I'm so sorry it's been so long! This chapter has been in the works since before I even posted Chp. 20 but I couldn't get it right, and I'm still not a 100% happy with it. Updates should be more frequent now I'm back in the swing of things, though saying that, life gets in the way and I'm not sure how it's gonna go.
In my opinion, it gets a lot better towards the end, but I didn't have the heart to rewrite the whole thing, I've already been through that process about six times! If anyone is still reading, thank you for sticking with this.
Stepping warily into the room, Elena locked eyes with Stefan for a moment, his sad green eyes grating on her resolve. Without warning, a torrent of anger flooded into her blood; she wasn't an angry person by nature. She got pissed off, of course she did, but when it came to the red-hot blaze of fury – the kind you feel when someone fires a bullet or two into your body – it was not an emotion that came to her often. As hot as the Phoenix sun, is burned through her. Pulsing in waves as it pounded over her mind.
"Elena." He greeted warily, an underlying curiosity simmered beneath his eyes as he studied her with undisguised wonder. Perhaps it was at the fact she was alive, or maybe it was the hard glare beneath her soft eyes.
"Leave her alone. You shot her, brother." Damon shrugged, more anger than intentional spilling into him voice. He'd wanted to appear calm. Collected and controlled – completely on top of the situation. Instead his jaw clenched as he glared at Stefan over her head. "Twice."
Before Stefan could retaliate, or Elena could put in her much needed two cents a sharp female voice rang through the room. "You shot her?" the woman hissed in a low voice. "You fucking shot someone?"
"Twice." Damon chimed in merrily, relaxing against the drab walls and smirking superiorly at his brother.
"Kat," Stefan began hesitantly, furrowing his brow and glancing between the three other people in the room.
Katherine rolled her eyes and sat down furiously on one of the twin beds. She crossed her legs haughtily and glared at Stefan. Damon bit back laughter as he smirked smugly at his younger brother.
"Your reputation precedes you." He said contemptuously. "It's not much to go on. Reckless, idiotic, careless is what I got from the start."
Katherine stared at him, a sardonic smirk gracing her features. "I got the same about you, Salvatore."
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he said bluntly, his icy eyes burning intensely into Katherine's.
"Are you?" she retorted, glaring at him without missing a beat. "I know my risks; I know what I'm risking by being here. So by all means, make your judgments but at the end of it all, you're just as stupid as the rest of us." Her eyes flickered to Elena briefly.
Elena burst out laughing despite herself, drawing the young brunette's attention to her. "She's got a point."
Damon glanced at her for a moment, a look of mock-hurt in his wide eyes. "Now I'm just offended. I would never gamble away your life."
She shrugged, rolling her shoulders back and cracking her neck, a habit that seemed to have grown over the past month or so. She didn't find any particular pleasure in bending her body to crack in unnatural ways, but the way it filled an awkward silence seemed to work for her. Her eyes scanned over the room, landing briefly on the two brothers so at odds they weren't like brothers at all. What else can you expect really? Betrayal hits home hardest when it comes from family.
"I'm hungry." Katherine announced suddenly, standing up and giving Elena a look. "I'm getting lunch." She stalked over to Elena and grabbed her arm, dragging her towards the door.
"Looks like I'm getting lunch." she said, following Katherine warily. Stefan raised his eyebrows skeptically, crossing his arms across his chest as his eyes followed the two girls move across the room.
"Have fun with the she-devil." Damon sniped irritably.
"Have fun with your brother." She retorted, frowning at him. "Try not to get shot, it's a real inconvenience." She snapped spitefully before storming out of the motel room with the door slamming shut with a soft thump.
"So, what's your deal?" Elena asked curiously through a mouthful of food as she pointed her fork accusingly at Katherine. They were sitting outside a small café under the shade of an umbrella. After she'd dragged her out of the motel, Katherine had barely said a word to her, only giving vague commentary on where they were going, if 'lunch' could even be classed as an appropriate answer to 'where are we going?' "You know you could get caught and then you, and Stefan, will be dead?"
Katherine scoffed, leaning back in her chair and giving her a contemptuous look. "In this place? With you?" she rolled her eyes and took a drink of water. "No chance."
"The Vengefuls Souls are as big as the Vagrants." She pointed out reasonably, squinting her eyes against the bright sun.
