A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in so long but thankfully I can assure you that the next chapter will be out next Tuesday on the dot and I'm developing a better system so I can come out with them more consistently.
And since I don't really have enough questions for that video I can't make it yet, so yeah.
Thanks for all your support and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review! They inspire me and I always love to hear what you think! :D
Chapter 15
Sides
***Third Person's POV***
In the morning, Damon realized he had fallen asleep in Katy's closet. This realization came to him in the form of an aching back.
He wondered if Katy's snarky attitude was an attribute to her strange sleeping habits.
He groaned and cracked his back, relieving some of his pain. Afterwards, he looked over to Katy, still sound asleep.
"Katy." he whispered, but got no response.
"Katy..." He said louder, but still she was not to be disturbed.
He sighed; clearly the events of last night had taken their toll on her, so much so it was a question of which of them was the dead one. So he pulled out his cell phone and dialed,
"Hello, Mystic Falls Middle School, how can I help you?"
"Hi, this is Damon Salvatore, Katy Weston's guardian."
"Oh yes, Katy. I suppose your calling about her detention schedule?"
"No. Actually, I called to inform you that Katy won't be attending school today."
"Why not?"
"She's sick. Bed-ridden right now actually. I know it's probably just a 24 hour bug, but I just wanna be sure." he said, pouring on the 'concerned-parent' charm.
"Aww, poor thing." the woman said, "Well, I'll tell Principal Winthrop, she'll understand. I had two girls of my own, they gave me beautiful grandchildren, but I've come up against those nasty bugs lotsa times. They're nothing to be concerned over. They'll come and go this time of year especially."
Damon had only been half listening to her as he walked towards Stefan's room. But he replied in a sincere-sounding voice, "Thank you so much for understanding, bye now." and hung up.
He put the phone in his pocket and sped up to Stefan's room, sitting on the edge of his bed,
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" he said smirking.
Stefan and Elena shouted their displeasure at his appearance, covering themselves up with the sheets. He only responded in a snarky tone, "Oh, stop being smutty."
"Seriously, get out of here." Stefan said.
"If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." he said, mischievously, "Now listen, there is some important business to discuss."
"And it has to be right now?" Elena countered.
"Well we have lots to do. Now that we're all, friends, and working toward a common goal."
Elena and Stefan shared a look of annoyance.
"So in order to open the tomb, we need to find the journal to get the Grimoire to undo the spell. So first thing's first, since you are Elena Gilbert, you're on journal duty."
"Since when am I helping?"
"Well, Stefan's helping and you've taken up residence in Stefan's bed. Ergo..."
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Stefan assured her.
But she surrendered, "I'll look for it today."
"Good."
"How do we know this journal will contain the location of the Grimoire?" Stefan asked, "Are we really gonna take the word of this vampire who seemed like a bit of a dimwit."
"In loo of any other options." Damon responded sarcastically.
"Okay," she cut in, "What exactly is a Grimoire?"
"It's a, witch's cookbook." he said.
Stefan sighed, "Every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself, so every witch would document their work-"
"Yeah, cookbook."
"What about our mystery vampire?" Stefan reminded him, "Dimwit, obviously wasn't working alone, so whose ever out there knows who we are."
"And I don't like that disadvantage so," he clapped his hands, backing away towards the door, "Chop chop."
Before he left he turned back around, "You know, I kinda like this whole menage-threesome-team thing, it's got a bit of a kink to it." he laughed, "Don't screw it up!"
He finally walked out of the room, and when he reached the hallway, found Katy walking out of her room holding her head groggily.
"Hey girlie." she only nodded slightly in response, "Ooh. Silence. From you... Get the kids in the boat."
She didn't have enough energy to smirk or anything and only responded, "Headache. School's gonna be a nightmare."
"Well, that won't be an issue." He said, walking down the stairs with her, "I pulled you out of school for today, and you are gonna help me and the gang open that tomb."
"What?" she asked groggily.
"Yeah, so take your aspirin-or chamomile tea, whatever suits you. 'Cause we've got work to do."
"In that case, I'm gonna run to the stores, clear my head, then get some coffee and a bagel."
"I'll drive."
"No, I need to run. I'm still kinda shaken from last night." she said going into the bathroom.
