Chapter seventeen
Katherine was sitting in the parlor with a glass of wine and a book when the brothers returned home. "Damon" She said. "I heard that your mistress had you under house arrest. " And by that she didn't mean lover.
"I don't have a mistress, Katherine." He said. "And you don't have a place to stay. Stefan wants you out of his house so out."
"Fine, your owner then. I can't believe you took up with her again." She rolled her eyes ignoring what he said about leaving. "I never figured you for the glutton for punishment type. At least not your own. You know there are ways to block them. You don't have to put up with her if you don't want to."
"He's not putting up with her. " Stefan said. "They're together. You know, like you pretended to be all those years ago."
She groaned "Are we back to that?" She asked.
"How did you know I was with her before?" Damon asked, frowning. "I never told anyone about our little flings."
"Do you really think Stefan was the only one I was keeping an eye on?" Katherine asked.
Damon rolled his eyes. "If you had wanted a say in my life you should have made yourself known back when I was young and foolish enough to believe that you loved me. But" He said. "You didn't, we've moved on and now you are moving out."
"You need me. Rumor has it Klaus is alive." She said. "He's not going to be happy with any of us you know."
"He's dead." Damon said firmly and swiftly. Even Caroline agreed that it was something not to be spoken of to anyone until they figured out who the witch had been to make the transfer. Alex didn't think Bonnie was powerful enough to pull it off, Damon knew better. "I saw it happen. Twice actually once in person and once while under the knife. So there's no need for you to stay. You don't need our protection which is what you are really here for."
"And people saw me and 26 other vampires tossed into the church and burned alive." Katherine said. "You thought I was in a tomb for 148 years."
"You know this isn't helping your case." Stefan said. He too had mourned her. The difference was he hadn't been compelled. He had been able to move on. Damon hadn't, which left him wondering just how much she had messed with his brothers head.
Damon lost his patience in that moment "Go grab her stuff." He said as he took the glass of wine from her hand, set it aside, and then hefted her over his shoulder walking toward the door.
"When did you go all cave man?" She asked, struggling in his grasp. "Is this what your necromancer is teaching you?"
Damon dropped her unceremoniously on the front lawn.
Katherine winced and shifted uncomfortably. "Touchy subject I take it."
Damon knelt down beside her. "There is something you're missing in this conversation." He said leaning in close. "You keep saying the word Necromancer but you're not really hearing what you're saying. She killed one of her own kind over me. What do you think she'd do to a vampire trying to come between us? "
"You wouldn't send her after me," Katherine said looking up at him and smiling, "because part of you still loves me."
"I don't send her after anything," He laughed, "and I don't love you. Not even a little bit. I've learned the difference between real and unreal. You killed what little there was that was real. Stefan doesn't love you. He doesn't want you in his house. So I suggest you find somewhere else to live, preferably in San Francisco."
"You're in over your head Damon. One day she is going to lose control and leave you nothing more than a hollowed out husk. You know I'm right. I'm right about her and about Klaus."
Stefan set the suitcase on the ground beside her. "Good bye Katherine."
"Fine," She said getting to her feet. "But you both need me. You've always needed me. You always will." She picked up her suitcase and walked to the car with it. "I think I'll hang around a while." She said. "Just to make sure you're okay."
"Good bye Katherine." Damon said in a long suffering tone.
The car pulled out of the drive way.
"Did that seem too easy to you?" Stefan asked.
"oh yeah." Damon agreed.
The brothers looked at each other and headed back inside the house. "She's either taken what she wants or she's hidden something here for safe keeping." Stefan said.
"Unfortunately we don't know which it is." Damon said and sighed as he turned looking about the room.
They searched Damon's old room and bath first. It was where she had set up housekeeping. From there they moved on to the library, and den. Neither of them could find anything particularly missing or new.
"The problem is, we don't know what all Zack put in here." Damon said. "Up until last year neither of us spent a lot of time here and neither of us has really gone through this place either. "
"I know." Stefan said with a sigh. "So what do we do?" He asked.
Damon looked at his watch. "For now we go pick up the girls and see if fresh eyes can see anything." He suggested.
