Damon turned over, shifting the sheets so they were less tangled around his body and opening his eyes blearily.
The corners of his mouth lifted when he saw Enzo lying next to him, and the events of the previous night came rushing back: Enzo had told him he loved him, and he had said it back-and meant it.
Tucking a hand underneath his head, Damon reflected on how things had gotten to this place. Before he'd died, he'd been completely in love with Elena. She had been the one he wanted to spend all of eternity with, no questions asked, while Enzo had been his dead friend who would probably hate him forever.
But then, when he'd tried getting Enzo and Stefan out of the other side before it got destroyed, he'd wound up suffering that very fate and getting trapped in oblivion for three months. He hadn't thought there was a way for him to escape and come back, but Enzo-not Elena or Stefan-had somehow found a way.
When he got back, everything was different; he'd been different. Everything he had felt and everything he would have felt before he'd died had changed. He was enjoying killing people again, he didn't care that his brother hadn't tried to get him back, and he didn't feel a damn thing for Elena anymore.
Enzo, on the other hand, he did feel something for-he always had. It just wasn't until they'd slept together that first night after he'd gotten back that he was able to really figure out what it was.
He'd wanted to tell Enzo that he loved him the morning after, but he hadn't wanted it to seem like he was only saying it because Enzo had been the one to bring him back-and he'd wanted to make sure that that wasn't the case, either.
So, he'd waited; and then, Enzo had told him the truth about Elena, and everything that had happened the previous night had lead to Enzo beating him to the punch. But, when Enzo said the words aloud, Damon knew that, deep down, he'd always felt the same, even before coming back from the dead; the fact that Enzo had resurrected him-and that they apparently now shared some supernatural connection-had just strengthened it.
And now, lying in this bed, miles away from home, with Enzo next to him, it was stronger than ever.
The sound of Enzo stirring interrupted his thoughts, and his smile widened as the other vampire's eyes opened to meet his own.
"Morning," Damon said in an uncharacteristically cheerful tone.
Enzo blinked, shifting his head so he could fully face Damon before returning the smile.
"Morning," he replied, accent coming out slightly thicker than normal, voice husky with sleep. He exhaled heavily and rubbed at his eyes before bringing up what was on his mind in a typically offhand fashion. "I had the craziest dream last night."
Damon chuckled softly at his deceptively casual tone. He'd known this would happen; he knew the first thing Enzo would do when he woke up was make sure that what they'd said to each other the previous night had been real.
"Oh?" he shot back in an equally conversational tone, moving closer to Enzo and propping himself up on an elbow so he was looming over him. "Did it end like this?" he asked, gripping Enzo's chin and tilting it up so their lips could meet.
He felt as well as heard Enzo moan into his mouth and his hand came up to cup the back of Damon's head, pulling the other vampire down with him as he fell back onto his pillow.
Damon went willingly, smile widening as his own hand caressed the side of Enzo's neck, sliding down to press against his nape.
"I meant what I said last night, Enz," he murmured, letting his weight rest on top of the younger and pinning him to the bed. "I love you, too-and not just because you were the one who brought me back."
Enzo let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and leaned in, resting his forehead against Damon's. "So, you really have no problem doing what the Gemini coven wants?"
"If it's what you want, too, then absolutely," Damon answered truthfully. "Besides, I want to know what this Chrysalis thing is, too-and what other powers you have."
Enzo stretched a hand out to the bedside table and picked up the key Luke had given them.
"Maybe it's time we find out, then," he suggested, pulling away from Damon reluctantly and reaching for his clothes.
Once they were both dressed again, the two vampires ventured up tot the third floor of the mansion and began testing the key out in all the doors there.
Fortunately, there didn't happen to be all that many with keyholes on them; in fact, there were only three-and the third one, at the back of the floor, was the only one that was currently locked.
Third time's the charm
Interested to find out why that was, Damon inserted the key into the slot and turned it to the right.
The instant he did, he felt a sort of shock go through his arm, and his powers spiked, turning the door to ice-and then, shattering it into nothingness.
"What the hell?" Enzo exclaimed, brows furrowing with consternation.
Damon was thinking the same thing-but, instead of voicing it, he decided to get his answer.