Damon stood outside the door and paused before he replied, "Shouldn't you be at ease since we finally ganked a bad guy this time?"
"Yeah, and when was the last time that happened?" she called through the door.
He nodded to himself in agreement, "Touche."
Katy came out after a few minutes, a toothbrush hanging from her mouth as she re-braided her hair.
"Remember to come back soon, we have some papers to dig through before we go to dinner."
"Dinner?" she asked, taking the toothbrush out of her mouth.
"Yeah, Elena's aunt invited the three of us to family night."
"When and why did she do this?" she asked, finishing up brushing her teeth.
"Stefan's Elena's boyfriend, I'm Stefan's brother, and you're-"
"The household freeloader?"
"Yup, so we're going, and while you play with Jeremy I'll be schmoozing with Jenna." He smirked.
"I don't think there was one part of that sentence that wasn't dirty."
He let out a short breathy laugh, "Just make sure you don't run into any badies on your way to the store."
"As if I could help it." she said walking out the door.
***Katy's POV***
I walked to the stores slowly at first, rubbing my aching head. It was times like these I wished I could take aspirin.
On my way, I wondered to myself whether or not I should just tell Damon about Katherine already being out.
Should I tell him? I asked myself, Would it be helpful or hurtful?
Damon and I aren't exactly besties, but I didn't think he would hurt me, even if it was for the sake of keeping up appearances.
It's not my fault the bitch ditched bail; heck! I wasn't even born yet!
But Damon wasn't always rational apparently, and I wasn't quite ready to dismiss that theory. And for that matter, Stefan's apparently no better either, for all I know he might be worse! I couldn't even consult anyone, Elena would tell Stefan, and don't even get me started on Sheriff and her groupies.
Is there no person I can trust with vital information in this crazy place?!
Well-No...
So I finally got to town, and went straight to the little grocery section on the side corner. They had all the essentials as usual; cashier counters in the front, fruits and vegetables section, usual aisles for anything that didn't need refrigeration and a few for things that did, and a small deli which I went to. I picked out my bagel and made myself some coffee-overfilled with sugar as usual, then waited patiently on the line to get it toasted.
However, once I got my order together, I noticed a familiar face by a school supplies aisle. Nathan Brown from yesterday!
And stranger still, I actually had the urge to go up and have a hopefully pleasant conversation with him!
Maybe I should've taken that aspirin, I'm losing it!
I'd had crushes before; approximately two celebrities when I was six, and three or four crushes on old neighbor boys when I was younger. However, the only two I remember having consistent and long-ranged thought, was Harry Potter and Cameron Williams- a boy I lived next door to for two years when I was eight.
But even then it seemed fairly limited for the circumstances and in comparison to this recent development; I liked Cameron for about four months, and thinking he liked me back I asked him to be my boyfriend. Which he said yes to on the condition that we could break up if we both found someone better. Then about an hour later he started bragging to his friends-in front of my mind you- that I was 'in love with him' and he rejected me the 'stupid little girl'.
Damn little hypocrite was almost twelve and I'd been ten for about a month!
I spent the next four months or so teased by him and his friends until we moved for better client range. It wasn't fun.
To be fair though, given the right set of circumstances I would be doing a happy dance if the boy who lived said "let's run away together". Don't judge.
But even though it had barely been a day, and less then a half hour of actual conversation, I couldn't stop thinking about him. And even weirder, I didn't want to stop thinking about him. That didn't make any logical sense!
Spock would be so ashamed...
But despite my recently discovered hormone level and my racing heartbeat, I decided if I was gonna like him, there was gonna be a damn reason I did. I needed to be able to hold a conversation with him.
My inner Spock seemed more or less approving of my half-baked plan and I walked right up to him while he was choosing some notebooks.
"Hey." I greeted with a smile, "Nathan right?"
He turned around and smiled pleasantly, "Nate. Katy?"
"Yeah. Nice to see you again."
"You too, you too. Whatcha doin' outta school?"
"Right back 'atcha." I smirked.
He laughed slightly, "I had some work to do at home, I got permission to skip."
"What kind of work?"
"Debate team stuff."
"You're on debate team?"
"Yeah," He smiled proudly, "I'm gonna go into politics. After I go to medical school."
"You wanna be a doctor and a politician?"
