Present.
"Just stop fucking talking," Damon spat.
He was behind the wheel of his car with Stefan riding shotgun. Stefan's face was covered in blood, his jaw slightly concave and his orbital bone crushed causing his eye to stay blood red. His body was slow to heal and was in obvious pain.
Damon right fist, clutching the wheel, was swollen and all along his arm was dried flecks of Stefan's blood. When they had found Elena's room empty, Damon turned on Stefan like a wild animal. He had ground his fist into Stefan's face with a vehemence he had never experienced. The fury that coursed through his veins was unfathomable. But along side that fury was fear. It was cold, shaking and terrifying fear. The thought of Elena being dead had plagued heavy on his thoughts. Though he had no proof, he knew she had to be with Katherine. There was no other explanation. Katherine. That in itself was another blow. He had known she was alive, yes. But to actually know that she was in Mystic Falls rocked him to the core and he didn't know what to feel. He didn't have time to analyze it.
They drove to the small hotel outside of town where Katherine had been staying. When they burst into the room, they found it empty. It was freshly cleaned by housekeeping and not a soul in sight. When Damon spoke to the front desk attendant, he discovered that she had checked out the night before—probably before she went to the Boarding House. Damon stalked back to the room to find Stefan sitting on the bed, his hand held protectively over his eyes.
"What," Damon asked impatiently.
"Nothing," Stefan said, defeated.
"Oh it hurts," Damon mocked. "Fucking good. I'm glad. If you weren't being useful with information, you'd be dead right now."
"I thought she wanted you…I thought she was helping me…"
"Well, you thought wrong. And instead Elena could be dead because of you."
"Let's go."
As Damon turned, his eyes fell on a small table near the window. There, in the middle of the table, was a withering flower. Damon walked slowly towards it and carefully picked it up. It was an English Rose.
Damon turned back to Stefan.
"We need to go back to the Salvatore estate."
"We can be there in ten minutes," Stefan said and stood.
"Not that house."
He lifted the flower for Stefan to see. The two brothers stared at each other for a moment before sprinting towards the car.
How was she even being compelled?
Elena felt as if she was drowning. Katherine was somehow using all of her control to keep her sedate and in compliance. Every now and again it was as if her head bobbed above water and she could breathe. But then she was violently pulled back into the dark abyss, buried under crushing waves.
"He's near," Katherine whispered into Elena's ear. Her tongue flicked over her lobe and she purred.
Elena cold not discern herself from Katherine. Everything was a blur. And when she did have fleeting moments of consciousness, she was unhinged at Katherine's story. Soulless? There was no way. Was there? Several full bloomed roses were pressed towards her face. Katherine laid them beside her moved about the room.
"Don't they smell lovely," Katherine asked. "Emily and I planted them in the Salvatore garden before we were…"
She trailed off for a moment before speaking again, "They were still growing, wild, in the thicket."
She turned towards Elena who was laying on the moss filled ground, her hair splayed out like a fan. She twitched every now and again, writhing in a muddled confusion. She looked up at Katherine.
"Damon…" She whispered into the silence.
Katherine tilted her head and stared down at Elena.
"Soon," Katherine whispered back.
She sunk to the floor beside her, her fingers threading through Elena's hair. She slunk on top of her, her lips kissing Elena all over her face. Her forehead, her closed eyes, her nose, her cheeks and finally…
Elena was suddenly hungry for Katherine. Why, she did not know. But when their mouths connected, the fuse was powerful, magnetic. Elena felt like she belonged. She knew that Katherine felt it too. Elena wanted to be inside her. Not in so much in sexual terms, but she wanted to be in her. She wanted to flow through her veins like blood, to feel her from the inside, to wrap around Katherine's spine and feel through her fingers. She wanted to be her. Katherine pulled back suddenly, shuddering sharply. She stared down at Elena, her eyes filled with trepidation. She felt it too. She felt the power that was emitting from Elena. And she wanted to consume it. She wanted to take it and claim it for her own. She wanted to swallow it whole. It was too opposite forces colliding together and meshing into one another. Elena reached her mouth to Katherine's again. Their tongues swirled around each other—light and dark. The room was cold. And the only sound was that of two mouths connecting with each other again and again. Katherine hand, cold, slid underneath Elena's shirt and pulled it over her breasts. Her tongue, like ice, lowered to Elena's nipple. She bit, teased…as her other hand slid to her hip, pressing against her…
"Tell me I'm beautiful," Katherine demanded in between kisses.
"I'm beautiful," Elena moaned lighly.
"Mmm, that's right…"
"Wouldn't you do anything for me?" She nipped at Elena's cool skin.
"…yes."
Damon and Stefan walked quietly through the wood, to the old Salvatore plantation. It had surrendered to the wilderness long ago, the foundation barely visible through the brush. But they knew this place as well as the back of their hand. They grew up here—this place was tangled into their souls.
Damon's eyes surveyed quickly. He could smell something. Smell them—the scent of jasmine mingling with heady roses. But he could see nothing. A crow cawed in the distance.
As they walked across the property, flashes of memory came to Damon. He remembered running across the garden and into his mother's arms. She was soft, wonderful, beautiful. He remembered cowering outside of her bedroom as she gave birth to Stefan. Oh, her screams…! He remembered the midwife telling his father that she was dead. He remembered staring into Stefan's crib. He remembered catching frogs near the creek. He remembered the first moment he laid eyes on Katherine…he remembered watching this place burn to the ground. Just then, he noticed the earth was unusually soft and nearly giving way under his foot.
