.
"Mads, what are you—"
"Sit, Sunshine," Katherine chirped, pointing down at the bench. I frowned at her cutsie little nickname that she'd given me. It was a downright stupid nickname. It didn't even make sense! Complying with her approval of my request, I crossed my arms over my chest angrily as I sat down beside Matt on the bench. She then exhaled and bent down to face Matt right in the eye. "Play along with my secret Mattypants." See? That was a good nickname. Why did I get stuck with Sunshine? "Would Elena wear this outfit to a party?"
Matt surveyed Katherine's outfit choice, though she was wearing my sister's body. "No to the dress," he answered by no choice of his own. "Yes to the shoes." Matt turned his head to me. "Why couldn't you help her with this?"
Katherine answered for me, groaning with no limits, "She's useless without her memory intact. But she's fun, so whatever." Katherine shrugged. I shot a bitter smile at her.
"Jeez, Katherine. It's nice to know that I'm appreciated."
Katherine again shrugged and then began to twirl her finger around the red streaks of hair in my sister's hair. I didn't realize it, but the second I saw her twirl her finger around hers, I started playing with mine. I could see the blue streaks in the corner of my eye, and I thought about how long I'd kept these in. To be honest, I didn't need them in anymore, I just hadn't gotten around to taking them out yet. Once I got out of Katherine's trap, though, there was no doubt that I would. "Now let's talk honestly about the red thing that's happening in my hair."
"Join the Hair Color Club," I suggested. "It seems to be a trend nowadays." I gestured at my own.
Katherine shot me a frown while Matt spoke, "Wait, so you're dead? And…and what? Hitching a ride in her brain?"
"For now," Nadia answered him. "Until I make it permanent."
"Permanent?" Matt almost shrieked. "How—?"
"Hello!" Katherine snapped, gaining Matt's undivided attention. "The hair! Why did she dye it?"
"I don't know!" Matt exclaimed. "Madeline and Elena both got them done in New York after Elena shut her humanity off."
"But her humanity's back now," Katherine said, thinking it over. "Perfect. It's gone. We'll see what we can do about yours later, Sunshine." As she spoke, Katherine sat down in the bench on the other side of Matt and continued. "Okay. When's Jeremy's birthday?"
"October thirteenth."
"When's Elena's birthday?"
"June twenty-second."
"When's Madeline's birthday?"
"September thirtieth."
"I could've told you that, Katherine," I said, leaning over to look at my sister-slash-demon bitch.
Katherine merely shrugged as a response to me. "What's my address?" she inquired from Matt.
"2104 Maple Street, but you burnt your house down," Matt pointed out. Katherine gave a devilish smirk.
"I know. That was a trick question!" She patted Matt's leg. "Good job!" Katherine inhaled. "Who do I like better? Bonnie or Caroline?" The vampire dropped her voice to a whisper, "Please say Caroline."
"You love them both," Matt returned pointedly, "Equally."
Katherine almost rolled her eyes. "Well that's a shocker!" she quipped sarcastically, slightly irritated at the answer. Katherine eventually sighed and moved on, "I just have one last question…it's very important because I'm going to need it later." Katherine leaned over and I caught her staring at me, almost with calculating eyes before she turned back to Matt. "How, exactly, did Madeline break up with you?"
Earlier that Day
Damon hummed, disguising his agony with a cheerful tune, as he pushed open the door to the Salvatore house and stuck the dirt-covered shovel that he had just used by the corner of the door while he stepped inside. As he shut the door, his brother raised his arms, confused. "Where've you been?" Stefan asked.
Damon gave his brother a smirk, "Just out."
"Define out," Stefan pushed.
"One who hovers and sticks his nose in other people's business." Damon paused, looking up at his brother with fake shock, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was defining annoying." Again, he shot the bronze-haired vampire a smirk and began to sway back and forth, rubbing his dirt-covered shoes all over the front rug.
"That's funny."
"Katherine's rotting corpse was stinking up the house," Damon shrugged. "I got rid of it."
"Could be a bit of a problem," his brother admitted. Damon knotted his eyebrows together.
"Oh, and why's that?" Stefan's only response was a jerk of his head to the side, and Damon looked over to see Katherine's daughter walk out into his vision."
"Because I'm here for Katherine's body," Nadia explained.
"You're outta luck," Damon responded heartlessly. "You ain't gettin' it," he commented snidely, brushing past Stefan to grab a glass of alcohol.
"My mother asked to be buried with her family in Bulgaria," Nadia returned, her voice stone cold. Damon only smiled, though he didn't face her.
"And nothing gives me greater joy than to deny her dying wish."
"Damon, who cares!" Stefan exclaimed, exasperated. "Katherine's dead, just give her the damn body!"
"Bitch ruined our lives." Damon turned around to face Katherine's spawn in front of him. He raised his glass of bourbon-whiskey as he spoke, "Nadia's known her, what? Five minutes?" Damon grinned mischievously.
As he began to drink his alcohol, Nadia lunged at the Salvatore, knocking the drink right out of his hand so the contents spilled all over the floor. With her hand on his throat, she growled, "Tell me where she is!"
But in a flash, Damon grabbed her hand, twisted it around, and pushed them against the nearest wall, now just plain pissed off. "The nicest thing that Katherine Pierce will ever do is feeding the maggots that feast on her flesh," he snarled to Nadia, whose back was to him as he pinned her against the wall forcefully. "Give it up." He released the vampire and whispered in her ear, "You're not gettin' her back."
And, with a Damon-like smile, he turned to his brother, gave him a look, and left without a single other word.
After his brother left so arrogantly, Stefan decided to go get a drink of his own, and while he did so, he pulled out his phone and called Caroline, deciding that there was something to be done about his brother's temper.
"Hey, I need a favor…" Stefan trailed off as he poured himself a glass of liquor. "You know how Damon was trying to be all noble and broke up with Madeline?"
Caroline was silent for a moment. "Wait, what?" Stefan sighed, rubbing his head. Of course he was the only one who picked it up. "Are you telling me they were ever together in the first place? What the hell—"
"Caroline," Stefan said, reeling her back in from the start of her rant. "Relax. She probably just didn't get a chance to tell you. Neither one of them told me, I just brought it up and Damon agreed. But, anyway, they…almost got back together, from my understanding, but he broke up with her because he's afraid of the fact that she's human and he's a vampire," Stefan explained.
Caroline snorted. "Wow. When had that ever been a problem before?"
Stefan shrugged. "Yeah…well, anyways, I convinced him that he was an idiot—"
"You what?"
"And now he's in a bit of a mood…" Stefan trailed off. "And, something tells me that he's trying to get a hold of Madeline, but she's not returning his calls."
Caroline exhaled largely. "Look, I would love to help if I thought that Damon was actually good for her, but I don't," she said simply.
"Caroline," Stefan tried, but she wouldn't take it.
"No, Stefan, no! He cheated on her, how is that supposed to be okay?"
