Chapter thirty

"Stefan." Katherine said."Hello, Earth to Stefan."

He looked up then as if jolted out of sleep even though he was wide awake.

"There you are." She said with a sigh. "They're running tests now. So you want to tell me why I just compelled the staff to start looking for poison? "

Stefan took a deep breath and let it out again. "He's showing symptoms of heavy metal poisoning, and unless the man has one hell of an insurance policy and his wife is trying to knock him off I think he picked it up from that book."

Katherine looked at him quizzically as she sat beside him on the waiting room bench. "Why the book? Heavy metals aren't a contact poison. Not unless you roll in the stuff. A lot."

"Unless you have an open wound and the poison's been altered." He stared at a spot on the floor. He looked up when she put her hand on his. "It's how my mother died."

"I thought it was consumption." She said.

"So did I. Until today. His symptoms mirror hers. Only I'm betting she was receiving much smaller doses. My father, wonderful human being that he was, " She didn't miss the hint of sarcasm in that sentence," Made the hedge maze and gardens for her. Her favorite flowers were magnolias, gardenia's and Jasmine. He put in an English rose garden instead because that was what he liked. And my mother tended those roses faithfully. She always had small little cuts on her hands. I remember that about her, soft hands with those little nicks and abrasions. " his voice went soft. "Ironic really that we just went over this in chemistry. Prolonged exposure to heavy metals or ingestion of small amounts over a prolonged amount of time produces respiratory distress in some people. It all depends on which organ it attacks first really. Vomiting, difficulty speaking. Excruciating pain."

"You think someone poisoned your mother through the book?" Katherine asked.

"Not someone… my father." He said eyes back on that speck on the floor. "He was unwavering in his belief that anything supernatural was evil. If my mother was the owner of that book she was a necromancer. He wouldn't have tolerated that. He shot his sons. If he could kill us, killing her would have been easy."

Katherine didn't know how to respond to that so she simply held his hand and let him talk.

"I think Damon suspected all along." He said quietly. "I think that's why he called father a monster."

"Your father earned Damon's hatred and resentment without it having anything to do with your mother. He loved to tear him apart, even I could see that. "

"Trust me it was mutual. " Stefan said.

"Let's wait for the test results before jumping to conclusions." She said. "Regardless we have to get that book so as soon as he has a room we'll go and get into his head to figure out where it is."

Stefan nodded. "You're right. "He said smiling a little sadly at her. It was nice to have her back in his life this way. Being a friend not someone out to control his life. He had missed her more than he was willing to admit to Damon or Elena. Especially now that Lexi was gone.

His thoughts turned back to Elena and he took out his cell phone. *Delayed. Prof in hospital. Could be poison. Waiting for reslts. Sorry. Tell D and A that I can't make family dinner night. Love you.* he texted.

Elena sighed. "They're going to be delayed. No clue how long. Apparently the professor they went to see is in the hospital. Possibly poisoned and they're waiting for the test results. So no family dinner night."

"Sure there is. It will just be minus Stefan." Damon said. "I'll have Sacha invite her sisters. " As much as he hated the thought of spending any quality time with them it was only fair. She dealt with his family after all. "Has he told you what they're out there for in the first place?"

Elena shook her head as she put the last of the books on the shelf. "No. But I'm sure it's important somehow."

Damon nodded. He took out his own phone and sent an email to Alex on her school account. She'd see that sooner than she would check her phone for messages.

(hey beautiful, Stefan is off with Katherine doing research apparently so plans for tonight have changed. I'm going to regret this later and believe me I will find some way for you to make it up to me, but go ahead and invite your sisters to join us for family night this week.- love you. D. )

"Okay that's taken care of. " he said all the while hoping Alex's sisters said no. "Why don't you invite Caroline and her permanently attached boyfriend to join us. The more the merrier" The more people in between him and Yvette the better.

"It's weird having normal family type activities with you." Elena said smiling. "I like it though. So does Stefan."