"Yeah. My dream is to be a neurosurgeon, but since my uncle's a plastic surgeon I'll probably be doing that instead. But yeah, after a few years of that, I'm gonna run for president."
I raised my eyebrows, "Wow, you really have it all planned out don't you?"
"Yup." he said, grinning, "What about you?"
"Well, my dad always suggested I become a lawyer like him, or a nurse. My mother pushed for lawyer or stocks."
"What?" he laughed.
"Mom said those would be good for me because apparently I look sweet, but then I can suddenly tear them a new one."
He kept laughing a little and said, "Well, I certainly wouldn't see you coming."
"Thanks." I smirked, "I'm sure you'll be a great neurosurgeon."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome pal."
Later, when we both went to leave, we found we kept going in the same direction so we decided to chat along the way until we found a break in the road.
And we had fun!
We both learned about each other's interests and hobbies; he told me he was on the football team at school-though was mostly benched since he was a freshmen, and he also liked politics a lot, especially when he could explain it to little old me who knew zip about it.
But at some point we got into a debate over which was the better president, J.F.K. or Ronald Reagan. I like ole' Ron.
"Kennedy was by far the better American leader. He was completely capable; he had everything under control, and made good smart decisions."
"He cheated on his wife!" I argued.
"Yes, but Reagan's decisions were effected by his mental health deteriorating."
"First off, he got Alzheimer's dementia years after both terms. Second, even if it was still cooking in there while he was in office, which it couldn't have been, Reagan played a major role in upholding American values and bringing down the Berlin wall. Kennedy deliberately destroyed the trust of his own wife, I generally don't like to get into the private lives of our politicians but when it's something along those lines you've gotta think about it. What does it say about how trustworthy he is if the woman who he promised to love and respect can't rely on him?"
"Sarah Palin's daughter got pregnant when she was a teenager! By that logic she wouldn't have been capable of leading a country to good moral choices if she was in a position of power, how can she do that if she can't lead her daughter to them?" He said smugly.
"Sarah Palin's daughter's teen pregnancy obviously isn't ideal, but that hardly says anything about Sarah's parenting, she made the point that her daughter never showed any sign of that being a possibility. I mean what is she psychic? Besides, since then her daughter has been a great responsible mother, she graduated high school with flying colors, and she even speaks to young girls about the consequences of teenage sex. So that in fact shows both responsibility taken on by the daughter and Sarah who helped her and guided her during that time in her life. Good for her!"
"Still doesn't mean Reagan was the better president. I'd rather have a president who wasn't crazy."
"I'd rather have one who made good decisions."
Before he could respond, we came to a fork in the road and I had to split.
"Well, I gotta go. See ya!" I said running off.
"Bye."
I got to the house, threw out my empty coffee cup and bagel wrapping, then started looking for Damon.
"Marco!"
"Polo!" I heard from upstairs.
I rushed upstairs to find him sitting on his bed, books and papers spread out all over, he was so focused he barely looked up when I sat down next to him.
"Hey girlie."
"You really have to stop calling me that."
"No why would I do that?"
"Because..." I searched my mind awkwardly for a comeback, "I'll start calling you boy-ie..."
He didn't stop reading, but raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to embarrass you or me?"
"Forget it."
I scowled and laid back on the headrest, not bothering to help him look through the papers.
"So is your headache gone?"
"Yes."
"Good, you're irritable enough in health."
"My friend Nate doesn't seem to think so." I smirked.
"Did you ask, Nate?"
"No, of course not." I said, "Because then he'd tell me the truth."
Damon nodded in agreement, "So where did you meet this kid?"
"At the decade dance. He's a freshmen at the school. He speaks a shitload of languages I've never heard of, is an active Debate and Football team member, and I think I like him because he looks like Justin Bieber if he went tanning."
"Before or after his balls dropped?"
"Before."
Damon finally looked up with a look of absolute disapproval on his face.
"What?!" I said, trying not the laugh at the absurdity of it, "The illiterate asshole I met at sniper school hasn't called back."
His expression didn't change and finally I burst into laughter, then he chuckled slightly too before he went back to driven-hard-ass mode.
"Alright, start sorting through that pile right there. I already went through it, but check and see if I missed anything."
