Chapter 18
Slowly opening her eyes, Jessenia let out a loud groan, every muscle in her body aching from head to toe. She had to blink several times to clear her blurred vision and reached up to rub her sore neck, wondering what the hell happened. It took her several minutes to realize she was in a place that wasn't familiar or recognizable, which automatically made her more alert.
Jessenia looked around, frowning at the thick metal bars that blocked her only way out and slowly got to her feet. She turned around and saw a huge stone tomb in front of her, instantly backing away from it, tears shining in her eyes. Where the hell was she? The place was dark and incredibly dirty, no light except from whatever came in from outside.
Suddenly, the memory swept over her of what happened and Jessenia instantly stumbled to the barred door, gripping them tightly. "HELLO?" She yelled out, shaking them as hard as she could, but Jessenia didn't have that much strength. "IS SOMEONE OUT THERE?"
No response, it was pure silence.
Backing away from the bars, Jessenia started searching for another way out, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. No sunlight entered the tomb or whatever it was she was in, which didn't make things easier. Kassandra put her here; Jessenia remembered everything now that she was fully awake and aware, needing to find a way out.
"Damn it." She whispered, kicking the wall and wondered how long she'd been in here.
Kassandra had attacked her, but Jessenia didn't remember how it happened or what she did. One second she was standing at the river's edge at Wickery Bridge and the next her cousin is being held over her head to go with Kassandra. Meredith was let go, safe at least and that's all that mattered to her. Now she just had to figure out a way to escape, hoping Elena was out searching for her.
"It won't do you any good."
Jessenia turned around so fast she ended up getting a head rush, leaning back against the wall. "Where am I?" She called out weakly, looking over at the barred door and saw Kassandra's smiling face staring back at her.
"In a crypt in the old cemetery." Kassandra answered, sounding proud of herself and ran her fingertips over the bars. "A fitting place for you I must say. My sister does have brilliant ideas."
"Why am I here?" Jessenia asked, the dizziness slowly subsiding and made her way toward the door, tears glistening in her eyes. "Please let me out of here."
"Oh don't worry, child, I will." Kassandra reached through the bar, taking a strand of Jessenia's hair, twirling it around her finger. "Once I have what I want."
"Damon." She whispered, locking jade on determined grey and felt more tears slide down her cheeks. "I already told you…"
"Yes I know what you said, but that doesn't matter. As long as you're around, Damon will want you instead of me. So keeping you here locked up and away from him is the only solution I see to make sure he belongs to me again." Kassandra simplified, releasing Jessenia's hair and hummed softly. "I'm thinking in a couple of years I'll finally let you out and let you get on with your miserable human life."
"A couple of YEARS?" Jessenia shook her head, feeling her breathing quicken and began yanking on the bars again. "No…NO! Let me out of here! You can't do this!"
"Oh but I already have, child." Kassandra winked, backing away from the bars. "Don't bother screaming either. Nobody will hear you."
"No! No, let me out of here! HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Jessenia screamed at the top of her lungs, shaking the bars until all the strength drained from her body, slowly dropping to her knees, sobbing. "Damon…Damon, please help me…"
~!~
Damon was busy reading the local newspaper, sipping an afternoon glass of blood from one of the blood bags they kept downstairs in the freezer, when he heard a groan. Slowly lowering the paper, Damon folded it up neatly and set it aside, leaning forward in the chair, watching her. Meredith was out cold the entire night and all morning, the clock chiming two behind them.
Elena and Stefan were currently out searching for Jessenia while Damon watched over Meredith. It wouldn't do him any good to get uptight and bent out of shape until he found out what happened. That and Jessenia wasn't exactly fond of him after what he did to her, not blaming her a bit. Damon had his phone on, waiting for any update from Stefan and Elena, but so far they hadn't contacted him.
"Don't sit up too fast."
"W-What happened?" Meredith whispered, feeling like a brick was on her head and slowly sat up, holding it. "Oh god…"
"No, but you're close." Damon half-joked, downing the rest of his blood and stood up from the chair, walking over to her with a glass of water he already had ready. "Sip slowly." He ordered, knowing if she drank too quickly, she would choke on it.