The basement. He snapped his finger, getting Stefan's attention, and gestured downward.
They found a large hole in the ground, darkness below. Damon jumped in quickly, his feet delivering a soft thud as he landed on the soft, mossy earth of the basement. There used to be rows of wine stacked down here long ago, his father's pride. And then…
They stood in the corner, in the shadows, hand in hand. Two beautiful mirror images of the other. They were beautiful darkness.
Katherine surveyed Damon. "Hello, lover. How I've missed your face..."
"Let her go," Damon demanded.
"Shhh, not so fast."
Stefan was now beside him.
"So you've defected to the other side," her tone was full of amusement.
"You lied to me," Stefan said.
"You seem surprised. Come, now."
Damon advanced a step.
"Ah Ah," she put up a finger. "I'll kill her. You know I will."
"What do you want," Damon asked between gritted teeth. If he could just get closer…
"Nothing you have to offer."
"Then why did you bring us here," Stefan asked.
Damon turned back at the sound of Stefan's voice then looked towards Katherine and Elena.
"To say goodbye."
Just then Elena twisted her arm and pitched Katherine forward into the wall. Katherine stumbled and fell to her knees as Elena, head down, ran with terror across the room and into Stefan's arms.
Damon furrowed his brow, staring across the room at Katherine.
"Well…that was anti-climactic."
Katherine's hands gripped the wall and she was laughing. Stefan retreated back a ways with Elena who was cowering into his chest. Damon turned and watched them. The revulsion that clutched his heart was swift and cruel. He watched as Stefan smoothed Elena's hair and kissed her forehead, offering comforting words to soothe her.
Katherine continued laughing crazily, it nearly sounded like crying, but her back was still turned.
"Let's go," Damon said, annoyed.
"Have you ever heard the prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi," Katherine half snickered, half sobbed.
All three of them moved to leave as she began to recite:
"O ye men who dwell in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!
Either your glorious town shall be sacked by the children of Perseus,
Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian country
Mourn for the loss of a king, descendant of great Heracle."
Stefan stopped in his tracks. He had heard this before. Where?
"Thermopylae," Stefan said, parrot like, and turned. "That was the prophecy for The Battle Thermopylae."
"What, like the movie '300,'" Damon snorted. "Was this supposed to be some sort of grand coup? There is three of us and one of you. I think you're done."
The scent of jasmine swirled around him then and he suddenly felt uncomfortable. Katherine turned and she was sobbing as she looked from Damon, to Stefan and Elena. Except her eyes…
"I'm so sorry," she croaked.
"Wrong again, lover," Elena said behind him.
Except it wasn't Elena at all…
Damon's eyes widened and he turned on his heels just as Katherine plunged a stake into Stefan's chest. Stefan's gaze was explosive. His eyes flickered from Damon, to Elena in the corner and to Katherine in front of him. His hand grabbed her shoulder as he pitched forward. Katherine moved aside, watching him fall at her feet. Stefan's mouth opened as if to speak.
"Close…"
His pallor turned a strange hue that was muddled in between brown and grey, the veins bulged from his neck. He twitched once and then he was still.
Damon fell to his knees with the weight of something so indescribably heavy. He let out a strange, sickened groan and he fell forward, his hand pressed into the earth. He half crawled to Stefan.
"One down," Katherine purred. "She and I? We are one. She is mine. Don't come after us or you'll follow your brother into the grave."
Damon turned towards Katherine and Elena. Elena was bawling, pulling in vain against Katherine.
"Damon…Stefan…She made me…please…Oh God, I'm sorry…please…"
Damon stood dumbly, unmoving, as they left the basement. Damon stared at the hole in the ceiling for a long moment as Elena's cries died away. He stared down at Stefan, his hand hovering over Stefan's cheek.
"You were so stupid," his voice was shaking.
He didn't realize he was crying until he saw his tears fall onto Stefan's face, reflecting in the light from the ceiling. He bent forward, one hand clutching Stefan's collar and rested his forehead against Stefan's forehead. His body shook, his mind flying.
Stefan as a baby in the crib, his hand reaching for Damon…Stefan jumping over rocks beside the creek as they caught frogs…Stefan and Damon hunting quail with their dog Maximus…Stefan and Damon laughing and wrestling each other to the ground. Stefan. His brother. His blood. And now…
Damon's fist clenched viciously around Stefan's collar and he lifted his head.
His eyes were murder. He looked down at his brother, eyes still open and vacant. As much as he hated Stefan, he had always been there. Damon moved his palm over Stefan's eyes, shutting them forever. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling where Katherine and Elena departed.
Elena…
He stood quickly and walked towards the opening. He moved to climb out and paused, turning back. Stefan's body laid motionless in the shadow.
"I'm sorry," Damon uttered, his voice echoing along the wall. He left, cutting through the forest.
They were gone.
What did Stefan mean? Close?
He only had one person to turn to.
Bonnie heard a knock at the door and walked from her room towards the door. She opened it casually and jumped slightly at the sight of Damon. She said nothing.
"I need your help. It's Elena."
Bonnie's face turned urgent and she searched Damon's eyes for a trace of deceit.
"Come in," she said softly, quickly.
And shut the door.