"Come on, there was a nice little moment there, did you have to ruin it?"
"Yes."
"Dick."
"Brat."
"Mother-"
"Hey! You guys find anything yet?" Stefan said, walking in.
"No, not yet." Damon replied, "Stefan, our forefathers could not have written more useless information."
"Well the meaning of a journal is 'Keep Out: Private' not 'Please read to learn about vampire infested tombs'!" I said.
Stefan smiled slightly at my comment, "Katy do you have homework?"
"No but I do have to leave so you two can talk suspiciously behind my back."
With that I got up and headed towards the hall, deciding that I was really in the mood for a cookie.
***Third Person's POV***
Once both Stefan and Damon were satisfied that she had left, they started talking,
"So." Damon said, "I don't imagine you wanna talk about any recent bunny hunts."
"No." Stefan said, "I thought it was about time to talk about the big gaping elephant in the room."
"Which one?"
"What are you planning on doing about Katy once you get Katherine back?"
Damon studied his brother, eyes narrowed in thought, "What would you like me to do?"
"I think she should go back to the orphanage." Stefan answered, "Like she's supposed to in four months."
"If the solution is as obvious as you make it sound, why are you talking to me about it?"
"Because I think we should put her in the car right now and drop her off there as fast as we can."
Damon quirked an eyebrow, smirking, "Jeez Stef, how do you really feel about it?"
"She can't stay here Damon." He persisted, "She shouldn't be here doing your dirty work when it has nothing to do with her-it's bad enough you brought Elena into this, and she definitely should not be around Katherine."
"Aww, but she loves kids!" Damon said with mock disappointment.
"Damon I'm serious." He urged, frustrated with his bother's sarcasm, "Now it's not that I don't like Katy, I think we've all grown somewhat attached-"
Damon loudly snapped the book he was reading shut, looking away from Stefan with a fairly angry look on his face.
"I just don't think it's good for any of us to prolong the inevitable." He said calmly.
Damon finally looked at Stefan, pausing for a minute before he responded, "You're right. We should go right now, we should take her right to the orphanage. Then she'll have a wonderful life without vampires, and live in a farmhouse with puppies to play with."
"Damon-"
"Oh don't worry about Sheriff Forbes; sure I gave her and the council vervain, but I'm sure she'll understand if I explain that my teenage brother wanted her out."
"Damon be rational."
"You're right, that's too harsh. I'll just tell her that I'm a vampire whose getting back together with his girlfriend whose been locked up in a tomb for a hundred years. You can't argue with that."
"She's twelve, Damon!" Stefan argued, "She's spent most of her life engulfed in this life. If you try to keep her here you're being selfish."
He said nothing in response, but instead continued an angry look and walked away from Stefan. He walked down the hall to the room next door to his, an old study room that had been Zach's room for a while before he-well, passed.
He entered the room, turned to the left, and looked behind a desk looking down to find Katy crouched down in a small space with a sarcastically awkward smile on her face,
"You heard everything?"
"Only because I was eavesdroppin'... And you don't actually have cookies."
Damon smirked and reached out a hand to help her up, which she took.
***Elena's POV***
"Do you think Damon really believes us?" I asked, going through some boxes, "That we're both trying to help him?"
Stefan seemed to think about it for a moment, "I don't think Damon knows what to believe. Trust isn't something that comes naturally to him."
I considered his words, "You know..." I started, "I think that Damon believes that everything he's done, every move he's made, he's done for love. It's twisted, but kind of sad."
"There are other ways to get what you want. You don't have to kill people." He reasoned, "Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflicting pain on others."
I sighed, I knew he had a point, but-I don't know, I had some doubts. I think he could see it all over my face, because he continued,
"For 145 years, every single time that I have let my guard down and let Damon back into my life, he's done something to make me regret that." he explained, his eyes very serious, "I'm not gonna make that mistake again."
I took a breath, "But he has Katy, for now at least, I think she's been a good influence. Given him a chance to bond, take care of something for a change."
"She won't always be here Elena, she's supposed to leave in four months. I'm trying to convince to make her go to the orphanage today so she doesn't get in the middle of this."
"Stefan, she's already in the middle. I don't like it either, and I agree that she shouldn't be around all this but-" I stopped to calm myself down, "What about Damon? And Katy's part in this already, she's probably helping him right now without thinking twice about it."