"It's not, Caroline," Stefan agreed, nodding his head though she couldn't see. "I realize that, but Damon has learned from his mistakes. And we both know that Madeline has made her fair share of them, too."
"That doesn't make me automatically think that he's good for her. She deserves better."
"How would you like to be judged solely on someone who you were attracted to, huh?" Stefan prompted her, raising his eyebrows.
Over the phone, Caroline panicked. "Why? Do you know something?"
Stefan knotted his eyebrows even further. "Why? Should I know something?"
The blonde vampire froze for a moment. "Uh…" Stefan gave a confused look, realizing that there was something really wrong with this conversation. "I-I just wanna make sure that you and I are doing what's best for her. I mean…Damon and Madeline…Madeline and Damon…I'm sure there's a…nickname in there somewhere." She laughed awkwardly.
"Look, I actually think that Madeline is good for Damon, and the other way around, too. He takes her out of her comfort zone…she makes him happy…and when Damon's happy…"
"He's not out there killing people," Caroline finished with a sigh. "Which, I guess, is a plus for mankind."
"Exactly."
Again, the blonde vampire sighed. "But even if I wanted to help, she's not here. Neither is Elena…I thought that they were with you."
Stefan raised his eyebrows, confused. "Elena told me they were with you…"
Caroline jerked her head back in surprise. "Okay…that's…weird. Well, where the hell are they?"
When I stirred from the head injury I endured by Katherine's hand, I found that my mind had not shown me anything in my absence from the real world.
"Oh, great," I heard a voice chirp. Through my slowly focusing eyes, I could see someone next to me. "Morning, Sunshine. You're a very popular girl today," the voice grumbled.
I blinked a few times to get used to my vision, and when things cleared up, I saw Elena sitting on a bed, both of her hands restrained by thick chains or handcuffs, with an annoyed look on her face. "Elena?" I whispered, confused. As I tried to move, I found myself retrained – only one of my hands bound to the headboard of the bed I was lying on. Nervously, I looked around to get aware of my surroundings, only to find myself in an oddly nice hotel room.
And that's when it came back to me.
I snapped my head over to Elena, who was actually Katherine. "Katherine," I practically hissed.
"I'm curious," Katherine began, "How is it that you don't commit suicide over that thing!" she snapped, looking in the direction of something. I opened my mouth to ask what the hell she was talking about, but then I heard it. The incessant sound of something vibrating against a table was the only sound in the room.
"My phone?" I asked, confused. "Who's calling me?"
"Who isn't calling you?" Katherine practically laughed. "Your boyfriend has been sending you a bunch of text messages and called you at least twelve times, and I'm almost positive I saw Caroline, Stefan, and Audrey on Caller ID, too. What the hell did you win?"
"Damon's been calling me?" I inquired, beyond bewildered at that statement.
Katherine nodded, almost incredulously. "Uh…yeah. Keeps leaving these stupid messages telling you to call him because he made some horrible mistake," she mocked, her expression beyond annoyed. "What? Did you two finally do the deed?"
I was suddenly done with the topic – not only because I didn't want to talk about it, but also because Katherine was really pissing me off. "Katherine, what the hell did you do to my sister?" I almost screamed at her.
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Trust me, it's better off this way."
"Better off? What the hell? You just said some weird words in this foreign language and she passed out and then woke up and then there was this black thing in her eyes—" I let my eyes glide over Katherine, but I was terrified at what I saw. I swallowed at the sight of the black slits for eyes suddenly appearing. "Sort of like that," I admitted, my voice small.
And when Katherine opened her eyes again, she began to move her head back and forth. "What…what happened?" she asked into the open air, struggling against the restraints on her body. I waited as she caught my gaze, and I was majorly confused when my sister breathed out, "Mads?"
"…Elena?" I asked, unsure.
"What's going on?" Elena asked desperately, her voice almost whimpering. Wow. There really was a difference between Katherine and Elena. While one bitched, the other one moaned. Elena took a few moments and then finally straightened, snapping her head towards me. "It was Katherine, wasn't it?"
I nodded, skeptical of the entire situation. Elena let her eyes slide to the restraints that bound her to the headboard, and I watched as she panted, almost crying, and that's when the phone began to ring. I couldn't see who it was – I was too far, but once Elena saw the phone, her desperation to get out of her cries for freedom got louder. Elena began to yank on the chains that kept her prisoner, and eventually, she broke both chains free from the bed's hold, and then began to work on her feet. "Wow," I said, slightly impressed.
Elena only threw the chains off of her body and slid off the bed and over to me, using one very strong pull to snap the handcuff from the bed that set me free.
"We have to get out of here," Elena said desperately. I nodded in full agreement as I worked on getting off the cuff around my wrist, though I knew it was hopeless. Elena rushed over to the phone that kept ringing, and I didn't notice that it was her own that had been ringing, too. But I was barely paying attention, trying to bend my wrist so that the uncomfortable handcuff would come off of my wrist, and that's when Nadia returned.
"Hello, Elena," Nadia said, making both Elena and I jump out of our skin. I stilled in my movements as Elena spoke.
"You!" Elena snarled, "You put Katherine inside of me instead of you!" she accused.
Without continuing the conversation, Nadia spoke in that same unknown language to me. I swallowed and decided that there was no hope for Elena if we were both here, so I began to get off the bed, carefully, and I slid my body so that I was eventually off the bed. Nadia was too preoccupied with Elena to give a damn about me, which made my attempted escape easy.
But it was just that.
An attempted escape.
Nadia flashed over to me, and I suddenly felt something being pulled from my neck. Not soon after I heard the hiss from the burn come out of Nadia's mouth that I realized it was my necklace. Oh, no. My vervain necklace. Nadia gripped my shoulders tight once the burning healed and stared straight at me, and I was unable to turn away. "You are not to leave our side without us instructing you to, do you understand?"
I had no choice but to answer, "I understand."
Nadia relaxed, and her eyes flickered over to Katherine, who was looking around, looking as if she was about to murder somebody. "What happened?" Katherine growled angrily.
"Elena Gilbert happened," Nadia answered, sauntering over to my possessed sister. I swallowed and turned to the door, but every bone in my body was preventing me from taking even a single step closer to the salvation.
"Wonderful," Katherine snarled. "She's fighting. It's only a matter of time before she comes out again." Katherine looked up at Nadia, her stare ice-cold. "Did you get my body?" she asked harshly, but the devil's spawn didn't say anything in return, which could only mean one thing.
"Oh, come on," Damon groaned to Stefan as the siblings bonded over drink and a game of billiard at the Mystic Grill. "Katherine's where she's always belonged…I'm not giving her back. Quit giving me that damn pouty face," Damon instructed, tapping his brother on the shoulder.
Stefan shook his head. "I'm not giving you the pouty face, this is my 'You're being a dick' face," he explained. Damon straightened as Stefan continued, "Madeline hasn't called you back…it's making you completely miserable."