Alex kept an eye on Damon as the evening progressed. The two couples had gone over the house from top to bottom although the ladies felt even less equipped for the search than the men.
"Is it possible she was looking for something of yours?" Alex asked as she checked the lasagna in the oven.
"It's possible." Damon said coming over to slide his arms around her. "It's also possible that I'm not going to fall apart or fly off the handle any time soon."
"That obvious am I?" she asked leaning her head back against his chest. "It's good to see you and Stefan talking again. "
He sighed. "I'm not ready to completely trust him yet, so don't think it means we're back to normal."
Alex laughed softly "Babe, as I seem to recall that actually is your normal with him. You got past it before it will happen again in time. I have sisters, trust me I understand."
"Speaking of your sisters where are they going to be staying when they come into town?" Damon asked, keeping on ear on the conversation in the living room which was going back and forth between sweet nothings and why can't they be rid of Katherine once and for all.
"That's the tricky part. Avril is coming on her own. She's leaving her girlfriend out in LA. So that's fine. Yvette however refuses to travel without Henry."
Damon shuddered. "She hasn't let him go?" He asked quietly.
"I know it doesn't seem like it but it wouldn't be a kindness." She said. "He's been with her too long and she hasn't left him with much will of his own." This might not be a good plan after all. "I'll arrange for a rental for them. They won't be staying with us."
"Not like we have room. It's a one bedroom cabin." He pointed out. One of the many reasons he had bought it. Even when they built the new house it wouldn't be much bigger. Not bedroom wise.
"True enough." She said and turned in his arms to face him. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
He gave her one of his looks. "You remember what I said just a minute ago right? I'm not going to fall apart or fly off the handle any time soon. "
"My sister is enough to drive the most temperate of men to drink and violence. And that's the sister that isn't a necromancer…"
"I've had my eyes opened to how your … community for lack of a better word… views vampires. I don't care and so long as she doesn't try poaching the local livestock, I'm good." Damon said. He found that he didn't like being relegated to a status equal to that of the average German Shepherd or Guernsey, but even at her coldest, Alex had never treated him that way. Slave yes. Animal no.
"Don't worry." She said. "That's not what she's coming for. A few years ago Yvette ran into some trouble with a witch. It got ugly. She and Henry both nearly died. " Although her sister was genuinely upset that Henry had been harmed it was more the way people felt about their pets being endangered.
"Well, I'm sure she gave him an extra ration of kibble." Damon said curtly.
She couldn't bring herself to chastise him for it. What was she going to say? That she had warned him they were an unpleasant lot and what else did he expect? "At any rate the fact that a witch has been interfering in our lives has her a little hot under the collar."
"I can't complain about that." He said as the timer went off. Her family was close. Close enough that the divide between Witch and Necromancer didn't matter. They'd had their arguments and estrangements over the years but they had always pulled together when an outsider came looking for trouble. He used to envy her that. Now he was starting to realize that there was nothing to envy. He and his brother were much the same way.
He grabbed the plates and flatware and took them to the dining room. "You might want to get the wine glasses." He told his brother as Elena took the dishes from his hands to set the table. Damon then went down stairs to grab a couple bottles of wine.
He frowned as he pulled them out and something clinked. He reached into the rack and pulled out a gemstone disk. "Found it," He called out as he made his way back up the stairs, "that is unless Zack was into really weird paperweights. "
He set the bottles on the table and then the disc in the center of the table. It was three inches across, shaped like a donut, and looked to be made of garnet. He opened the Barbaresco and took his seat.
Elena picked it up first and turned it over in her hand. "You know if we hadn't had such a nightmare with the moonstone I would write this off as just weird to find in a wine cellar."
"My father had something similar." Alex said. "But his was obsidian rather than garnet and a fair amount smaller. I doubt she would have similar purposes with this though." She dished up the salad and passed the bowl around the table.
"She didn't want the moon stone to use it either. She wanted to keep Klaus from getting it." Stefan said. "Chances are either she is keeping this from someone or planning to trade it to someone."
"What was your father's used for." Damon asked.
"Remember the story I told you about how he saved my mother from the guillotine? That was what he used." Alex said.