Meredith slowly took it, her vision slowly becoming clear and stared at Damon, wondering what he was doing in her house. "Why are you here?" She asked, beginning to sip the water, her throat completely dry as a bone.
"I could ask you the same thing, considering you're in my house." Damon countered softly, no malice or sarcasm in his tone, too concerned about Jessenia right now.
"What?" Meredith set the glass on the table, confusion entering her brown eyes. "What do you mean I'm in your house?"
"That's exactly what I mean. You were dropped off last night by someone and ended up passed out at my front door." Damon explained, leaning back against the couch, knowing it would take a few minutes for her to get her head straight.
Blinking, Meredith couldn't remember anything and grabbed the couch to sit up more, taking the aspirin Damon procured. "Thanks." She popped them without hesitation, hoping it stemmed the current pounding in her head. "How did I get here?"
"I just told you." Damon said impatiently, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I really need you to try remembering everything you can from yesterday."
Meredith could see the worry in his blue eyes and swallowed hard, anxiety washing over her. "Damon, what's going on?" She suddenly demanded, trying not to be frightened, but it was hard with this vampire.
"Jessenia is missing." Damon bluntly stated, decided to just cut straight to the chase and clasped his hands together tightly. "The last time Elena saw her was yesterday at the grill after they went dress shopping. She was supposed to go home, but apparently never did. Have you seen her?" He somewhat demanded, knowing Meredith was the only one who could give him any indication of what happened.
Meredith didn't say anything for a few minutes, wracking her brain and finally started remembering something. "I remember coming home from work and getting ready to start dinner. Then the next thing I know, I'm at Wickery Bridge…with two women...and Jess…"
Damon's eyes narrowed to slits, gritting his teeth. "Do you know the names of the two women?" He asked, trying not to sound angry, but he had a feeling he knew who had Jessenia. "Meredith?"
"No, I'm sorry." Meredith swallowed hard, watching as Damon stood up and whipped out his cell phone to call someone. "Damon, is she…?"
He held his hand up when Stefan answered. "I know who has her."
"Who is it?" Stefan demanded, waving over to Elena, who was asking people on the sidewalk if they'd seen Jessenia anywhere.
"I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count, brother."
Stefan could tell from the tension in Damon's voice he was angry and didn't blame him, his own eyes narrowing. "Katherine and Kassandra." He practically spit out, watching as Elena's eyes widened when she approached him. "We're on our way."
"Slight problem is we have no idea where they took her." Damon raked a hand through his black hair, deciding he would need a second glass of blood to heighten his strength. "I have a plan, but I don't think Elena is gonna like it."
Elena snatched the phone from Stefan, holding it to her ear. "What is it, Damon? I'll do anything to save Jessenia." She stated, chewing her bottom lip.
"Glad to hear it. You two get back to the house and I'll tell you the plan then. Remember, I warned you ahead of time." Damon ended the call and tossed his phone aside, scrubbing a hand down his face while he downed the blood in two large gulps.
"W-What are you going to do?" Meredith asked hesitantly, not moving from the couch, still feeling incredibly weak.
"MEREDITH!"
Damon turned around at the sight of Alaric rushing into the parlor, snorting. "Bout time you got my messages, Ric. Where the hell have you been?" He demanded irritably now that he knew who took Jessenia.
"Having my neck snapped by someone." Alaric shot back; his eyes focused on Meredith and frowned at the small cut on her head. "I just got your message and flew here as fast as I could."
"Did you see who did it?" Damon asked, walking over after filling a tumbler of brandy, handing one over to Alaric. "We're both going to need this."
Alaric took it and threw it back, placing the tumbler on the table while Meredith snuggled against him, pulling her carefully on his lap. "No, I didn't see who did it. It came from behind; I didn't have time to react." He asked, running his fingers through her hair and could tell she was hurting. "What happened, Mer?"
"I-I don't know." Meredith replied quietly, leaning her head on Alaric's shoulder. "The last thing I remember is being on Wickery Bridge with two women and they were letting me go because of…Jess…" She looked into Alaric's eyes, the worry already building. "After that, everything is blank until I woke up here."
"She was at my doorstep last night. Someone dropped her off and not lightly either." Damon chimed in, sitting back down in his chair, nursing his brandy. "I know who took Jessenia."