Katherine shook her head. "Smaller. More stuck-up. The Vagrants are brothers; they're as close as you can get. It's not a trial to them to be in the club, it's a family." She sighed, shrugging slightly. "With the Vengefuls you're more likely to get stabbed in the back than you are to get arrested. No one will report back, they're too scared of being wrong. They're careless, they don't cover their members apart from the ones that matter."
Elena glared at her with a steely gaze. "That is the more ironic statement I've ever heard." She scoffed incredulously. "Stefan turned around and stabbed his brother, his own flesh and blood, in the back."
"I never asked him to do that." She whispered hoarsely. "Trust me. I know how important family is."
"Stefan was going to shoot him!" Elena yelled suddenly, glancing around at the sudden hush that fell over the surrounding tables. "He was going to shoot his brother." She repeated in a lower voice.
"But he didn't." Katherine protested stubbornly.
"Yeah, I know. He shot me instead." Katherine's eyes fell downwards, her lips curving into a sad smile.
"He-" Katherine stopped suddenly, looking at Elena sharply. "Why were you there? I knew what was going down and you couldn't have got me running further away. Why did Damon take you to Giuseppe's place? Why di-"
Elena let out a short laugh, her eyes bright and laughing as they always were around strangers. "Grayson Gilbert managed to hide a daughter for twenty-two years. Surprise."
Katherine breathed out, laughing in disbelief. "You're Elena."
"How do you know my name?" she questioned sharply, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"For all his faults, Mason can be sweet-"
"You're cheating on him Katherine, quit the sugar coating." Elena interjected sweetly, sending a sickening smile in Katherine's direction.
Glaring at her irritably, Katherine continued as if she hadn't spoken. "He thought we looked alike – we don't, by the way, though the picture of you he had was seriously outdated – and decided his sweet, innocent, little wife would never tell a soul. So he showed me a bunch of files, going on about Slater and Trevor; god, it was tedious." Katherine shrugged half-heartedly. "But I was curious as to how he managed to hide you for so long."
"Your husband doesn't know you very well then." She said dryly, taking a drink of water. "You want to get out."
Katherine rolled her eyes widely and frowned, brushing off her last sentence. They ate in silence for a while, only the traffic bustling through the streets and the voices of the odd passers by mingling with the sounds of the city.
"What's your deal?" she repeated softly, looking at Katherine with inquisitive eyes.
Katherine sighed and buried her face in her hands, her curly brown hair falling heavily over her uncovered face. She took a great shuddering breath before looking at Elena over the tops of her fingernails. "I'm like a messed up rom-com. Fell for the wrong guy, got mixed up in the wrong crowd. I wanted out, Elena!" she said roughly, cracks showing in her strong mask. "I didn't mean for it to turn it to this."
"You can still get out." Elena said quietly, leaning back in her chair and examining Katherine carefully. She was unlike anyone she'd ever met. She was as strong as she let you believe, until she let you in and you crumbled like a house of cards, tumbling from their shaky foundations.
"I'm married to a Vengeful Soul and in love with a Vagrant." She cried exasperatedly. "How? How can that possibly end up with me anything other than dead?"
"Stefan isn't a Vagrant." Elena said sharply, her tone like a wavering blade. "He-" she broke off suddenly looking around exasperatedly. "He's just not."
Perhaps she wasn't as strong as everyone believed either. Katherine signaled to the waiter to bring them the check and they paid for their meal, an unspoken need for silence settling between them. They walked quietly towards Katherine's car, each of the women deep in their own thought. When they pulled up in front of the shabby little hotel, Katherine grabbed Elena's arm to stop her stepping out of the vehicle.
"We probably shouldn't go in yet." She said quietly, settling back into her seat and folding her arms across her chest.
Elena opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it. "Do we wait until they kill each other?"
"We wait until they stop arguing long enough to call one of us."
Elena snorted, relaxing against the leather seats. "That won't happen."
"It will." She said confidently, pushing her sunglasses onto the top of her head. "You got siblings?" Elena shook her head. "Null point then but I've got two brothers and a sister. My brothers would kill for each other and my sister and I."
"What's your point?" she said curiously, turning her body so she was facing Katherine with her back pressed against the inside of the door.
