A day off school… Wonder what trouble Damon is going to get into today.
I shut my diary, not in the mood to write some soul-searching couple of pages that no one else is going to read anyway. I jogged downstairs and into the living room. I stopped dead when I saw Damon and Zach together in the living room.
"I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?" Zach was asking Damon. Damon darted over and grabbed Zach by the throat. I raced over and grabbed Damon's arm.
"Damon, don't!"
"You are in no position to question me." Damon told Zach, completely ignoring me for once.
"Damon!" I tried again, weakly pulling on his arm.
"I didn't mean to upset you." Zach said tersely.
"This is not upset, Zach." Damon told him. Just then, Stefan walked into the house and saw the three of us.
"What's going on?" Stefan demanded. Damon dropped Zach and then turned to face Stefan. I shot a quick apologetic look to Zach before turning my attention back to Damon again.
"Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time." Damon answered, a smirk on his face. Then he walked out the door, swinging it shut behind him. Stefan turned to Zach.
"Hey, are you okay?" Stefan asked him.
"No, I'm not. Neither are you two... How many more people have to die before you see that?" Zach asked, rubbing his throat.
"I see it, Zach. Alright, I see it?" Stefan told him.
"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Zach demanded, looking between the two of us angrily. I spoke before Stefan could.
"Because it would take human blood. It's the only way that we could stop him and you know that we can't do that! Stefan loses control and he turns into a Ripper! Trust me, you'd rather deal with Damon! I guilt trip myself for both of us until I turn off my humanity and then I'm even worse than Damon!" I said, raising my voice until it was almost a yell.
"The Vervain could weaken him if he ingested it. Then it would be more than easy for the two of you to take him down." Zach told us.
"Vervain hasn't grown here since 1865. Damon saw to that. The little I had left, I gave to Elena. What?" Stefan asked at Zach's shaking head. Silently, Zach led us into the cellar. I never liked coming down there. It always gave me the creeps. I stuck close to Zach and Stefan as we walked. Zach opened a big door and we looked in. There was a big box garden with Vervain growing in it.
"You've been growing it?" I asked Zach. He nodded.
"It's just something that was passed down through the generation. Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires… Damon would kill me if he knew I had it." Zach said.
"But you're telling us… Why?" I asked.
"Because I trust you. And you're gonna need it if you want to get rid of him."
That night was the annual Founder's party. I sat on Stefan's desk while he got ready, already dressed in my short black lace dress, black leather jacket and knee high leather boots. Damon walked into the room, all dressed up too.
"Do they still wear ties to these things?" Damon asked no one in particular, straightening his tie in Stefan's mirror. I glared at his back.
"Why are you even going?" Stefan asked.
"It's only fitting… We were at the first one, remember? You, me and Katherine had a ball. Even beautiful young Miss Elisabeth Salvatore was making an impression on the local boys. Am the only one that thinks she'd been married by the end of the year, had she not been turned into a vampire?" Damon asked.
"It's better we don't draw attention to ourselves." I told Damon, ignoring his comments about the first Founder's Party. He shrugged.
"So Stefan and you should stay here. I'll make sure Elena has a good time and I won't lay a hand on Jeremy, if that little punk is even going… My goodness, I've driven you to drink." My head snapped over to Stefan as he took a drink of Scotch. And so the plan began….
"Can't seem to rid myself of you… What else am I supposed to do, besides going about living my life?" Stefan asked him, taking another drink.
"'Go about living my life'… Therein lies you're eternal struggle. You're dead dude. Get over it. What do you think? It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud…" Damon said.
"Yes, being a one hundred and fifty year old teenager has been the height of my happiness." Stefan said sarcastically.
"You cracked a funny, Stefan. I should drink to celebrate. 1864… You and Katherine were the perfect couple… It was hell watching you dance with her. Drink up, little sister." Damon handed me a small glass of Scotch. I took it and put it on the desk beside me without drinking any.
"My happiness was short-lived, as you well know." Stefan reminded Damon.
"I remember… I left the party early. I was waiting for her. The night you dropped her off, I was waiting just outside. You were such a gentleman. Gave her a kiss on the cheek and what she really wanted was… oh, well. Here's to history repeating itself, huh?" He raised his glass. Then he smelled it and dumped it on the floor.
"I admire your effort Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with Vervain... I didn't even think about Beth not drinking any because she's such the good-girl, I figured she wouldn't drink… However, I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me. But I can't help but feel a little used. I thought the three of us were having a moment... I have to go to the party angry… Who knows what I'll do?" And with that he was off. Stefan waited until we heard the front door shut before he said anything to me.
"You ready to do this, Beth?" He asked me, raising an eyebrow. I jumped off the desk and matched his pace as we walked out of his bedroom.