"Who?" Alaric demanded, eyes narrowing. "Damon, if you know something…"
"It was Katherine and her bitch sister Kassandra, who I used to date way back in the day before I was turned into a vampire." Damon explained, setting his tumbler down and leaned forward to bury his head in his hands. "Apparently, Kassandra never got over me and now she wants me back. I know how Katherine works…"
"Katherine has her?" Elena had overheard the conversation, looking up at Stefan and left his side to go to Meredith's. "Do you remember anything?"
Meredith shook her head, frowning. "I told Damon everything I can remember and it's not much."
"Except it is because you pinpointed who took Jessenia." Damon argued, looking up at his little brother. "We need the witch."
"Bonnie?" Elena shook her head instantly, standing up. "No absolutely not. She's been through hell with us, Damon. We're still not on good terms because I'm a vampire and she hates them. She's still my friend, but there's still a lot of tension between us."
Damon growled, standing up as they came face to face, eyes locked intensely. "If you want to find Jessenia, you will get the witch to help us. She's the only one we know of her kind."
"You want a locator's spell." Stefan guessed, watching Damon nod and knew that would probably be the only way to find Jessenia without going hunting all over Mystic Falls for her. "He's right, Elena. We need Bonnie's help with this or we may never find her."
Elena didn't like the sound of that and sighed heavily, deciding they would need a few more people to help with this. "I know she still talks to Matt. I'll get him to bring her here under false pretenses and hopefully she'll work with us. But we have to be nice to her." Her brown eyes darted to Damon, who had walked away from their standoff. "That means no snarky comments, Damon."
"Cross my heart…" Damon smirked, doing the crisscross over his dead heart and rolled his eyes. "Just call him and get her over here. The sooner the better."
"What about your plan or is that it?" Elena asked, not forgetting why she and Stefan had to rush back here like their pants were on fire.
Damon sighed, knowing Elena was not going to like this next part of the plan, but it had to be done. "Stefan and I are going to seduce Katherine and Kassandra." He held his hand up before anyone could protest, eyes flashing. "Let me finish first before you both verbally rip me apart. We won't go all the way, but we have to make it look like we want both of them. It will give the witch enough time to do her juju and find Jessenia. Then we can take care of the bitches and go to Jessenia. Wherever she's being held at, she's safe for now."
"You hope." Elena pointed out, really not liking the sound of this plan. "There's no other way to give Bonnie the time she needs?"
"If you can think of one, Warrior Princess, please let me know." Damon shot back sarcastically, downing the rest of his brandy and looked over at Stefan. "Unless Prince Charming has any ideas?"
Stefan thought about it, sadly not coming up with anything. "What makes you think they even want us, Damon?"
Damon snorted, wondering if little brother was serious. "You're kidding me right? Katherine has been in love with you for decades, Stefan, or did you forget that?"
As much as he hated admitting it, Damon had a point. "True." Stefan grunted, looking apologetically over at Elena, who did not look happy. "Kassandra sounds like she's not over you either."
"Exactly." Damon was glad Stefan was on the same wavelength as him, filling another glass. "Some music, candles and dinner, we'll have them eating out of our hands while the witch works her magic juju, stake the two bitches and save Jessenia's life. All in a day's work."
"You make it sound so easy." Meredith commented, having listened to all of this and looked up at Alaric worriedly. "We have to find her, Ric."
Alaric nodded, kissing the top of her head. "They will, we just have to trust them." He said, hoping the Salvatore brothers knew what they were doing. "Elena, call Matt at the grill. He's working, but gets off in about an hour. Tell him to come straight here."
Elena nodded, trusting Alaric more than anyone in that room at the moment and pulled her cell phone, dialing the grill's number. "Is Matt Donovan there? It's Elena." She waited a few minutes and heard some static on the other line, followed by Matt's voice.
"Hey Elena, what's going on?" Matt already knew they were searching for Jessenia. "Did you find her?"
"Sort of." Elena really hated doing this, but they had no other choice. "I'm calling because we need your help…"
"Sure, whatever you need to find her. What is it?" Matt asked, cleaning off a table while holding the phone between his ear and shoulder.
"I need you to get ahold of Bonnie and bring her to Stefan's."