A frustrated Damon drowned his liquor completely, swallowing hard. "Yeah, I'm completely miserable," he admitted, turning from the vampire and going over to the billiard table, ready to take his shot. "It's your fault – telling me to get her back!"
"No, you're miserable because you did what you always do," Stefan returned as Damon lined up to take his shot at the pool table. "You had an argument and instead of dealing with it and facing it like an adult, you cut ties and you ran."
"I didn't cut ties, I did what I thought was best," Damon responded seriously, but the two were interrupted by the certain blonde vampire and a red-haired human that crashed their party.
"Okay, so Bonnie took Jeremy to go visit her mom and neither of them have talked to Elena or Madeline," Caroline announced as she approached Stefan and Damon at the Grill.
Damon walked around the table to meet Caroline. "Who invited you?" he asked, looking directly at her. "I only signed up for one Forbes, and that's her," Damon said, pointing at Audrey, "So scram." Damon made a gesture with his hand to signal his dismay.
"Caroline and Audrey have agreed to help you get Mads back," Stefan said simply, grabbing Damon's cue stick to take his own shot. Damon stared at Caroline, beyond confused.
"You?" Damon began, pointing his finger at her. Caroline gave him a weak smile. "You hate me. You once told me that calling me Satan was an insult to Satan!" He crossed his arms.
Caroline snuck a glance at Stefan, who gave her a reassuring glance, almost telling her to lie if she must. "Well…" she trailed off, but then looked at Damon, "Nobody's perfect," Caroline laughed.
Damon was hesitant about the whole situation. "So this is what it's come to?" he asked his brother. "You brought me love advice from Prudy Trudy and her sidekick who cut all ties with you the second it got complicated?" Damon asked, throwing a glance to Audrey.
Audrey made an offended sound. "I did not…cut ties because things got complicated!" the human defended herself, her eyes flickering to Stefan's for a split second. Stefan only lowered his, saying nothing. Eventually, she sighed. "Well...you know, you're no better, Salvatore!" she exclaimed.
"And I can be unpredictable," Caroline added on. "And…incredibly reckless!"
Damon looked back and forth between Audrey, Caroline, and Stefan. "What's going on here?" No answer. "Are you three babysitting me?"
"We're just hanging out!" Stefan exclaimed innocently. "Chattin'."
"I don't need this," Damon assured them, turning to Caroline. "And I don't need your help." He looked back and forth between the Forbes girls and walked away, which earned a massive eye roll from Caroline.
Audrey looked over at Stefan. "I didn't cut ties because things got complicated," she assured him. Stefan sighed. "I didn't!" No answer from either of the vampires that were standing with her. "Oh—you know what? I'm going to get a drink!" she exclaimed frustratedly, going off in another direction, leaving Caroline and Stefan alone, abandoned by their siblings.
"Well," Stefan said, rocking back and forth on his heels. "I guess you better try Madeline again."
Katherine snatched my phone off of the hard surface of the table beside her as she paced. I sat on the bed I had been kept on before, and Nadia sat on the one adjacent to mind. "Seriously?" Katherine demanded, grabbing my phone with irritation. "I have never seen a group of needier people. It's bad enough that Damon's trying to win you back"—Katherine shot a pointed glance at me—"but both you and Elena are getting texts from Caroline, Stefan, and Audrey, too. 'Where are you?'" she began to quote. "'I'm worried about you.' 'Call me.' 'Are you going to Tyler's party?'" Katherine began to speak through her teeth, clearly beyond annoyed, "It's a wonder these things still have a battery!"
I rolled my eyes at the bitch while Nadia talked, "They're getting suspicious," she stated.
Katherine snorted. "Yeah."
"We need to find your body," Nadia rushed out.
I shrugged. "If we're lucky, it's probably at the bottom of the Hoover Dam," I suggested lightly, shooting Katherine a bitter smile. How could I ever even think – for even a second – that I actually liked her?
Katherine stared at me with cold, yet Elena-looking eyes, and I found myself being given a headache. Katherine…Elena…Katherine…Elena. God, it was so confusing. Suddenly, though, Katherine gasped through Elena's lips. "Stefan texted us and asked us if we were going to Tyler's party," she began, the diabolical wheels no doubt turning ferociously in her mind. "Maybe we do go. Convince everyone that Elena and Madeline are alive and well, and we…casually ask him where Damon buried me."
"You mean you go to Tyler's party and you ask them where Damon buried you," I corrected, practically spitting the words through my teeth. Hell if I was going to help her after everything. Sorry, I wasn't that forgiving.
Katherine gave me a sour laugh. "I think you forgot that you no longer have this on," Katherine said, beginning to swing something in front of my face. I watched as the vervain necklace dangled from her hand, swaying back and forth as if trying to hypnotize me. I swallowed hard, realizing that she was right. "So you can willingly go along with my plans or I'm just going to have to compel you." Katherine shrugged lightly.
"No," Nadia countered abruptly, earning Katherine's attention. "No way! You said it yourself it's just a matter of time until Elena shows up again."
"Madeline can shove her back in if she needs to."
Nadia turned her head to me, narrowing her eyes. Again, she said that creepy Czech word that brought Katherine forward in Elena's body, but I stared at her blankly.
"Veet? Wait, like the waxing stuff?" I asked, completely bewildered. Instead of arguing, Nadia just pointedly looked at Katherine, as if she had just proven her point.
Katherine sighed in understanding. To be honest, I was offended, but not nearly enough to make a scene. "Fine. Then you come with us, too."
"This is not the right place to be around all her friends," Nadia argued, trying to prove her point. But, Katherine being Katherine…in Elena's body, wouldn't listen.
"I've impersonated Elena a million times. I can mimic…everything about her."
"This is different," Nadia said slowly, standing up to face her mother. "You're not impersonating Elena. You are Elena." Katherine scoffed at the statement, as if she was too good to listen. "When is her birthday? What grade did her and Caroline meet? Where did her and Stefan kiss for the first time—" Nadia spitballed, but Katherine couldn't come up with the answers to any of those questions.
"Okay!" Katherine shouted. "Okay, I…I get your point. I'm going to have to brush up on a few fun facts," she said irritatingly, but then slowly began to turn around. I pulled my knees to my chest, sighing in exasperation. I just wanted to leave.
But Katherine didn't have such plans for me.
She sat down on the bed by my feet and snapped her fingers. By an involuntary reaction, I jumped, which ultimately brought my eyes to hers, where she found her chance. "When is Elena's birthday?" she compelled me, and I felt a strong urge to tell her the answer to the question
There was only one problem.
"I…I don't know," I admitted nervously, sputtering the words out without hesitation. Obviously, the compulsion worked. Well.
Katherine sighed. "Where did her and Stefan kiss for the first time?"
"I don't know."
"When did she and Caroline meet?"
"I don't know."