"Katy's young, she doesn't know better than that."
"Don't underestimate her." I said, "She's tough. She may be a kid, but she's a smart one. And more importantly she's loyal. I wouldn't be shocked if she followed him to the edge of a cliff."
"That's why she needs to go Elena, she'll only be put in the crossfire if she stays." He urged, "I can see you care about her, so I know you don't want her around when Damon opens that door."
I become more worried each second, his words making too much sense in my mind, "So what do you think will happen if the tomb gets opened and Damon gets Katherine back?"
Stefan paused, he seemed almost reluctant before he responded, "I think that no matter what Damon promises, a lot of people will die."
My mind became rabid with contradicting thoughts; of course I didn't want anyone to get hurt! Or for Katy to be in the middle of all this! But did I want her to leave? I didn't know her well, but I did care. Would it be a good idea for her to leave?
Maybe she could help Damon become a decent person, she needs someone too, they both needed to heal. Katy was in the perfect position to help, after all she was the only person so far he seemed to form a camaraderie with.
But how could I deny the evidence I had right in front of my eyes? All Stefan said aside, what about Vicki? Or Caroline? Or Lexi? Or Bonnie that one time? All of them, and probably countless others filled me with doubt, and all pointed me in one direction: Damon was a murderer, and he was trying to revive his murderer love. The sooner we found and destroyed the Grimoire the better.
That was enough for me to keep helping Stefan, but one question racked my mind.
If Damon was as much of a killer as reasoning dictated, why didn't he use compulsion in Atlanta?
All I could hope for them was proof any goodness he had was salvagable.
***Katy's POV: A Few Hours Later***
"My father never approved of anyone I dated, which only made me want them more." He smirked, "Of course. What about you?"
"There were a few guys." Jenna answered, "Logan isn't the only loser I've dated."
I laughed a little bit, steadying myself where I sat, cross-legged on the counter in the kitchen. I decided to stay close to Damon, since I wasn't very familiar with everyone I figured that safety in numbers was wise.
However, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; it was still awkward because of recent introduction, but I was smiling pleasantly-so take what you will from that.
"They ever find him? Or is he still missing?" Damon only smirked obliviously when I gave him a significant look.
"He's not missing." she said, "He's in the Bahamas working on his tan, very entitled that one. Marches to his own drum."
"Is that and individual or family trait, cause I got a classmate-or five- that do the same thing."
Jenna smiled and finished her drink, which Damon promptly filled as she replied, "He's a Fell, they're all snooty."
Damon smirked at her as he went back to slicing vegetables, "Hello, Elena."
Both Jenna and I turned to see her enter, a look of confusion spread upon her face.
"Hey," Jenna greeted, "Where have you been? We're cooking dinner."
"Well they are, I'm not 'cause I'm lazy." I said, earning a small laugh from Jenna.
"Girlie!" He got my attention, "Think fast."
He tossed me a bell pepper, I clumsily caught it and then took the knife he handed me, "Start choppin'." he turned to Elena, "Is Stefan with you?"
"Um, he'll be here soon." she said.
Huh, I thought, That's not like Stefan. Seemed to me like he'd want to be here to monitor Damon's behavior.
I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but even Damon had a look on his face where you could tell he was probably thinking something similar. But albeit, probably for different reasons.
After repeated instances of Steve kicking my ass at Mario Cart, and the delicious dinner, I felt completely wiped out.
The Italian culture has not been my friend today.
But it was oddly relaxing to watch Damon kick Emo Boy's ass in turn when he played.
"You said you've never played this thing before."
"I'm a fast learner. Quick reflexes." Damon replied.
"I personally feel a complete sense of justice watching you get your ass handed to you Steve."
"Beginner's luck."
"Sour grapes."
Steve smirked slightly before getting a text on his cell. He looked only briefly before going right back to the video game.
"Who are you dodgin?" Damon asked.
"This girl Anna." He sighed, "She can be, uh, persistent."
"Is she hot?" I rolled my eyes at the question.
"Yeah, yeah, but she can be weird."
"Hot trumps weird, trust me" He smirked.
Steve and I started laughing, "He is right, the hot/crazy scale has not been proven wrong yet."