"He came back here to try and have a normal life. "Damon said shrugging. "So how is the abnormal side of life going for you, other than the out of control emotional roller coaster?"

"So far so good. I haven't tried hunting on my own, but the bagged blood is working so far. Stefan tried to show me how to hunt down animals but I can't do it." She said.

"Good. It tastes terrible and it makes you weak." He said firmly. "Avoid the bunny diet. You're not a ripper. You have self control."

"I can't look them in the eyes and kill them." Elena said. "You were right… it makes a difference."

Damon laughed at that. "Seriously? You can't bring yourself to kill a rabbit? What are you afraid of? Bad Bunny Karma?"

"They're helpless." She said. "And adorable."

"So are humans… although they are somewhat less universally cute than bunnies. " He said grinning.

"I don't have to kill a human to eat." She told him.

"Yet you eat meat." He said shaking his head.

"I don't have to look it in those big brown eyes before I eat it." She pointed out.

Damon laughed. "Yeah cause not looking it in the eyes makes it any less dead." He teased.

"That's not the point and you know it." She said swatting him with a throw pillow from the sofa.

"Guilt free feeding. I feel like such a failure as a parent. " he laughed at the look on her face. "Meredith did use my blood to heal you… soo…"

"Don't even go there cause you know what.. That would make Katherine your mother." She said dark eyes twinkling, watching for just the right body language from Damon and she took off running, with the older vampire hot on her heels.

The chase took them through the back streets of Mystic Falls. He'd catch her, pinning her against a wall or tree, and she'd bolt free again knowing full well that he was letting her get away, that the chase was more important than capture, they juxtaposed and Damon became the prey leading the way to the cemetery, where he suddenly reversed and grabbed her rolling on the ground, pinning her beneath him. "Got you." He said breathlessly.

She said nothing in return. Elena lay there on the soft grass, feeling the weight of him pressing against her and for the first time in months she wasn't thinking, wasn't fighting, she could just … be. She smiled up at him and brushed a piece of grass from his hair. She caught his eyes drifting to her mouth and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her, and then he was gone.

"Damon?" She called out as she got to her feet, brushing the grass off of her pants.

"I'm here." He was standing some distance away looking over a grave site."You're getting stronger. That's good." He sounded distracted.

"What is it?" Elena asked as she joined him. They were in the older less trafficked portion of the cemetery, yet he was looking at what appeared to be a freshly dug grave.

"Someone has been out here." He said tightly. He had a feeling he knew who. What bothered him the most about it was how little he actually cared.

She looked at the head stone. Giuseppe Salvatore. Devoted husband and father. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not true you know." His voice was barely audible even to her ears. "He was neither. Not even to Stefan. Not that you can tell him that. He doesn't remember. I'm okay with that."

"Doesn't remember what?" Elena asked.

Damon simply shook his head. "We need to get back. I'm supposed to pick up Alexandra at the school."

With that the subject was closed and nothing she could say or do would get him to open up. So Elena didn't try. "I'll go with you. I want to talk to Caroline and Jeremy about tonight. Are you sure you want to have it at the grill? We can always have it at one of the houses."

"No. Public suits me fine." Damon said although his mind was elsewhere.

By the time she had gotten his email Alex was over being upset about the tomb being on their property. It was frustrating that he had never told her it was there especially knowing how she felt about Katherine. Then again she had her own secrets she was keeping. Sort of.

She emailed her sisters the pictures she had taken of the interior of Madelena Salvatore's crypt and the invitation to dinner. Yvette and Henry would be joining them. Avril would be staying home and spending the evening with her girlfriend on Skype.

She packed up her bag and homework to grade and headed out the door. She felt like waiting outside for him today. It was fast beginning to look like spring out there. Clear skies and crisp breezes that had warmed by the end of her work day. She spotted his car as it pulled into the parking lot. She laughed a little and shook her head as she watched Elena get out of the car and take off to find her friends.