"They hate each other."
Elena sighed and glanced at the silent motel room. "But they're brothers."
"Exactly."
"What they like?" she asked despite herself, leaning her chin on her knee.
Katherine snorted with laughter and looked at her gleefully. "No way. We're not getting into my family."
Elena chuckled with her. "It's that or we talk about the many other more serious topics."
Katherine sighed loudly, a tense look passing over her features. "There's me and Jamie, then Luca and then Rebekah." She said the last with a sour look on her face. "Jamie's only like, a year older than me, we grew up together. He was my best friend for my whole life." Katherine's eyes saddened considerably as she stared into the distance. "We don't talk much anymore. Luca's never liked me," she said with a short laugh. "And Rebekah's hated me since the day she was born. Quite the family, huh?" she said cheerfully, flashing her a grin.
Elena shrugged. "You've got more to tell that I do."
"I'm heard about what Trevor did to your mom. I'm sorry." She said quietly, avoiding eye contact.
"You know about that too?" she said with a sigh, leaning her head against the window. Katherine nodded silently. "No point apologizing," she bit out shortly. "It's over, it's not like you can turn back time."
"Suppose not." she paused hesitantly, glancing at Elena as if she might explode. Katherine wasn't the girl she'd imagined; she was short, sarcastic and more than a little bitchy but she wasn't cold.
She sighed again, her temper flaring furiously. "Can we go in yet?" she snapped impatiently, opening the door of the car and storming outside at the same time Damon emerged from the motel boiling at the ears.
"Go time." Katherine muttered under her breath and ducked out of the car. "See you around Elena." She said quietly as she headed swiftly towards the doorway, hanging slightly off the catch after Damon had stormed out. She got out of the car too, standing against the car in the dusty lot as he made his way closer to her.
"Hey." Elena said quietly, cocking her head to the side.
Damon shook his head half-heartedly, and took her face between his palms and kissed her softly and buried his head in her hair. Her face fell into the crook of his neck perfectly and she let his hands gently wander across her back.
"What's up with you?" she laughed softly, her eyelashes brushed against his shoulder.
He chuckled lowly and pulled away, opening her car door for her. "Just something Stefan said."
She raised an eyebrow as she got in the car. "What did he say?"
He shook his head again, eyes focused on the road. "Just something about you, the Vengefuls. You mean a lot to me 'Lena, I don't want you hurt anymore because of me."
"The Vengefuls were after me long before I met you." She said quietly, leaning her head back against the soft leather to look at him as they pulled onto the deserted highway.
"And the Vengefuls were after Giuseppe long before that."
"Nothing's gonna happen to me." She protested stubbornly, crossing her arms, ignoring the ache that spread down from her shoulder.
"I don't want to risk that!" Damon said, his voice growing angry. "Do you think I want to turn up at your apartment and see you dead because I wasn't there?"
"Do you think I want that?" she retorted, groaning loudly in exasperation. "Don't do this again. Don't put this all on you. Don't think that you ending this whole thing is going to fix anything."
"You were shot, Elena. For god's sake, open your eyes. You're not safe-"
"I'm still alive." She chimed in cheerfully, smirking at him with a cool glint in her eyes.
"Because Stefan didn't want to shoot me!" he finished stubbornly as f she hadn't spoken, glaring at her. "The Vengefuls want nothing more than to see Grayson suffer. And how do they do that? They kill his only fucking daughter! Why are you so set on getting killed?"
"What's this all about?" she said loudly, cutting him off abruptly. He was silent for a while, his icy eyes fixed unblinkingly on the empty road.
"I just don't want to lose you." He muttered quietly, swerving violently onto his turn off.
"You won't." she said, her voice even and unwavering. "Where are we even going?" she asked in exasperation. "Why aren't you going to my place?"
"You're staying at the clubhouse." He said sharply, running his hand through his hair in irritation.
"Why?" she groaned, thumping her head back against the old leather headrest.
"Because I need you safe. Inside. With cameras. And other people to stop you doing something stupid."
She scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. "Why does it matter? Just take me home."
"I don't want you there alone." He argued his voice unusually subdued. He glanced at her for a millisecond, his blue eyes flashing lighting in the bright sun.
"Take me home." Elena snapped sharply. "Now."