"God!" Katherine exclaimed angrily, getting up from the bed immediately, rubbing her head. "Do you know anything?"
I frowned. "Well, sorry if I spent the summer with my memory wiped by some evil-ass doppelgänger of my ex-best friend's," I snapped. Katherine paced back and forth, shaking her hands to try and come up with a new solution to her problem.
And, eventually, she found it – which she signaled with a sharp inhale. "There might be another person that can help."
Katherine and I both walked up to the Lockwood mansion, which was booming with music from every direction. People crowded the front yard and inside of the house – dancing, kissing, hugging, talking…whatever. When we reached the threshold, I – of course – had no problem getting through it.
Katherine – or, Elena – had just the slightest bit.
"You've got to be kidding me," Katherine hissed under her breath, but smiled at the next stranger she saw.
I crossed my arms, smiling at her vindictively. "What's the matter Kit-Kat?" I asked her lightly. "You look stuck."
Katherine grimaced at me, her angry eyes flashing. But before we could continue our bitch-off, which I was intending upon winning, Matt interrupted us.
"Hey," he said, greeting the two of us from inside of the house, where I was standing. He looked over at Katherine, who smiled at him. "Oh! Right. Elena, come on in," Matt offered, gesturing inside. He, of course, remembered nothing about Katherine's scheme, and though I was lucky enough to remember it, I wasn't so fortunate to be able to get words out whenever I wanted to tell someone. Which inevitably brought up the expression "cat got your tongue?" once or twice in my mind.
"Thank you," Katherine breathed, stepping inside. I just kept the unhappy look over my face, which, to others, would just seem like good old Madeline having another bad day. As Katherine walked in, she turned on her heel and faced Matt. "Well, that wasn't awkward at all…"
Matt laughed. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay." Katherine mindlessly began to compel him, "Now go find some blonde to hit on."
Matt completely ignored her, but the compulsion was evident in his words. "All right, I'm going to go make the rounds. You two need anything?"
Katherine gave him a beam. "We're good. Thanks." And, like that, he walked away. I turned to Katherine, my arms still crossed over my chest.
"You know, I kind of wanted a beer," I informed her. Katherine shot me a glare, scoffed, and pulled me along in her evil direction.
"Why does it seem like all you people do is party at the most random times?" Katherine murmured under her breath as we looked around for Stefan so we could ask where Damon hid the body.
I scoffed. "It's Mystic Falls," I said simply. "What are we supposed to do? Go to school?" I laughed at my own joke because…according to my memories of the last few weeks at Whitmore and the memories that had been given back to me before the summer, it really didn't seem like we had any time for school.
Partying? Of course we had time for that with all the shit that goes down in this place.
We finally found Stefan, in the parlor of the mansion…oddly talking with Audrey. I stared at them with confusion before Katherine finally spotted them, taking my hint of looking in their direction. "I thought they broke up," Katherine hissed as we watched Stefan hand her a beer cup and tap his to hers before the two drank and resumed conversation.
I frowned. "They did," I answered; completely unaware of what had been going on during my absence. Truthfully, I had no idea who was in love with who in this town. So far, I gathered that Audrey and Stefan were together…but so were Stefan and Elena. And then there was Damon and I…and then Damon and Elena…
Huh. Was Audrey ever involved with Damon? That'd be something like a love…hexagon?
"I'll get Stefan away to talk to them, you keep Audrey preoccupied, got it?" she demanded, but without waiting for an answer, Katherine flipped her hair skillfully, making sure she looked good for the younger Salvatore. She then walked forward towards them, which brought me with her by no choice of my own.
"Hey," Katherine interrupted them as we both came to a stop. Stefan and Audrey stopped their conversation, mid-laugh, to face us.
"Oh my God!" Audrey exclaimed, looking at the two of us with surprise. "You…you two are here!"
Katherine scoffed innocently. "Where else would we be?" I tried to speak about where I was, but the words didn't come out. I sighed when I lost hope.
"You're alive," Stefan quipped with a smile.
"Of course we're alive," Katherine laughed.
"Well where have you been?" Audrey asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, out and about." Katherine shrugged. "Mads and I just needed to get away from everything. Sister bonding," she remarked, giving a slight smile. This, of course, earned suspicious glances from Audrey and Stefan, so I intervened – by no choice of my own. Katherine's compulsion also required me to back her up and keep her from going off-book.
"And, by that, she means that we decided to bury the hatchet," I corrected, soothing the two's suspicions. "We've been fighting for too long…blood is thicker than water." I forced out a laugh.
When things became silent between the four of us, Katherine spoke, but only to Stefan. "Wow! Stefan Salvatore drinks beer out of a cup!" She reached forward and grabbed the red plastic cup that Stefan had toasted to Audrey with. "Do you want me to show you where Tyler keeps the bourbon?" And she turned in a different direction, drinking out of Stefan's cup.
"No, I'm trying to stay away from the hard stuff." Stefan went after her, leaving Audrey and I alone together, but they didn't go far. When they were gone, Audrey, without turning, spoke.
"So…you and Elena…sister bonding?" she questioned as she sipped her drink. I sighed heavily, desperately wanting to tell her that the person in my sister's body was not my sister, but I couldn't say anything. Instead, I went along with our story as I began to pour a much needed drink.
"Don't even ask." I groaned. Audrey chuckled against her cup and I chugged the liquid that I'd put inside, making a stinging sound when I came back to reality. "So…you and Stefan?"
Audrey sighed. "Don't even ask," she repeated my words with annoyance, but then turned to me. I sipped my beer and peered at her over the cup as she spoke. "Do you think I made a mistake? Damon said something this morning about running from him because things were too complicated."
I opened my mouth to speak, but the hesitation I was facing wasn't because of the compulsion. "Well…did you?" I prompted. Audrey was silent, facing the same hesitation I was. "Look, just tell me why you broke up with him."
"Because I thought he was still in love with Elena," she explained, as if I should've known. "But, of course, she chose Damon and he left. Little did I know he was spending the summer drowning in a quarry by his evil doppelgänger's hand."
"And do you regret breaking up with him?"
Audrey frowned. "Mads, it's Stefan," she muttered grimly as she pulled her cup to her lips. Against the brim, she spoke again. "Of course I do."
I laughed slightly, drinking out of my own cup. "Then stop being so scared and just go for it," I said, copying her muttering stance by saying these words against the brim of my cup. Though I didn't answer the question she asked aloud, I answered the question that was running through her head.
Things were silent between Audrey and I for a moment before she spoke. "You know, Damon's been trying to win you back all day."
I sighed heavily, the lightness fading from my voice. "I know."
"You don't sound too happy about it," Audrey accused me. I stayed silent, drinking slight sips of the alcohol I acquired. "He made a mistake, Mads. Damon's good for you—you're good for Damon. You two were always meant to be and you know that."
I turned to her, shaking my head. "If we were really meant to be, we wouldn't have all of these problems," I returned. Audrey opened her mouth to speak in counter of my words, but Katherine interrupted us.
