Chapter eighteen
Elijah had agreed to meet Damon at Mystic Grill. He wasn't sure what he wanted but he was willing to talk. He found the younger vampire seated at a table speaking with Elena's brother who walked away spotting him come in the door. He wondered if the boy would have Alexandra or Stefan on speed dial, waiting for the first sign of trouble.
He sat down at Damon's table and studied the man. He wondered how many people would disappear before he found his way home again. "Hello, Damon." He was drinking coffee. He wasn't trying to beat back the hunger with alcohol. Had people already died? Not that he particularly cared. He did however care if an out of control Damon Salvatore was coming for his family.
"I need you to tell me what the hell is going on," he said and took a drink and set the cup down.
Elijah simply raised an eyebrow.
"I'm serious, why the attack on Alex?" He asked. "That part makes no sense to me, especially if your plan was to go after Stefan instead of me."
"We did not attack Miss Sauvettere." Elijah said calmly.
"Two girls that don't know each other showing up in the same dress is coincidence. Kol telling me Alex is going to die at the exact moment she is being attacked and poisoned is not coincidence." Damon said pointedly. "And that's where it doesn't make sense for me. Only once has it gotten lethal between us. Excluding all of Klaus's crap," he said making a dismissive motion," and that was the night Elena died. Which I get, I don't like it but I get it. Usually there are threats made, one side or the other gives in, you let me and Stefan pound on you a little and what's a little friendly torture between friends. Although honestly, I'm gonna start taking it personally."
Elijah raised the other eyebrow, but let Damon continue.
"And suddenly there is a potentially deadly attack on my girl, one that I shouldn't have been able to pull her back from at all. It was Luck, nothing but luck that kept her alive." Damon said leaning back in his seat. "What the hell is going on?"
"I honestly do not know." Elijah said. "I believe that Klaus is alive and that you are hiding that fact. I just want to find my brother. That is what we all want. There is no need to send anyone after Alexandra. It does not further my purposes."
"And yet, Kol is up to his scrawny neck in that attack." Damon said.
"Is this because you want a pound of flesh for the attack made on her?" Elijah asked. The Salvatore brothers seemed to embrace their heritage. The word Vendetta was not lost on them, nor did they did not suffer loss or insult lightly.
"No. Well yes, partly "He admitted. " This whole conversation is because it bugs me. It's out of place, out of character. You have no reason to attack her. It's counterproductive to attack her especially since Timon thought he had an arranged marriage happening there. Not only would it cause problems with us it would cause problems with your own staff. "He pointed out. " Gotta love that whole necromancer working for vampires thing. You must have promised him the world on a silver platter because otherwise he was just scouting out a potentially very powerful thrall." He looked Elijah in the eyes. "What did you promise him?"
"That doesn't matter now." Elijah said, after all the man was dead.
"I think it does." Damon said. "Because either I'm paranoid, which I have to admit is completely possible, or there is something bigger on the horizon than just whether or not Klaus is alive and kicking. "
"There is always something bigger on the horizon Damon. " Elijah said. Odd that it was the impulsive one of the two brothers who was always thinking, always turning over every rock, looking in every crevice. "If there is one thing I have learned, it is that the true balance of nature isn't what people like my mother believe it to be. It's in the eternal struggle to survive. When a creature is made, it must eventually have its equal and opposite number. Before the first vampire, or the first werewolf, there were other beings, more powerful still. "
"Your mother created the first vampires, so I know Witches came first, Necromancers as well? Their equal and opposite number…"
Elijah nodded. "They are mentioned in ancient texts including the christian bible. It's hard to say if the Witch of Endor was a witch or a necromancer. It's mentioned in the Odyssey. The ancient Greeks had a goddess for witches, and a goddess that journeyed into the underworld to rule the dead at Hades side. Gods have followers. Both are hereditary creatures, following blood lines. Just as Werewolves do. I have found writings that mention vampires long before my birth. " Elijah said. "I don't know whether they were a myth that my mother used as a guideline for our creation, or if they exist in reality. It is possible that there are vampires that follow genetic bloodlines as well."
"Okay now you're just making my head hurt." Damon said and motioned to the waitress that he needed more coffee.
Elijah chuckled softly. "It's a lot to take in. Particularly when you realize that we are not at the top of the food chain. We never were."
"This has been great, educational and all. But it's just dodging my questions." Damon said and fell silent as the waitress refilled his coffee. He smiled at her a little and when she was gone turned his attention back to Elijah.
"We offered to create a thrall for him. He wanted the power of our bloodline, with certain provisions of his own. "
"Is it really a blood line if there is no genetic connection?" Damon asked.