"The guillotine?" Elena asked. "okay, I have to ask, and I know its rude but how old are you anyway?"
"Elena!" Damon protested, laughing.
"Two hundred and fourteen," Alexandra answered honestly. "My sisters were born in Austria, but I was born in New Orleans the following year."
"And you stay alive by feeding on the dead?" Elena asked.
"It's not feeding. I know that's the easiest metaphor, especially for vampires, but it's not. I still require regular sustenance. I can live without ever taking any energy again. I use the energy of the dead or undead to reverse the aging process as well as strength to fight when needed." Alex said.
"It's feeding." Damon said. Ignoring the look Alex gave him. "But they consider that term vulgar in the more traditional necromancer circles. They also consider us livestock, and witches to be of the devil so take it for what it's worth."
"It's not that black and white but pretty close." Alex said. "My family is a little nontraditional." She laughed.
"Yeah that happens when you mix necromancers and witches." Damon said. "And now she is carrying on with a vampire. The family has gone to hell."
Stefan raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. You could look at it as an improvement. If Timon was any indication of the typical necromancer."
Damon set his glass down and put his hands in his lap, rubbing his legs vigorously.. He smiled a little as Alex reached over and covered them with one of hers.
"Well it definitely ends the blood line," Alex said with a shrug. "unless there is something about vampires that I don't know." She laughed.
"No." Damon said. "That is not an option. I don't care how many folk tales they have in Eastern Europe about half vampires. I figure those stories were all about the kinky hickey and junior showing up 9 months later."
Stefan laughed. "Good thing too, the last thing the world needs is more Salvatores."
"See, there are things we agree on." Damon said.
Dinner was pleasant and Damon opened the second bottle of wine which they took into the parlor with them.
"So what do we do with this thing?" He asked turning the red disk over in his hand before setting it on the coffee table. Something about it drew his eyes, it was almost as if it was warm to the touch but still cold somehow.
"I don't know." Stefan said. "I definitely don't want to put it back where you found it. "
Damon shrugged. "If you think it's important enough we can take it home with us tonight. She can't get into my place and it's going to stay that way."
"I think it's probably best I never meet the woman." Alex said honestly. She had spent more time living in that creatures shadow than she liked. She resented the hell out of her if she were honest about it. Fortunately Damon appeared to be completely unimpressed with the woman now.
"I think we're going to need to create a way for you to know that it's Elena and not Katherine." Stefan said. "Damon and I have gotten pretty good at telling them apart but it's not always obvious."
"Fair enough." Alex said. "It's not common knowledge what to do to prevent me from drawing energy-"
"Won't work. She was trying to tell me earlier that there were ways to block you." Damon rolls his eyes. "She thinks I'm under your spell." He said with a grin. He leaned over to kiss her. "I would love to say Katherine's an idiot and we can just go on about our lives, but she's far from it. She came here for a reason. We need to figure out what that is."
"We're not going to figure it out tonight unfortunately." Elena said. "And I need to get home."
"We can drop you." Alex offered, and Elena accepted.
Damon got to his feet and picked up the gem stone once again. "We'll take this with us. If she comes back looking for it, play dumb. I'm not convinced this is all she had in mind, but it plays in somehow."
"We'll figure it out." Stefan said. "We always do."
Damon chuckled. "Yeah, after she's already screwed us." He walked over and began to unplug the stereo. "I'm taking this with me. You still owe me a window and a bottle of bourbon."
Alex added the bubble bath when the tub was half full and then began to strip. Damon had done well today. But it was taking its toll. He was over stimulated. He'd started vibrating from the moment they had left the house. Once he no longer had an image to hold up, when he could settle back into the quiet, he began to remember. She could see that much in his eyes.
"Water's ready." She told him, standing in the door as naked as the day she was born.
He smiled and turned on the stereo he had just ripped off from his brother, along with the bottle of wine that had also come from the house. He walked into the bathroom and watched her slide into the steaming foamy water as he undressed. Any other woman and he would be at her throat ripping it out after compelling her to listen to what was ripping his insides apart. But he couldn't with her. He couldn't hurt her if he had wanted to. Another reason to be glad he had switched out the blood.
