Chapter 14
Safe & Sound

When I got h- back to the boarding house, I felt very shaky and ready to run, but at the same time I felt completely drained and exhausted.

Kind of like if you went to a carnival, rode the Salt and Pepper Shaker twice, then watched Titanic alone at night without chocolate in the house.

I ran up to my- my currant room and sat on the bed trying to even out my breath. After a few failed attempts with that I decided to try sleep and comfy pajamas.

When I reached for my duffle bag in the closet though, I found that it wasn't as close as I thought it was, and realized I must have thrown it much further back last time. I reached in for it, grabbing at darkness and not finding my bag.

But when I got off balance and tried to steady myself by putting my hand down, I accidentally rammed my head into the back of the closet.

I got out of the closet, rubbing my throbbing head as I did so, and moved the lamp in the room closer to the closet so I could see better.

What I saw was not only my duffle bag in the corner of the closet, but a small breaking trap door at the very back of the closet.

I crawled back into the closet and inspected the wooden trap door; it had heavily rusted hinges, no handle, and was dull colored and practically bendable from age.

I removed it from it's now broken hinges and looked inside; I found guns, vervain, stakes, some old papers, and books that were crammed together in an even smaller crevice at the bottom of the compartment.

Taking this opportunity to restock on weapons, I shoved all the vervain and stakes into my bag, followed by the papers, and then the books. Once I finally got to the guns- and a small bag of what appeared to be muzzles and bullets, I saw just how spacious the compartment actually was- in the very least it was big enough to fit a fairly small person, just right for me.

With a yawn, I crawled out of the closet to grab my pillow and sheets, shoved them into the compartment after I carelessly tossed the guns onto the floor, I curled up in my new hiding place and let my eyelids droop until I started to fall asleep.

*Third Person's POV*

Damon got home a little later after Stefan dropped Katy off; after the night they all had, he treated himself to a nightcap-whiskey.

He sat on the couch of the living room, swirling the glass in his hand and quietly thinking to himself about the recent information he had about the tomb. Even for him, it was a lot to swallow, but mostly because of how much tweaking he had to do for his plan to work.

He finished off the glass and went over to the bar for a refill, however, he started hearing loud thuds coming from upstairs.

He set the glass aside and went straight upstairs to Katy's room.

When Damon got to the door, he saw all over the floor were guns thrown about, and they led a path to the closet which had one of the lamps standing by it.

He walked over to the closet and peered inside to see a sleeping Katy, all snuggled up in his father's old weapons stash compartment.

Confused, but equally curious, he crawled into the closet until he sat next to her.

"Hey girlie." He said, just loud enough to wake her.

She stretched out, her eyes blinked twice before they fully opened, as she looked over to him with a tired look.

"Why do you keep doing this?" Damon asked, referring to the small spaces she appeared to like.

She shrugged, "It reminds me of the vent."

He nodded, "And the vent made you feel safe."

"Well where else can I be safe?"

But when Damon saw her face, and really looked into her eyes, he saw no sarcasm- instead he saw genuine fear.

And that was an emotion he hadn't seen on her face since she got there. She had gotten majorly freaked out when she thought she had gone blind down in Georgia, but she wasn't afraid.

He saw her distraught and hurt when he had killed Lexi, in fact he had seen anger from her before and after the incident.

No fear at all though in all that time. But now he was sure that was what he was looking at right then. And so he said the first thing that came to mind,

"With me." She looked up at him with confused eyes, "You'll be safe with me."

Katy began to look stunned at his words, and then confusion took its place again in her eyes. Then suddenly she had a look of great relief on her face; as though she had run a mile and finally was catching her breath.

And slowly, she reached out and took one of Damon's hands, tightly gripping it as if for dear life.

Damon was confused-shocked even, but accepting, in fact he felt oddly touched; as if he had just earned something he wasn't originally trying to gain.

He looked back at Katy with a slightly understanding look and squeezed her hand in a comforting manner.

She gave a small smile and adjusted herself so she could lie curled up on her side, not letting go of his hand even as she went back to sleep.

And he didn't let go either.