"I have a mortal line. " Elijah said.
Damon frowned a moment then the wheels slipped into place. "I thought it was just because you have a thing for that face, which I can identify with." He said. "But that's not all. You and Klaus were both in love with Katherine's ancestor. "
"Yes we were. " Elijah said.
"You were the father of the child you mentioned." Damon nearly choked. Had he been bargaining with Elena again?
Again Elijah nodded. "Elena was turned with your blood." He suspected where Damon's thoughts had gone. "She will be very powerful when she achieves a certain maturity. " He said "But she will not achieve the full potential of the blood line, because she was not turned by one of us. "
Damon felt a sudden rage wash over him. "You promised him Jeremy." It made sense. He was part of the mortal blood line, he was a medium, he was young and in spite of the world he was learning to exist in he was sheltered and naïve. He'd be easily broken in ways that Damon could all too clearly imagine. He would also be a powerful vampire if turned by one of the Mikaelsons.
"Timon is dead. The deal no longer matters"
"Until you offer the same deal to the next necromancer you hire." Damon said, although furious he kept his voice down. "Was it worth it? Potentially ending your own blood line to find out where some kid's bones are located?"
"It would not have ended my line. Over a thousand years do you truly think that the blood line trickled down to one pair of teenagers in the entire world?"
"I thought I was a selfish bastard." Damon shook his head. "Just as a heads up, I'd leave Jeremy out of any future plans. Alexandra likes him, and as you pointed out we're not at the top of the food chain around here anymore."
"I have no need of any future dealings with necromancers. You've told me what I need to know. Klaus is alive. "
"I told you I saw him die, I told you the boys bones were somewhere in the woods. " Damon said.
"Yes, but I know when you are lying. It's a family trait." He said offhandedly. "You have nothing to worry about. I promised to keep Klaus contained. I will do so when I find him. "
"None of this answers my questions about Kol." Damon said.
"I don't have the answers you seek. Perhaps it wasn't luck but design that saved your woman." Elijah suggested. "It is possible that he was working with Timon to keep her out of the way. I do not know what lurks in my younger brothers head." He got to his feet, "You have gotten yourself embroiled in the affairs of creatures that do not think or feel as we do, Damon. They do not think or feel as humans do either. Their society is based upon power and control. You would do well to find some way to free yourself before it's too late."
Damon watched as the man left and frowned. "How is it possible to deliver so much information and tell me absolutely nothing at the same time?" He muttered. He took out his cell phone and texted Alex as promised that he was fine and would be home soon. "How could it be design?" He muttered as he headed for the exit, and then his car. "How could they know she'd be talking to … "He paused and growled. "I'm going to kill that bitch. "He said. "Freaking mother in law from hell."
Alexandra handed Damon his blood sans everything in a mug as they sat down to a late breakfast. She wouldn't have considered this course of action if it had been a work day. She felt more confident staying at home while the additives worked their way out of his system. "I hope Avril is right about being able to make the rings work. I would be much more confident with it being an instant on and off thing."
"That makes two of us." Damon said. He hadn't told her about his suspicions about her mother. They were just that, suspicions. He had always hated Julianna; it was easy to jump to conclusions, especially when he was beginning to share Alexandra's prejudice about witches. She could have been used just as easily as Stefan had been. "So what's the plan for the day?" He asked.
"Sorting out your stuff and getting it in here. I'm having a couple book cases and a dresser brought out. Matt and Jeremy are going to bring them. I'm glad the insurance company finally paid him so he could replace his truck." Alex told him. "I also thought we could figure out where we want the new house. The Contractor wants to get a head start on getting the permits together. "
"Sounds like a plan." Damon said savoring the herb free blood in his mug. "Sorry we derailed Jeremy's lesson yesterday."
"He understood. He has a particular dislike for Katherine I have noticed."
"That's because he doesn't know her. Once he gets to know her, he will hate her. Yet be strangely unable to make himself drive a stake through her heart. Like everyone else." Damon said bitterly. "So about Jeremy..." He figured he could lead in with part of what had found out the night before. He had been so completely reminded of how fragile she actually was after his meeting that talking was the last thing he had wanted to do. "I found out why Timon was willing to work for a vampire."
She set aside her fork then, waffles completely forgotten. "What does that have to do with Jeremy?" She asked. She knew that she wasn't going to like it whatever he had to say.
"That whole doppelganger bloodline descends from Elijah." He said leaning back in the high backed dining room chair. "They were going to turn him and hand him over for Timon to enthrall." He told her. "He'd be as powerful as an original, transitioning wouldn't stop his ability as a medium and he's young enough to be broken very easily." He sighed. "We have to keep an eye on that kid."