"No." he said through gritted teeth, pulling into the courtyard and braking the car and sending a dust cloud high into the air. He opened his door and got out angrily, circling the car to pull her door open for her. She stormed out, heading towards the clubhouse in a haze of anger. "Elena!" He yelled impatiently, reaching out to grab her arm.
"What?" she yelled, her eyes blazing dangerously even from the distance she was standing away from him. "You are not someone who can tell me what to do without telling me why. You were never that person. That was my Dad, or Giuseppe or every other goddamn guy I've ever known. You've never been like that! Don't be that person now." With that, she stomped away, barging into the clubhouse without another glance in his direction.
Damon cursed furiously, running both hands through his hair. He made up his mind in a split second, jogging after her and gripping her firmly around the waist to pull her around to face him. She pulled away sharply but his arms caged her body gently and he leant his forehead against hers.
"You are so important to me. And I don't know why or when it happened." He whispered, running his hands up her arms so cradle her face. "But I can't lose you." She blinked once, her huge eyes staring up at him, for once, all walls and barriers completely broken down.
She took a deep breath, reaching up her hands to wind around his neck and pull him close to her, letting her face fall into his shoulder. His arms fell to her waist, holding her close to him as if it physically hurt him to have her apart. "Will you take me home?" she said finally, her eyes closed as she breathed in the sweet, musky poison that was Damon Salvatore.
He sighed, pulling away and leading her gently to the car with one arm wrapped around her shoulder. "Get in."
"Giuseppe, Damon has got to get his fucking act together." Grayson roared furiously from his office on the ground floor of the clubhouse, unfortunately, with windows that looked straight onto the courtyard. "You know what the kid's doing tonight?"
"Getting information. Probably with Klaus." Giuseppe said shrugging casually as he walked in the door with a crystal tumbler in hand. He flopped onto the leather sofa and stared at his friend in amusement. "Like he does most weekends. Why, you worried about him?" he teased, smirking gleefully as he took a drink.
"Elena was just outside with him. They got here, they argued, he probably convinced her to leave, and now they're gone! She should be here. She should be around people so she doesn't get caught alone and killed! He's going to be out all night doing God knows what, and she's-"
"Gray, when was the last time you spoke to her?"
"Yesterday." He said incredulously. "Don't start that."
"No, you don't start." Giuseppe snapped, pointing angrily at his friend. "Don't kid yourself. You're a stranger to her. I'm a stranger to her. Damon isn't. That's how it is now, and it always will be unless you make an effort to change that."
"Kind of hard when they're always together."
Giuseppe threw his head back in exasperation, rolling his eyes widely and running a hand through his thinning hair. "You're acting like a teenager!" he yelled, standing up abruptly. "If you want Elena here, get her here! Damon has been nothing but a good kid, or be anything other that completely loyal to this club. You've watched him grow up, you used to play football with him when he was a kid and I was busy! He's a good man, stop choosing a daughter you don't know over a man you've known for twenty-five years! A man who used to think of you as a second father!"
"I watched Stefan grow up too!" Grayson yelled finally, gesturing wildly. "And he shot Elena! If you want a fucking reason then that's it!"
"Stefan spent all his time with his mother. When she died he wasn't going to recover from that and run straight out to play football with his brother." Giuseppe said calmly, his voice low and cold and dangerous. "You don't know the half of what makes up my other son. I barely know the man he is today. The Stefan who exists now is no more my family than any traitor is." He took a deep breath and met Grayson's fuming eyes. "But you do know Damon. Think about the birthdays and the Christmases and the holidays you spent with us, because we're your family."
"Elena is my daughter. She's Miranda's daughter." Grayson replied in a rough whisper.
"She's not Miranda." Giuseppe said in a soft voice, comforting his life long friend with a rough hand against his leather clad shoulder. "And Damon isn't you."
Grayson met Giuseppe's eyes, a burning grief shadowed in the chocolate depths, so like his daughter's. "It doesn't matter. It'll only end up the same way give it enough time. The women we fall in love with don't live, Gus. They never had, and they never will. And I'm scared Damon will have to learn that lesson sooner rather than later."
There was a kind of striking symmetry to that. There was nothing but pain and heartache hidden by the guise of a beautiful thing.