When he stepped inside the room, he discovered that it wasn't like any of the others he'd seen the hour. For one thing, it was circular and almost entirely fashioned out of stone so it looked like some sort of cave or something; for another, it wasn't lit by candles or electricity-in fact, there was no source of light at all.
Of course, Damon and Enzo could still see through the gloom, and they were both quite bemused by the strange sight before them.
"What is this?" Enzo wondered, frown deepening.
Damon lifted his black-clad shoulders in a shrug, eyes wandering the stone walls critically. He didn't know what to make of this any more than Enzo did.
"It looks like we just stepped into an underground tunnel or something," he observed thoughtfully, placing a hand on one of the walls.
When he touched it-and took a closer look- he realized that it wasn't even the kind of stone that one would build a house out of, but actual rock, like a real cave. That was strange, even by his standards.
"Good, you found it," Luke's familiar voice interrupted Damon's musings, and both he and Enzo turned around to find the blonde warlock, his sister, Jo, and another man Damon didn't know all standing in the entrance.
Luke advanced, carrying a shimmering blue box in his arms.
"This is the evolution nexus," he answered Enzo's earlier question as he and the others crossed to the center of the room, arranging themselves in a square formation around it. "This is where your powers are at their strongest, Damon-and where we have a direction connection to Enzo's, therefore making it the ideal place to awaken them."
As he spoke, he gestured to the other warlock in their group. "Julian will draw the calling circle, and then, as soon as the clock strikes noon, we can begin."
Julian, as Luke called him, withdrew what looked like a piece of charcoal from the pocket of his hooded jacket, then knelt down and began to scratch symbols into the rock floor.
Damon's eyes narrowed.
"So, what exactly is this going to do to Enzo?" he queried, expression giving away none of the concern he was currently feeling about this.
Luke pressed his lips together, as if he wasn't quite sure how to answer-so Julian did it for him.
"We're not exactly sure," he admitted, looking up once he'd completed his drawing. "Enzo, like you, is the only one with these powers, so this is the only time we've ever done this awakening ritual. The only thing we can say for certain is that it won't kill him."
Damon didn't find that very reassuring. A part of him wanted to stop it right now-but the rest of him knew it wasn't his decision. It was his partner's.
He lifted his gaze to Enzo to see what his feelings were about this-and saw the other vampire setting his jaw with unmitigated determination.
"I'm ready," he said, now showing even a hint of hesitation.
"So are we," Julian declared, getting back to his feet and brushing off the front of his jeans with a pointed look in the direction of his companions.
Jo lifted her wrist, gaze fixing on her watch. "Then, we can start in five, four, three, two," she counted down the seconds on her fingers, directing one at Liv when she finished. "One."
As if prompted by the clock, when the numbers turned to 12:00 pm, the box in Luke's hands began to glow.
"Time for you to take this," the blonde warlock instructed, holding it out to Enzo. "Then, step into the center of the circle and say the name of the stone inside."
Enzo raised an eyebrow at that last part.
"I don't know what this thing is called," he said in confusion, taking the box and peering inside to see what Luke was talking about.
The warlock smiled mysteriously.
"Just trust me-it'll come to you," he replied, pulling up the hood of his sweatshirt.
Taking their cue from him, the other three members did the same, and, as Enzo strode into the middle of the circle Julian had drawn on the floor, they each placed a foot on the symbols in front of them, activating the spell.
At first, Enzo didn't know what he was supposed to do next-but then, just like Luke had said, the name of the stone inside the box just came to him and he spoke it without conscious thought.
"Sanguisugae."
His accent came out an almost inhuman growl, and, as he pronounced the final syllable, his hand moved on its own, plunging inside the box and clamping down on the jagged stone within.
He hissed as the jagged rock cut into his skin-but the pain didn't last long. After a few seconds, it was replaced by the overwhelming sensation of falling.
Then, all of a sudden, everything just went silent-except for a single sibilant voice that filled his head so he couldn't hear anything else.
So the time has finally come: the keys to the Chrysalis are completing the steps they must to unlock the legend buried beneath the nexus.
Which means it's time they knew the truth.