She nodded. "And make sure that his genealogy doesn't get out." She sighed. "What is it with all these teenagers and no parental guidance? There is absolutely no one to talk to about keeping these kids safe when we aren't looking."
"Parents drop like flies around here." Damon said. "Most of them either are, or will soon be eighteen. I think the officials are too busy chasing vampires, or they were, to do anything about it. Now three of the local teens are vampires, ones a witch, ones a medium and poor Matt is the go to guy."
"I've been paying Matt for a lot of the work he's been doing out here for us." Alex said. She and Damon had both had a long time to amass their own personal wealth. She had her job mostly to keep an eye on the younger generation when she entered a new city. She found that was where the supernatural tended to gain its first foot hold. She didn't know if she would go back to teaching the following year but for now she was committed. Regardless, neither of them had been anything resembling poor since their first few years together.
"That's fine." He said with a shrug. "I feel like an ass because it didn't cross my mind even once." Damon admitted.
"That's what you have me for." Alex said smiling at him as she began to eat again. "So what else did you find out last night?"
"Ever go to a lecture where the guy talks endlessly and you don't know anything more when you leave than when you went in but it felt like you were learning something?" Damon asked. "That's how the conversation went. I know that he doesn't believe Klaus is dead, and that he thinks there were vampires before they were created by their mother. "
"Not as such." She said with a shrug."But there are a number of undead that walk around all fleshy." She said with a shrug. "Ghouls, they literally feed on the dead," She told him "I think it's probably where the modern concept of Zombies comes from, minus the science gone wrong causes in fiction of course. Zombies don't eat, they just work until they decompose completely and become compost. Of course Elijah's Norse by origin, and they have the Draugar who are somewhere between ghouls and vampires I guess. They feed on the living. Not nearly so elegantly as you do."
Damon laughed "Yeah, you've never seen me eat when I'm angry. There is nothing elegant about it. There's a reason it's written off as an animal attack."
Alex grinned."You rip out the throat. Draugar will tear the body apart literally, drink the blood as it spews from the arteries and then go for the flesh. Or they will crush their victims, sometimes they like to drive them mad first. Even the animals around one will go mad. Nasty things. Intelligent but nasty."
"Sounds like you have met one." He said.
"Only one. They're rare now. Dead Vikings… not so much a renewable resource these days. My father took me and my sister on a trip when we were old enough hunting all the things he could find to teach us how to deal with them." She listed off the creatures that were real, or had been real historically. "Revenant's are close to vampires but I haven't heard of a revenant sighting since… just after we parted company the first time. The after math of the civil war left a few around."
He chuckled. "You shouldn't be teaching high school French. You should be teaching folklore at some university."
"But that isn't my target demographic." She said. "You don't get a feel for a place from the college students. You get it by watching the children. "
He shook his head "you know Stefan might be offended to know that he's a child in your eyes." He teased.
"He's eternally 17. " She said. "Even without that extra years between us, he's always going to be a boy in some ways. If not he would go mad sitting through high school time and again." Alex told him. "Now you on the other hand… were a man when I met you. Barely, but still a man" She teased. Damon was old enough to pose as Stefan's legal guardian after all, and to be considered an adult by the community that did not know what he was.
"I still say you're robbing the cradle. You my dear are a cougar." He teased in return.
"Give it another century those forty plus years won't mean a thing." She countered.
They cleaned up. Neither of them cared for clutter or mess. That was the one thing she had noted every time she'd found Damon through the last hundred plus years. His home was always open, spacious, full of light. Even at the B&B where everything had that heavy masculine and aged look to it, it was open and there was light. She'd have to make sure they placed the house somewhere to take the most advantage of the light.
He took her hand and led the way outside. It was easier with her there. It rankled that he should have to consider the first few steps out the door. It should be nothing. Just the conveyance of his body from point a to point b. Yet it took an act of will to do it. To her credit she didn't appear to take notice. He wondered if she would discover his trickery (he refused to think of it as treachery) when she invaded his mind later.
"What do you think about starting up the orchards again?" He asked.
"I think they are going to bloom and produce fruit whether we take advantage of it or not." She said smiling. "But I don't see why not. I was just going to ask you if you wanted to refurbish the mill."
"If nothing else just to see it back how it was, yes." Damon said. "It's a lot of investment you're making here. Not just money either. Are you sure this is what you want? I'm kind of hard to live with in the long term."
"I made you a promise." She told him as they stood on the aged dock near the mill house. "I intend to keep that promise. You are going to have to leave me this time."
He caressed her cheek. He wondered how long that promise would last. "Guess I have to put the property in your name then."
"Our names."