"All right." Katherine smiled and took the drink out of my hand, setting it down on the table. "Come on, Mads, let's get something to eat." Somehow, I knew she was lying. But she said the words to Audrey, using the excuse for our departure. I guess she found what she needed.
"Ah, as much as I've enjoyed your quality bourbon, I feel confident our next drink will taste better with the sound of young Aaron's dying screams ringing in our years," Enzo taunted Damon as he lounged in the parlor of the Salvatore boarding house. Damon paced, not knowing what the hell to do with the bleeding Whitmore boy that was on his couch, ready to be finished off. Enzo continued, "And the knowledge of your final act of revenge will have brought us both closure and a knew beginning."
"I'm just curious," Damon began. "Do you ask all of your friends to prove their loyalty by killing someone over drinks?"
Enzo leaned forward. "His grandfather slit our eyes open with a scalpel," Enzo defended himself, standing up from the chair he had been lounging on. "You've taken out everyone else in the Whitmore family—I thought you'd want this!"
"Would you believe he's a friend of a friend?"
"No," Enzo growled teasingly as he walked forward. "Because that would force me to believe that you've gone soft. When you and I both know that your very first impulse when I presented him to you was to rip out his throat." Enzo turned around and sat back down on the chair he had previously been in. "Surely my old friend's still in there someplace."
But the conflict in Damon ran deep. To kill or not to kill Aaron Whitmore was the question he was burdened with – but he knew that if he didn't kill the boy, Enzo certainly would. One name ran through his mind over and over again, knowing that the girl he was thinking about wouldn't appreciate it if Damon killed the Whitmore.
"End this," Enzo pushed, gesturing towards Aaron on the couch. "For both of us."
But before Damon could answer the pushy vampire, his phone began to ring, and taking no chances, he pulled it out to see that it wasn't the person he wanted to speak. Once he hit the accept button, he growled into the phone, "Really bad timing Blondie. I'm dealing with a blast from the past."
"Then deal with it quickly and get your ass over to Tyler's. Madeline's here," Caroline informed him.
"Looks like he's coming around," Enzo spoke, and as Damon turned around, he ended the call with Caroline to face Enzo watching as Aaron woke up from his unconsciousness, stumbling up from the couch. "It's time to make a decision, Damon. Do you want to kill him or shall I?"
Damon thought about it, but he knew he had to make a decision—fast. So, he flashed over towards Aaron's direction, but instead went behind the human, snapping his ex-best friend's neck so the vampire fell onto the floor, lifeless. "I hate deadlines," he murmured.
"I didn't see that one coming," the human quipped, seeing Enzo's temporarily dead body. Damon turned to Aaron, slightly peeved.
"I can't kill you. Long story."
"Because Madeline would hate you for it," Aaron filled in, getting the picture. "That's why you can't kill me."
Damon slowly began to walk forward, his eyes locked on the human's. Without taking his eyes off of the disgusting Whitmore's face, he took the boy's arm and ripped off his vervain bracelet. Though it burned his skin, Damon didn't even flinch as he threw it across the room and gripped Aaron's head, making him comply with his compulsion.
"Go back to college. Pack up your entire life. There's one highway that heads out of town—take it North until you hit ice," Damon snarled, compelling the boy in front of him. "Don't ever come back," he added, and then watched as Aaron slowly began to leave.
And not soon after, Damon did as well, knowing that he had to get to Tyler's as quickly as he could.
I held the garbage in my hand with a disgusted look on my face, and Katherine walked beside me with one as well. She wasn't so much disgusted at the trash as I was but more towards pitying me, even though she was the one that said she'd take out the garbage in the first place. I sighed as I put the trash bag into the bin and closed it, clapping my hands to rid myself of the germs that probably hitched a ride on that thing.
"How domestic of you two," Nadia praised as she walked forward after appearing out of thin air. I jumped at the words, but my heart rate calmed down when I saw it was her.
Katherine groaned. "Apparently Elena would do this sort of stuff." She smiled lightly. "I don't know why, though, she had a perfectly capable sister to do it for her."
"Yeah, and her sister is also perfectly capable of doing other things, too," I snapped at Katherine. "Things that involve staking vampires, for example." Katherine only rolled her eyes at the comment.
"Did you find out where your body is or not?" Nadia cut to the chase, which earned Katherine to smile widely.
"Stefan said Damon put me somewhere I was always meant to be."
Nadia wasn't impressed. "A riddle?" she deadpanned.
Katherine explained, "For a hundred and forty-five years, Damon thought I was in a tomb underneath the old church." She scoffed. "And boy was he disappointed when I wasn't there."
"Well, let's hope you are this time," Nadia returned. Katherine scoffed.
"Right," the doppelgänger agreed while I idly stood by. Nadia flickered her eyes at the house and spoke again.
"Now say your goodbyes. We can't have anybody following us."
So, Katherine and I did as her daughter told us to, going back into the house to find Stefan or Audrey to tell them that we were leaving. It was when we set out for them that we found a different person to tell our lies to.
"There you guys are!" Caroline hissed the second she spotted us. "I've been calling and texting!"
No kidding. "Sorry, our phones died while we were out," Katherine lied smoothly, though the blonde was clearly irritating her. "Um…what did you want to talk about?"
"I did a bad thing," Caroline blurted out.
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Katherine tried.
"You don't even know what it is!" Caroline protested. I spoke up this time.
"Sorry, Care, but we have to get going—"
"Guys, stop!" she pleaded, making both of us stop in our tracks. "This is really important."
Katherine, irritated beyond belief, spun around, so I did as well. "Okay, I'm sorry." Katherine sighed. "Tell us. What happened?" Her feigned interest was disgusting to me.
Caroline inhaled sharply; bracing to tell us what she was itching to get out. "What would you say if I told you that when certain awful person was in town, I ran into him in the woods and sort of…kissed him." Oh, shit, I thought, blinking back my surprise. I had a feeling I knew who she was talking about. "He was there and he obviously wanted to kiss me, so I thought, 'Oh, we'll just make out'!" Caroline's facial expression turned from obvious to completely ashamed. "But, then, it felt really…good to kiss him so then I kind of…totally…had sex with him." Even Katherine widened her eyes at the shock. "But I swear, I didn't plan to do it and now I feel terrible," Caroline whispered.
"Please tell me you're not talking about some guy with a fake British accent who was looking for you yesterday," I hissed under my breath at her.
"Wait, are you talking about—" Katherine looked over at me, confused, but then she realized. When she turned back at Caroline, the blonde recoiled in her stance, ashamed and slightly afraid. "Klaus?" she said the name that we were all thinking of, which earned a nod from Caroline. Katherine's eyes widened more. "Oh, wow. That…wow, really?" Katherine whispered accusingly.
"Would I make something like this up?" whisper-shouted Caroline. "That is why I need you two to tell me what an awful person I am," she demanded.