"I wouldn't dress like Buffy the Vampire Slayer I wasn't ready to do it, Stefan… Now, let's kick Damon's butt!" We walked downstairs and met up with Zach in the living room.
"That was his favorite Scotch… I'm sorry, I thought that would work." Zach said. We shook our heads in unison.
"I wasn't counting on it." Stefan said.
"You knew it would fail?" Zach asked.
"Did what I wanted. It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon." Stefan told him. Zach handed over a small bag of Vervain to Stefan.
"I doubled what I put in the Scotch."
I stood in a big room of the Lockwood house that was filled with historical artifacts from the town with Elena, Damon, Caroline and Stefan. Elena was reading off the registry from 1864.
"Sheriff William Forbes… Mayor Benjamin Lockwood… Is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore… And Elisabeth Salvatore!"
"The original Salvatore siblings… Our ancestors… Tragic story, really." Damon said quickly.
"We don't need to bore the girls with stories of the past." Stefan said, trying to shut Damon up.
"It's not boring Stefan… I'd love to hear more about your family." Elena said with a smile.
"Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. And Damon won't dance with me." Caroline complained.
"Mind if I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked Elena.
"I don't dance." Stefan said.
"Sure he does. You should see him. The waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk… He does it all!" Damon said, smirking over at Stefan.
"You wouldn't mind, would you Elena?" Caroline asked.
"It's up to Stefan." Elena told her.
"Sorry, but I'm not taking no for an answer." Caroline dragged Stefan out of the room. Damon gave me a 'run along' look. I gave him a warning 'don't touch Elena' look before smiling over at Elena.
"I think I'm going to go find someone to dance with me." I walked off, but not before shooting another warning glare at Damon. I stood by myself outside for a while. Jeremy wasn't here, so I had no one to really talk to. After a couple of minutes, I saw Elena come out to Stefan and then danced. She disappeared into the bathroom after an obvious argument. A minute later she reappeared to push Damon, obviously threaten him and then she went to Stefan. I used my vampire hearing to listen in.
"I'm sorry. I take it all back. You're completely right about Damon." She told Stefan. I saw the confused look on his face, wondering what Damon had done now.
"What did he do?" Stefan asked.
"There are bruises all over Caroline's body. Bite marks… He has her all confused and messed up in the head… You don't look surprised."
"Um… I'm handling it."
"Handing it? Stefan, you should be having him arrested!"
"Elena, please… I…I don't expect you to understand."
"I don't understand anything, Stefan. So why don't you it up for me?"
"Look, there are some things you don't know, okay? Things I want to tell you, but I can't. And I may never be able to. And I just need you to trust me."
"Trust is earned. I can't just magically hand it over!" Stefan's eyes flickered over Elena. He caught sight of me and he subtly moved his eyes towards something. I looked and saw Damon pulling Caroline out into the yard. I gave him a nod. I snuck around the area and got close enough to listen in on Damon.
"Don't! She took it off and I got flustered, okay? I didn't know what to say. But I swear, okay, I did not tell her. I just told her that you didn't mean to hurt me!" Damon walked around Caroline and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her.
"You make me crazy, you know that? It's okay, I forgive you…" He whispered so even with vampire hearing, I could barely hear.
"I swear I didn't say-." She started.
"Shh, shh… It's okay… Unfortunately, I am so over you now." Damon bit into her shoulder and started to drink. It only took a couple seconds for both of them to be on the ground. I ran over to Damon. He looked up weakly at me.
"What the…?"
"We knew we couldn't spike your drink… So we spiked hers."
"You're in on it, little sis?" He asked in a moan.
"Sorry, Damon…. I wanted this to turn out differently, but I guess some things never change with you." He gave me a death look and then passed out. Stefan hurried over. We grabbed him and hurried home without anyone seeing us.
Stefan dumped Damon in the cellar with the Vervain once we got home. I waited until he was out before Zach and I locked the door. Stefan stalked off. Zach turned to me.
"Thank you, Aunt Beth. You know this was the right thing to do." He reminded me. I nodded and put my head on his shoulder as we walked out of the cellar.
"And so the town is safe… As long as no one finds out we locked our brother in the cellar, we'll be good." I walked up to my bedroom. I plopped down at my desk and pulled out my diary.
We caught Damon. Part of me is thrilled. The town is safe! The other part of me is horrified. We had to Vervain our own brother and lock him in our cellar? What happened to talking it out? I guess the phase of talking it over ended with our human lives… Something still bothers me, though. Damon said he had a plan. What? Stefan knows nothing of this, as far as I know… I must find out what he has planned before he can wreck havoc on our home again…
A/N By the way, Sblck, I am seriously considering your idea about Kol. I haven't planned to the third season yet but now I am (but I won't tell you about if I'm going to do it or not!). Thanks for your review! ~RoniCullen