"Yeah but we can't live our lives based on things we see on 'How I Met Your Mother'."
"Would you prefer we live by things we see in a Stephan King movie? I don't like the idea of killer clowns."
"She's got a point."
Just then Elena announced Stefan's arrival after the knock on the door, prompting Damon to hop up and run off to see him.
"Dude!" Steve said when he left, then he turned to me, holding out the second video game control, "Care to try again?"
"You beat me eight times at Mario Cart by a landslide... Sure why not?"
We played video games for the next half hour, now discussing funny last names instead of my lacking gamer skill.
"Duncan Waldman."
"Wall-Man, he can create huge walls around bad guys so they can't get away."
"What does he have, super speed and strength to do this?"
"He does it by the power of his mind."
"Oh!" I nodded, "Okay, I know a guy named Anthony Goodman."
Steve thought for a second, "Nah, too redundant, try again."
"Hey at least that one does good, so he'd probably have unlimited powers-who would wanna be Wall Man?"
"Wall Man."
"Nah, he's got self-esteem issues, I'm telling ya."
"And Good Man doesn't? 'Fear me criminals! I wield the might powers of good! I make people feel-'"
"Alright, alright, I get your point."
He smiled, "You know you're not bad for a twelve year old."
"Thanks, comes with a territory."
"A territory?"
"Such as the ability to say you knew what a payphone was before Maroon 5 wrote a song about it."
He laughed, "Yeah I get it. Alright I have a teacher named Alaric Saltzman."
"Salt-Man... He causes high cholesterol in his enemies, then adds flavor to them so the bigger bad guys can eat them."
"But isn't that bad, since he's feeding the more evil bad guys?"
"No, because since he over salted the little bad guys, it caused the bigger bad guys severe heart troubles."
"You are dark..."
"All about the territory." I replied.
Suddenly Damon, Elena, and Stefan appeared, walking up to us.
"So,:" Damon said to Steve, "I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day. Who else did you show it to?"
Get to the point Damon you're being too subtle, I thought sarcastically.
"Huh?" Don't ask questions, just spill."
"You're kidding me right?"
Elena stepped in, "Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Jonathan Gilbert's journal?"
"Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?"
"Book report." I said, "Due in like-two-three days and flunking."
Just as Steve was about to respond Elena asked, "Who else did you tell?"
"Just that girl Anna." He shrugged.
"The hot/weird one?" Damon questioned.
"Yeah."
"Wait," Stefan said, "Who is Anna?"
"That's what I want to find out." He turned to Steve, "How do you know her?"
"I just know her." He shrugged again, "She wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight."
"Perfect. I'll drive." Damon turned to me, "Come on."
Steve and I, both confused-well he was, got up and followed hum to the door, "Okay."
"Wait." I said, "I need my jacket."
"Okay, Katy can you just hitch a ride home with Stefan? We really have to get Jeremy to his friend."
I nodded slightly, Damon nodded back and dragged Steve out the door to his car.
***Third Person's POV***
Elena had just ended her conversation with Bonnie about her date, and turned around in time to see Stefan entering her room.
"Where's Damon?" she asked.
"He left to track down Jeremy's friend Anna, see if there was anything there."
"Aren't you gonna go with him?" she rushed slightly nervous, "If he gets to the journal before we do, then-"
Stefan silenced her by holding up a roll of papers, "Doesn't matter."
"What is that?"
"It's a copy of it."
"How did you get it?"
"Well, Mr. Saltzman made a copy and was-" He shrugged as he considered his words, "kind enough to loan it to me."
Elena gave a playful look of disbelief replying, "He did?"
"Not exactly," He admitted, "but I got it."
Elena nodded, but suddenly her eyes darted behind Stefan, widening with surprise. When he turned around to look behind him, Stefan saw non other than Katy standing in the doorway.
"Katy," Stefan said, "What's wrong?"
"A number of things at the moment."
"Look Katy," Elena said, "This is not how it sounds-"
"Bull. Shit." she drawled, "It's exactly how it sounds. All I'm wondering is why you are dumb enough to think this is a good idea on ANY level!"
"Katy understand." Elena pleaded, walking over to her and looking in her eyes, "Damon wants Katherine back, Katherine was a horrible violent person who hurt people. We can't let her out."