"Okay," I agreed, shrugging. "You're—"
"One of the least awful people I know," Katherine cut me off, giving me a warning glance. But it was completely forced. She was pretending to be Elena – all goodie-two-shoes and stuff. I wanted to scream her secret from the rooftops, but I couldn't. But when I could, I wouldn't hesitate one bit. Caroline lowered her eyes, almost disappointed at Katherine's answer. There was a brief moment of silence before Katherine spoke again. "So, tell me," she started, giving Caroline a slight smile. "How was it? You know, compared to Tyler…"
"Elena…Gilbert!" Caroline said disapprovingly, but laughed while she spoke the name. I rolled my eyes. If only Caroline knew that "Elena Gilbert" wasn't exactly Elena Gilbert.
"Caroline Forbes!" Katherine returned. "Come on, spill the beans! Now that you slept with Klaus, I mean…how was it?" Since when did Katherine care about Caroline's personal relationships?
"I am so not answering that," Caroline returned, but her smile gave it all away.
"Oh, you so are—" But she stopped at the end of her demand and spotted someone on the stairwell, just before breathing out, "Oh my God."
Both Caroline and I looked in the direction that Katherine had gasped at, only to see Tyler. Oh, well that explained a lot. Caroline, now completely invested in the fact that her ex-boyfriend now knew she slept with Klaus, didn't even notice when Katherine hissed her order at me and pulled me with her outside without a choice.
Not like I had one when it came to everything else, anyways. Which was evident when we walked all the way into the woods to an underground cave-thing that I had never seen before in my life, though Katherine assured me that I had.
"Now stay up here and don't move a muscle." Katherine compelled me, leaving me completely frozen. "You don't go anywhere unless I tell you to."
"I won't go anywhere unless you tell me to," I repeated, unable to stop the words from coming out of my mouth. Katherine smiled vindictively before flipping her hair and artfully walking down the steps of the in-the-woods cellar to do what she needed to do.
I desperately wished I could do something, but I was completely helpless – and I hated it. Why had I decided to go upstairs and talk to that bitch, anyway? She claimed that she liked me the most, but this is almost as bad as killing Jeremy. I was lying to everyone I knew, I was obeying her every demand, I was betraying my sister.
And, on top of it, I knew there was something that I needed to do. Something…something drastic. Something I couldn't quite place my finger on. But I would know it when the time was right.
Per Katherine's instructions, I didn't move an inch. Not a single one. I was completely frozen in my stance. I could only move my eyes, and even that was scarce. I had nowhere to look. The only sights and sounds I could hear and see were the dark forest, complete with cricket sounds and animal noises that I didn't even want to know about.
So I was forced to stand there, completely motionless, only knowing that it would get a lot worse than just this.
And, it did.
"Madeline!" someone shouted, but I couldn't turn around. I couldn't move, by Katherine's command. Suddenly, there was a burst of wind, and Katherine was standing before me. Or…maybe it wasn't Katherine. "Madeline, what are you doing?" She shook me desperately, but I couldn't move. I still couldn't. Elena snapped this time, "We have to get out of here, let's go!"
And, just like that, I could move.
Elena pulled me along with her, using her vampire speed to cheat with me a bit. I ran, too, using my own legs, but they felt like they were just floating in air when Elena flashed us to another place. When we were far enough from the cellar, Elena pulled out her phone, trying to get help.
"What?" Elena breathed, which made me look over at her from keeping the look out. I looked over at her phone to see that it was locked with a passcode – which, assuming from her face, she didn't know. Elena glanced up at me. "Do you know it?"
I shook my head. "N-No," I responded, my voice shaking. Elena groaned and began to type random numbers into the phone. "Try your birthday," I suggested. She did as I said, but it wouldn't let us in. "Try…my birthday?" I tried again, but it wouldn't let us in.
"What about your phone?" Elena said desperately, looking up at me. I quickly patted the only two pockets I had in the leather jacket that Katherine had dressed me in, and the phone wasn't in there.
"Check yours," I instructed, and Elena did as I said. But my phone wasn't there.
We were screwed.
"Come on," Elena said, grabbing my hand with the deep, throaty command and flashing us somewhere else so we could find help. But, suddenly, she just…stopped.
"Elena?" I shouted, confused as I turned around at her to see her breathing heavily, clutching her hair hard. "Elena, what is it? What's wrong?"
Elena screamed loudly, as if something was fighting her from going forward.
"No," Elena said, ignoring me. "No! No!" And she began to run again, which I did with her, but she came to a very quick stop this time, only a millisecond after she began to run at a human pace.
"Elena, what is it?" I snapped, trying to keep her steady. Elena swallowed hard.
"It's Katherine," she said simply as she leaned against me. "She's…" But she didn't need to say it for me to understand. Elena grabbed at her hair again. "Katherine, get out of my head!"
I looked around desperately, but we were nowhere close to civilization. "Come on," I hissed at Elena, pulling her arm around my shoulder. It probably wasn't the best idea, considering how uncoordinated I was, but it was our only shot. I had to get us somewhere.
I dragged her with me, though her weight was unbearable, and her screaming in my ear didn't help anything. Eventually, my human weaknesses took over, and I felt my knees buckle at Elena's heavy weight that crashed on me from her inability to stand on her own. We both fell onto the ground, but I knew I couldn't give up. We were both in this now – Katherine wasn't just going to let me go. We needed to do something…fast.
"Ma…Madeline," Elena choked out through her screams as she bucked her head out of pain. It hurt me to watch. The pain subsided long enough for Elena to choke out her words. "Go," she rushed me.
"What?" I said, shaking my head. "No, Elena, I'm not going to—"
Elena's hand clamed down on my shoulder. "I said go!" she snapped angrily before screaming again. I wanted to argue – so bad, but I couldn't carry the weight of us both. I would have to find someone and come back for her, it was our only shot.
So, I ran.
I ran so fast – at a pace that I didn't think possible for me, a weakling little human. Sure, I tripped over countless twigs and fell over a few times, but I was getting somewhere. There were lights…music…people. I could find someone, I knew I could. I burst through the bushes and looked around for anyone familiar, for anyone that could help.
And that's when I saw him.
"Damon!" I shouted when I spotted the tall, dark, and handsome elder Salvatore brother, desperately looking around the lawn. When he heard me, his head instantly snapped over, and I – without any hesitation – began to run to him. Damon did the same, seeing my distress, and I threw my arms around him as we collided, desperately in need of someone familiar. But I didn't have a lot of time. I needed his help. "Oh, Damon," I breathed in relief as I felt his arms wrap around me. "Thank God," I whispered.
"What's wrong?" Damon questioned as he rubbed circles into my back, trying to sooth me. But the second he said the words, I felt something pulling at me.
Compulsion.
This is what I needed to do. This is the other relationship Katherine wanted to wreck.
Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. "You're okay," Damon whispered into my ears as I pulled down from him to face the vampire in front of me. "Hey," Damon said, brushing my messed-up hair out of my face as I began to think over the words that I knew I had to say. I wanted so desperately to get out of it, but there was something pulling at me. I couldn't…I couldn't stop it.
"Damon—"
The vampire cut me off. "I've been looking everywhere for you, Madeline," Damon breathed out, shaking his head. "I called you so many times—"
"I know," I said, cutting him off this time. "I listened to them," I lied, because Katherine hadn't let me. Damon dropped his gaze.
"Then you know how bad I screwed up," Damon spoke softly. I sighed.
"Damon—" I tried again, but the same result arose.
"No, no." Damon shook his head, his eyes still fixated on the ground. "No, Madeline, just hear me out, okay? Hear me out," he pleaded, so I stayed quiet. Damon took in a deep breath before continuing. "I slept with Elena because I decided to ruin things, just like I did last night, okay?" he began shamefully. "When I lost control at the Miss Mystic pageant…the way you looked at me…I couldn't handle it. And she was there, and I was upset and you weren't taking my calls and I know—I know that's not an excuse, but it happened and I can't take it back."
While he spoke, my eyes fixated on him, he let his beautiful ones roam around, avoiding me. Eventually, he brought them back to mine; staring into me with that same regret I've seen multiple times. "But, Madeline, you are literally the best thing that ever happened to me." Damon's warm hand traced the side of my face, and I shifted at the touch. Knowing what I would say after this, I wanted to cry – and I think I did. A tiny glistening tear leaked that Damon brushed away for me, his lips twitching in a small smile at the gesture. "What I did…breaking up with you so you can have a human life, I did it because I was scared. There have been so times when I've thought about turning you into a vampire because I'm selfish. I want you for eternity."
My eyes were now watering, but I held back the tears that came by moving my eyes around, closing them every once in a while. "I need you, Madeline—vampire or not. Your humanity is good, and I need a little good in my life." Damon smiled, but against my strong exterior, it made me want to break down. His smile faded as he saw my reaction wasn't the same. "Because, without it…there's an awful lot of darkness."
I sniffled, inhaling largely, as I brought my shaking, cold hand up to take his from my face. "I can't become a vampire, Damon," I told him softly.
"I know." Damon nodded firmly. "I know, Madeline—"
"No, Damon, you spoke, and now it's my turn," I snapped, but on the inside, I was screaming. The compulsion was taking over – I could feel it. None of the words that came out of my mouth were words that I wanted to say.
I sighed heavily when he finally nodded and stopped talking, waiting for me to speak. "I can't become a vampire. I can't become like you…because I see it in you. I see it in my sister…in Stefan, but I see it in you the most." I shook my head and bitterly laughed before I looked up into Damon's confused and hurt eyes. "Damon, you're a murderer." No, I thought, desperately wanting to cry but my body wouldn't let me. "You kill innocent people…you torment innocent people. I can't worry about who you're going to hurt next, Damon."
Damon knotted his eyebrows. "What is this about, Mad—"
"It's about Katherine, Damon," I finished for him briskly. "I saw what you did to her, you know that. And I've tried to let it go, I just…I can't. She was dying. She was helpless—" I couldn't give a shit less about what Damon did to Katherine, but there was compulsion that was making me do this. What I was saying was a flat-out lie.
"How is this about Katherine?" Damon demanded, now angry.
"It's not about her. It's about you, Damon, you!" I shouted back, but I hated the words that were spat from my mouth. "I saw it, Damon. I saw the...the monster come out of you. I can't be with someone like that. You were right; I have to protect my humanity. And to do that, I can't keep dating a monster."
I wrung my head and reached inside of the pocket of my leather jacket, knowing exactly what I had inside. The compulsion was too strong – I had no desire at all to do and say the things that I was right now, but I couldn't stop myself. A tear leaked at my own will as I brought the vervain necklace that symbolized everything Damon and I had been through together, and I held it up for him to see.
"Madeline, what are you—?"
"I'm sorry, Damon," I cut him off instantly, reaching out and grabbing his hand. I put the chain part that did not harbor vervain and enclosed his fingers around it, every bone in my body telling me to walk away but every ounce of my desire to stay with him. I looked up into his confused, broken eyes. "We're done, Damon. For good this time."
And then, I left, not only heartbroken over the fact that I broke Damon's heart but over the fact that I knew there was no hope for my sister, either.
Katherine would've taken her by now. It was over.
Katherine had won.
I had lost.
And, now, I had a story about the worst thing Katherine Pierce had ever done to me.
I found my way back to the cellar, knowing that Katherine would be waiting for me there. Sure enough, I wasn't wrong. My paralyzed body could sense the bitch as soon as I reached her.
"Well, I sure wasn't expecting that," Katherine quipped at me as I approached the cellar, my eyes glazed over in a daze. "You really did break his heart, didn't you?"
"Why?" I whispered, my voice breaking as I stared up with her, my eyes filled with painful tears. "Why did you make me do that?"
Katherine exhaled largely, uncrossing her arms and standing up straight. "I did it for you," she tried, her voice softer than normal. "Damon was going to ruin you. Ruin everything you stand for—"
"No he wasn't—he didn't," I snapped, not even taking one word of hers into consideration. Katherine stared blankly at me, awaiting my argument. "Damon didn't deserve all of that – none of it was true. Do you have any idea what he must be thinking right—"
"Damon tortured me while I was dying, Madeline," Katherine hissed, stepping forward while interrupting me. "You saw that. How can you say that he didn't deserve it? Damon Salvatore deserves to have everything good in his life ripped away from him. He is a monster. Everything you said was the truth."
I took a while to answer. "No," I said firmly, swallowing back my sorrow. "It was your truth."
Katherine stared at me from our ways apart, studying me as if wondering when I was gong to break. And, now, for the first time since I came here, I knew that I was gong to break. I no longer felt angry that people looked at me like I was going to break, because it was the truth. The real truth.
But that pain was over all too soon.
Katherine flashed over to me and put her hands on my shoulders firmly, getting rid of any hope I had left that this was over with. "You're going to be okay," she told me seriously, the compulsion working its magic. "You aren't going to feel sad over him, Madeline. You are going to believe everything that you told him. What you did was for the best. Damon Salvatore is a monster."
"Damon Salvatore is a monster," I repeated, my voice flat.
"You don't love him anymore."
"I don't love him anymore."
Katherine nodded her head slightly. "You're on my side now," she said firmly.
I swallowed. "I'm on your side now," I agreed.
Audrey sighed as Stefan walked her to the doorstep of the Forbes house, both of them saying nothing as they made their way up onto the porch. They had looked everywhere for Caroline, who ran off after Tyler verbally attacked her for sleeping with his enemy. Of course, they had also watched as Madeline broke Damon's heart out on the front lawn, and they both knew that that was a problem for tomorrow.