Damon's forehead creased; he could hear the voice as well, and what it was saying made him feel the smallest bit of consternation-especially when its tone changed, and it began to sound as if it were speaking directly to him.
The Gemini coven have been dedicating themselves to finding the Chrysalis for centuries, and they made sure to orchestrate the circumstances necessary for you to become what they needed. Your meeting Katerina Petrova, your being turned into a vampire, you and Enzo's capture by Augustine; they were all dominoes that needed to be knocked over in order to bring you both here. They needed you to be these monsters; they needed you to want to change the world like they do."
They have been pulling your strings for more than a century and a half
Normally, Damon wouldn't have been one to believe some mysterious voice inside his head; but somehow, he knew its words to be true-and, oddly, he wasn't angry. He knew that, if that was all true, all of his problems with Augustine and Katherine were because of these witches, but he didn't regret having to go through any of it. After all, it had lead him to acquiring these incredible powers-and, more importantly, to being with Enzo, and, for the first time in his over 170 years on this Earth, true happiness. So, he was fine with it.
Enzo, on the other hand, well, it didn't look like he got much of a chance to figure out how he felt about it; once the voice ended its speech, what looked like a long black needle shot up out of the rock, plunging straight through the other vampire's hand.
Blood instantly streamed out from the fresh wound-but, instead of flowing out toward his fingers, it receded back toward the spike, covering it and turning it black.
Enzo cried out-though it sounded as if it were more from shock than pain-and his eyes widened as tendrils of black began to crawl across his hand, spreading over his wrist and up his arm.
And that wasn't the only effect it had: as the black lines covered his skin, inside, it felt like live wires were running though his veins. Every part of him suddenly felt… electrified in a way he had never experienced before-not even when he'd first become a vampire.
It was so intense that it actually brought him to his knees; he would have dropped the box, too, except he couldn't let go of it-or even move his hand off that spike.
"Enzo?" Damon's concern grew when he saw his partner sink onto the floor, and he shot the witches a harsh glare. "What's happening to him?"
"The scope of his abilities must be overwhelming him; he needs something to go over there and stabilize it," Luke assessed, sounding more intrigued than truly worried. Before Damon could get mad about that, though, the warlock's cerulean eyes pierced his. "He needs you."
Damon didn't stop to question Luke's suggestion-somehow, he'd known that was coming-and just rushed into the circle, coming to kneel down by Enzo's side.
Somehow, without being told, he just instinctively knew what he had to do: he raised one of his hands and, taking a deep breath, impaled it on the spike as well.
Unlike with Enzo, when the spike plunged through Damon's palm, blood wasn't what came out of his wound: it was a bright, frigid blue substance like liquid ice, and it immediately consumed the back of Enzo's hand, covering it with a thick layer of frost.
Instead of doing more damage, though, it actually seemed to help Enzo. As the frost spread rapidly over his arm, highlighting the black lines in electric-blue, whatever had been happening inside of him seemed to settle back down, and his eyes snapped open.
"Damon," he uttered the elder Salvatore's name softly, gaze flicking back and forth between Damon's face and their joined hands, like he was just realizing what had happened.
The spike pinning their hands together finally retreated back into the rock, and, when they were able to move their hands again, Damon shifted his completely unmarred one to wrap around Enzo's wrist.
"How do you feel?" he questioned, allowing his concern for Enzo to show.
Enzo wasn't immediately forthcoming with an answer; he didn't really know how to put one into words yet. He lifted his hand, examining the tendrils of blue that were now highlighting his veins and noting that Damon's powers didn't seem to be hurting him in any way-on the contrary, they actually seemed to be making him stronger. He could feel them inside him now, almost as if they were his own.
"I can feel the ice, just like you," he declared after a long pause, a mix of shock and excitement in his voice. He met Damon's worried gaze with a reassuring smile. "It feels…invigorating."
"That means it worked," Jo stated, drawing the two vampires' attention back to her and her companions.
She stepped out of their formation and sidled up to them, her eyes on Damon as he and Enzo rose back onto their feet. "Well, Damon," she continued, lips curving in a mischievous smile. "Now that's done, are you ready to go home?"
just a note: this story will be going on hiatus for about two weeks cuz i have exams coming up so.