Except now he knew.
He eased into the water, smiling at her, even though he felt sick inside. "Well the first family dinner went well enough I guess." He said filling their glasses with the blood red fluid.
Now he knew what necromancers really did with their thralls. He had been well educated.
"It did. She's a nice girl. Stefan can be a little stuffy." She thought he looked ready to bolt any second, as though now that he had found the way to cross the threshold he was uncomfortable back inside.
"That's my brother. Trust me he has always been stuffy; even when he was ripping his way through Chicago." Damon told her and took a drink. "I think I would like to make a new rule." He suggested, waiting to see her reaction.
"What rule is that?"
"No talking about my brother when we're wet and naked." He said, willing his blue eyes to twinkle.
"I can get into that rule. He's definitely not the Salvatore I think about when wet and naked." Damon had failed at the eye twinkle. He just looked sad to her. She kissed him, and then leaned back. Alexandra took a long breath, then a longer drink of her wine. "You know I'm not like him…don't you?" She asked.
"You are nothing like Stefan." He said laughing. "If you were I would definitely not be sharing a bath much less a bed with you. "
"Not Stefan. I wasn't breaking your rule." She said quietly and reached out to grab his hand as he started to stand up. "Damon, please. Stay. We have to talk about this. We have to talk about what happened. "
His heart began to race and his mouth went dry. "I can't." he said but didn't resist as she pulled him back down into the water with her. "Sacha, please."
She moved closer to him, her legs wrapping around him pressing them together in near intimacy. Alexandra caressed his face. "I love you. I've loved you almost from the beginning. "
"I know." He said quietly. "I trust you, Sacha. You don't have anything to worry about. God, you're the only one that I do. I'm not afraid of you. I never have been." She'd never given him reason to be. She'd controlled him in the past by force of will not fear. Now she didn't control him at all.
"I know what Timon was capable of, Damon. " She said softly.
"Then you don't need the details. You can sort it out for yourself."
"It's not about vulgar curiosity." Alex said. "It's about you getting past this and no one could do that alone. "
"Especially not an idiot guard dog." He snapped without really meaning it. "What do you want to know Alexandra?" he shook his head.
" That is not what you are." She said firmly. "I want to know how to help you. But I can't do that if you don't tell me." She took his hands in hers.
"The one thing I hate about what I am is that I'm not human. " He shook his hands free of hers and grasped her face. "I miss being alive more than anything. I could almost feel alive with Elena, I don't have to when I'm with you… " He looked away not wanting to see those green eyes staring back at him, waiting for them to turn black. " But I never felt less than human before that night. He got into my head and I couldn't shake him out. I can still feel him there, pushing against my mind, backing me into a corner in my own head with an endless list of 'thou shall not's one on top of the other. "
She turned his face back to hers and rested her head against his. "Let me help you." She said softly. "Let me in and I can help you."
"You don't need my permission. You know that." He said closing his eyes.
"Yeah, I do." She whispered. "I'm not going to force you to endure something you don't want."
He sighed raggedly. "I trust you." He told her. "Do what you want."
"Tomorrow you'll just take the vervain. Tomorrow night I'll chase him out of your mind." The willow bark tincture blocked her powers. There was nothing she could do until it was out of his system.
"Does that mean I get to take advantage of you afterwards?" He asked trying to lighten the mood even though the thought of what she wanted to do was on the edge of driving him mad.
"As often as you want." She told him.
"Why is it different with you? There is almost a sharing of energy with you. When he drained me it was … violent."
"We can choose how it manifests. You don't gain true loyalty through fear and pain. I'm in the minority with that view. I'm sorry I couldn't stop him before he got to you. "
"You didn't have the energy to get out of bed." He told her, closing his arms around her. "I still can't figure out why they would attack you." That had been the one thing that had bothered him the most about the entire situation. There was no way that Kol didn't know she was being attacked. He'd made a point of saying that she was going to die and then hadn't bothered to fight back. "Not one of them fought back. " he muttered. "I have to talk to Elijah." He got out of the tub, kissing her tenderly.
"Damon!" She said rising as well.
"Hmm now that's an image to come home to." He said grinning impishly.