"No arguments on her character." Katy replied, "But how bad do you think Damon will be when he finds out you screwed him over?"
Elena sighed, "Look, Katy, all we need is for you to stay quiet,a dn not tell Damon. I'm not asking you to lie to him, or help us in anyway. We can probably end this tonight and it will all be over."
Her eyes darted nervously between Elena and Stefan.
"Katy please." Elena begged, "Let us end it. Now."
Without a word, Katy raced out of the room and down the stairs.
"Katy!" Elena called after her, but was only answered by the door slamming.
She sighed and moved back to Stefan, a look of guilt and frustration spreading on her face.
"Do you think she'll tell? I mean should we go after her?"
"I don't know, but whether she tells or not I'm fairly certain she's going to Damon, she'll be safe for now."
"What if she tells him?" she asked, running a hand nervously through her hair.
"Then we need to hurry." He replied.
Elena hesitated before nodding her head and grabbing the copy of the journal.
***Katy's POV***
I'm fairly certain I'd just experienced the ultimate nerve-racked moment of all adolescent kind!
I already knew about their bitchy girlfriend's escape, and yet, I didn't tell them.
I knew the dangers of the other vampires, and yet, I'm just sitting back and hoping for the best.
I'm willing to trust Damon right now, AND YET, I still don't believe he won't go ape-shit on me if I tell him!
Freakin' existential crises!
Well, all I knew was, I wasn't gonna tell him about Stefan's and Elena's extra curricular activities. If I didn't trust Damon when-and if- I told him about Katherine, I did not trust him with that little detail.
Honestly, thought I knew I should really just tell him, mostly I was hoping they would succeed in screwing up the plan so I wouldn't have to.
After running out of the house, I just wanted to go home, so that's what I did.
But on my way over, I was walking passed the Grill when Damon came out (no not that way... Yet...) and started walking towards his car. I was gonna run off and ignore him, but he caught sight of me before I had the chance.
"Hey!" He called out to me, "Katy, why aren't you at Elena's?"
I bit my lip for a second, "I wanted to go home after dinner."
"Get in the car." He said, "I'll take you home after a quick pit stop."
I hesitantly trotted over to the car and got in the back. I remained silent, not knowing what to say that wouldn't directly lead to hiding Elena and Stefan's plan.
What is wrong with me? I wondered, slightly frustrated, I lied to Sheriff Forbes and many others, no problem, what's changed?
"You doing alright back there?"
I looked up at him in the rear-view mirror and nodded, "Yeah."
He nodded back slightly and continued to drive, the look on his face told me he was less than convinced, but clearly had other things on his mind.
We came to a small motel parking lot, in which Damon parked and got out of the car, "You still got that ring?" he asked me.
I said nothing and pulled out a tiny stalk of vervain from my jacket, holding it up with my ringed finger. He seemed satisfied with that and sped off into the building, while I remained in the car.
While he was inside, I kept arguing with myself over the whole situation. I got no further than where I'd been before, but a thought occurred to me, about my staying here.
Why am I here?
Because Sheriff wanted a witness to vampire activity.
I hid from the cops when that vamp came around, and I'd always considered running away from the orphanage... Why not just leave? I wondered.
I didn't mean crap to these people, they only looked after me because it would be inconvenient for them not to. Just like the orphanage. Sure I was rude and they seemed to be willing to put up with it, it's their small town hospitality, that'd change soon enough.
But what do I care? I'd be leaving soon; four months was bull crap, I was probably leaving in four days-MAX!
Stefan was right, why prolong the inevitable? It's useless.
That whole conversation this morning was exactly my point. These people have lives! Lives potentially at stake for that matter!
I don't think they hate me or wish me ill-will, but when I leave no one will blink an eye.
Why would they? I shouldn't even be questioning this! It's been obvious from the beginning!
What was I hoping for? That Elena, Stefan, Damon, and everyone would pity me? Be all 'Poor little orphan! Stay with us!' or even Damon going 'Hey, since my girlfriend is dead or gone or whatever, we should just travel the world Daddy-Adopted-Daughter style!'.
None of that was realistic or even plausible! Even if we lived in a world where vampires adopting wasn't difficult, Damon wasn't even close to that kind of mindset.