"She probably just went somewhere quiet to blow off some steam," Stefan assured her as they halted to a stop at the door. "I'll find her."
"Or she went back to Whitmore without saying goodbye," Audrey murmured grimly under her breath.
Stefan inhaled sharply. "Look, I know that it's hard—"
"Hard?" Audrey scoffed, interrupting him from his pep talk. She gave him an incredulous look, and he silenced himself to listen. "Stefan, I'm the only...seventeen-year-old left besides you. But you're a vampire. You're…what? A hundred and forty-seven?" Her tone was much colder than it should've been, and realizing this, the girl sighed. "Madeline, Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie are all at college, Damon's about to go through hell considering what Mads just did…not that he would want to be friends with me anyway, you and I are hardly ready to be friends again, and Jeremy's either with Bonnie or with you guys on some kick-ass vampire slayer mission." Audrey laughed bitterly, looking up with frustration. "And it's not like I can make any friends at school because I'm Caroline Forbes's little sister. Everyone in that school either hates me or wants to be me. So, no. It's not hard, it's…so much more than that," she breathed, exhausted.
Stefan shook his head. "You and I can't avoid each other forever," he returned at her, taking their conversation in a completely different direction. Audrey stayed silent this time for him to speak. "We should…learn how to be friends," he forced out.
Audrey was the one that shook her head this time. "But I don't want to be friends with you, Stefan." She sighed, frustrated. When she caught a glimpse of Stefan, she could see his shock. Eventually, she cleared her throat. "I…I thought that I was doing us both a favor when I broke up with you so you could be with Elena, but…I don't want that. I never wanted that." Stefan fell completely paralyzed with silence, not knowing where any of this was coming from. But she knew. She knew it all along. "And I just can't help but think that if I didn't have so much damn pride that you wouldn't have spent the summer—"
"Hey," Stefan cut her off, reaching forward and putting his hand around the side of her face, stopping her from speaking. Audrey fell completely silent as his thumb stroked her cheek slowly. "You cannot blame yourself for that. Silas would've gotten to me regardless."
And it was in that moment, that moment of gazing into each other's eyes – the reassurance that Stefan was giving her – it was in that moment that she knew that this is what she wanted.
No more being like Damon. No more cutting ties because she cared. No more running because of complications.
It was such a blur that she didn't realize it, herself, when it happened. Stefan, however – Stefan was very aware of what happened. Audrey had surged forward and kissed him, embracing Madeline's earlier words. Stefan kissed back, slowly, but it was then that he realized how much he missed it. Spending a summer drowning over and over again, she was his savior most of the time. Yes, there were times when it was Elena. But he would never dare tell Audrey that. There were only so many emotions a human teenage girl could handle.
After their platonic, yet completely invigorating kiss, Audrey pulled away – slowly – stepping down from her toes to distance herself from Stefan again. His green eyes poured into her hazel ones.
"Goodnight," she said softly, removing Stefan's hand from her face. The warm touch of his fingers left her and the cold air hit it, making her full of discomfort. But, nevertheless, as she turned, she bit down on her lip to keep from smiling, opened the door to her house, and put down her keys and her jacket – all the while, never once losing her smile.
Aaron Whitmore stopped his car in the middle of the road where a body was lying on the ground, motionless. With the screech of his tires, he halted the car and climbed out as quickly as he could to survey the body. "Hey, you all right?" he asked the man in the road as he walked over. "You all right, man?"
And, suddenly, the man sat up completely straight, and Aaron realized exactly who it was.
The man who attacked him earlier. "Never better." Enzo got up from the ground to face the shocked Aaron. With a smile, he continued, "We've been waiting for you."
Damon flashed over to the door of Aaron's car, leaning against it and crossing his arms in a defensive stance. After his horrible night, it couldn't get much worse. He had every reason to make it better.
"Damon's teaching me a little game," Enzo began again, making Aaron turn around to face the smug Damon. "See, he assured me that you'd be on this road heading out of town."
"You said that you were going to let me go," Aaron pointed out in a complaining voice.
Damon shrugged. "I did," Damon admitted, and then with a higher tone, added, "I tried."
"Does Madeline know that you're here?" Aaron challenged.
"She's the reason I'm here!" he exclaimed, but then hesitantly retracted the statement. "No, scratch that. I'm the reason I'm here."
"What do you want, Damon?" Aaron demanded.
"I want the same thing that you want, Aaron," Damon replied. "Go back in time…fix the past…get someone back that I've lost."
"Everyone that I've lost is because of you," Aaron retorted angrily. "You know who murdered my entire family? You!"
"Justifiably," Enzo intervened.
Damon shrugged. "Either way, I did it. I tore them apart, I liked the sounds they made. Because, I realized, they deserved it. Like you." Aaron stared at the vampire with massive amounts of hatred.
Damon just couldn't find the will to care.
"Madeline was too good for you," the human said through his teeth.
"I used to think that," Damon concurred. "I had to be better to deserve her love…she would eventually have to give up her humanity for me – we both knew that. Or, at least, I did," Damon muttered. "No, Madeline fooled herself into thinking that she could be with me without becoming a vampire." Damon sighed inwardly, but continued on with his proclamation. "See, I'd lie in the middle of the road, looking up at the stars, having conversations with people like you…trying to convince myself that killing them was a bad instinct and that sparing their lives was the right thing to do."
"So, what'd you do?" Aaron stepped closer to the vampire. "Did you kill 'em?"
"It doesn't matter!" Damon shrugged it off. "The point is, I was conflicted." Things were silent before Damon continued. "Right now, in this very, very moment…" His eyes flickered up to meet Enzo's as he smiled. "I am crystal clear," Damon finished. Aaron squared his jaw while Damon shifted. "See, Madeline thinks I'm a monster." He almost laughed at it. "And, you know what? She's right."
And, then, without warning, his face converted into his true form, and he lunged forward to attack Aaron. Through his screams and struggles, Damon sucked the boy dry of his blood, finally having a taste of fresh human blood that he craved straight from the vein. Aaron was soon dead, and Damon dropped him on the ground, where the boy's head cracked and he began to bleed.
Meanwhile, as Damon reveled in the good taste of fresh blood, Enzo smiled at his friends. "Now there's the Damon Salvatore I remember," he praised.
And Damon lifted his head up to face his old friend, giving him a bloody smile just before Enzo stepped forward and they watched as Aaron Whitmore died in front of them, symbolizing how they were finally carrying out their revenge plans together.
Denzo...I ship it. I don't ship it more than Defan, but I still ship it.
So it was an emotional turmoil during this chapter...I hope you guys weren't too stressed out with the length. Again, I'm sorry about that. It's never my intention to have a 12,000 word chapter. That's just wayy too much. So, again, I apologize.
I'll update another chapter ASAP. Sorry it took me so long to get this one out, by the way, I was having trouble finishing the chapter. Regardless, I'll try and get the next one out sooner!
Love,
BellaSalvatore1918
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