Here's two realistic scenarios:
Katherine isn't in the tomb, he never knows I knew. He quickly drops me off at an orphanage with a 'See ya girlie!' and drives off.
Katherine isn't in the tomb, I tell him I know and maybe somehow unknowingly direct him to her. I DIE!
Or he might not go ape-shit... He'll go 'thanks for the tip' drives off and leaves me with Stefan till he drives me to the orphanage or term is up.
See a pattern yet?
Point is, I can't and won't stay, the only question about it is whether or not I go myself or get a ride.
Before I could make any further speculations, Damon had suddenly appeared back in the car, startling me slightly.
"Jeez man!" I murmured.
Damon didn't respond and immediately went speed racer on my ass as he started driving erratically down the road.
I hadn't put on my seat belt when I'd gotten in, so by now I was clinging onto the headrest in the backseat and my feet were pressed up against the back of the driver's seat
"Dude!" I said, "Who'd you piss off?!"
"The Grimoire is in my father's grave."
"Then why are you speeding? I hardly think he's gonna just rise from the gave out of boredom!" Then I thought for a second, "He won't, right?"
He smirked, "No, unless you know something I don't?"
I gulped, but kept a straight face, mostly because I kept my eyes anywhere but at him.
"Why would I know?"
"I don't know." He said, then suddenly stopped the car, "Stay."
"Do I get my biscuit?"
He only smirked again and sped off.
I was gonna stay, I really was! But then I remembered something: If Damon knew where the Grimoire was now, then Stefan and Elena must also know by now, and must be there already!
So I hurtled out of the car and ran as fast as I could through the woods, not really knowing where to go but going faster and faster all the same. Until finally I saw some fire light up ahead, obviously signalling where they were.
When I got there, I saw Damon holding Elena-clearly against her will, and forcing his wrist to her mouth. I knew perfectly well what that meant.
"Give me the book Stefan!" He said, "Or I'm snappin' her neck. And you and I will have a vampire girlfriend."
"Let her go first!" Stefan said.
"The book!"
"I am not gonna give this to you." He said, almost pleadingly, "Until she is standing next to me."
"The problem is, I no longer trust that you'll give it back!"
"You just did the one thing that ensures that I will."
My breath hitched dryly, my heart sped up, and after a minute my breathing became almost painful as I hyperventilated. I kept looking between them, scared of anyone who moved-even in place.
Damon gestured to Stefan to place the book, and he soon complied, placing it slowly in front of him. I looked back at Damon who still hadn't let Elena go. And I almost sprung into action when I thought he was about to snap her neck.
Then he slowly removed his arm from around her neck and gently pushed her forwards. She slowly stepped towards Stefan, until she got to a certain distance and ran into his protective arms.
They all stared at each other for a minute, and then Stefan and Elena hurried off. Damon turned to look at me for a second, his face cold and angry, then quickly grabbed the book from off the ground. He stared into the fire, and for a minute I hoped he would burn the damned thing-unfortunately he didn't.
He turned to leave just then, and started sprinting off towards the car. He'd already gotten way ahead of me, but I just walked slowly behind. By the time I decided to speed up a little bit and got there, he had already put the book in the car and was waiting impatiently for me.
"Get in the car." He demanded, starting to get in himself.
He saw me make no movement to do so and just stared at me, eyebrows raised.
"You tried to kill Elena." I choked.
"Oh, I didn't try to kill her!" he shrugged nonchalantly, ""I wanted to turn her."
"You had her by the throat!"
"You lied to me." He said sternly, "You think I couldn't tell? That something was just-hmm, a little off?"
I continued to be silent as he continued,
"You know I was quite disappointed actually." He said, starting up the car, "You've always lied so much better in the past."
Then he drove off, leaving me to myself.
Dick.
He's right...
So I began to walk back to the Boarding House, the long walk helping me clear my head. But after a while, the stress and confusion and just DAMN REALITY got to me, and I couldn't take it. I sat down on a park bench I'd come across, and held my breath to keep the water works from flowin'-did nothin' for the one or two tears that escaped though.
I looked up to see a larg old-fashioned clock by the town square. 1:37.
I let our a small humorless chuckle, which sounded more like a sob, and said to myself, "Happy Birthday to me!"