"Hey you." She said and kissed him lightly. "Aiding and abetting truancy are you?" She teased.

"She's having a rough time with control. Almost lost it all over Matt in the hall." Damon said. "I'm trying to help."

She nodded. "Yeah, she seemed a little off this morning. Emotional." That would explain the attempt at wedging her out.

"Yeah? How so?" Damon asked.

"She's still into you and she's a teenaged girl with no clue. I wouldn't worry about it."

"See that you don't worry about it. You have nothing to worry about." Damon told her

"I never thought I did." She told him smiling. "Although I did find out something today that had me very angry with you for a couple of hours."

"What did I do this time?" He asked, giving her a lopsided smile. He was always doing something to upset someone somewhere. Who knew what Meredith had told her over lunch?

"You neglected to tell me that Katherine's tomb is on our property." She said leaning in close as they walked toward his car.

"Well technically it was never her tomb since she was never actually in there." He said.

She laughed. "That isn't the point and you know it."

"Isn't it?" He asked pausing to stand in front of her. "You're worried about me obsessing on Katherine again. I get it." He told her. "Every time you've seen me until now my whole world revolved around getting her out of that tomb." He said. "When I found out she was never in it, that she had been out there the whole time, love switched to hate. You have nothing to worry about."

"I know," She said, "which is why I am no longer mad at you. I just wish you had told me."

Damon nodded. "okay." He said opening the car door for her. "So is that the dress for the ball?" He asked pointing to her shopping bag.

"It is. And you don't get to see it until after we get home tonight." She said with a smile.

"Now that's not fair." He said as he pulled the car out of the parking space.

"Well I was mad at you for a whole two hours." She teased.

"We won't have the results until sometime tomorrow." The doctor told them. "If it is, he's lucky you found him when you did."

"Thank you. Can we see him now?" Stefan asked.

"He's resting now. Perhaps tomorrow." The doctor said.

"Of course." He answered. "Oh ahm… what room is he in? So we don't have to bother anyone tomorrow."

With the room number in hand, he led Katherine away. "Let's go find out where he put that book. If it is poisoning people I don't want anyone else affected."

He stood watch at the door while Katherine slipped inside. A few minutes later she came out and they started walking down the corridor out of sight. "He's dead" She said when they were finally outside. "I don't know where the book is."

Stefan swore. "It looks like we're going to be here a while." He said. "We'll head over to the university tonight. Hopefully we'll find out that I'm wrong in the morning."

"Yeah," She said softly. "I'm sure you are." Katherine lied. She was more than convinced that he was right, she knew he was. But she was not going to tell him that. "In the mean time, let's go get some coffee and look over the translations."

Stefan nodded. "Yeah, okay." He said and started walking back toward the car.

(1858

Madelena Salvatore rested her hand on the shoulder of her youngest son, as he and her eldest helped her down the steps. Her skin was pale and delicate looking and neither of her sons was at all comfortable with the idea of her going to the Founder's Day picnic.

"There will be other picnics, Mother. You should stay home." Damon said, with as much gravity as a 15 year old boy could manage.

"I'll stay with you." 12 year old Stefan offered and for once his brother didn't scowl at him over it.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired. The entire family needs to be there. It's important that people see us there." She said as they neared the carriage. Her hands tightened on her sons as a wave of weakness washed over her and her legs nearly gave way beneath her.

"It's just a picnic, Mother." Damon said again attempting to be firm with her. "There will be another next year. We'll have one here the minute you're better."

"Your mother is right Damon, don't hover over her like an old woman." Giuseppe said stepping up to take Damon's place at her side, pushing the boy back.

Stefan looked over his shoulder at his brother. The look of absolute rage and horror on his brother's face, the hatred in his eyes leveled at his father actually scared the younger boy. He was certain in that moment that Damon could kill their father without a second thought.)

"Earth to Stefan." Katherine sighed.

"I'm sorry, you were saying?" He asked taking a drink of his coffee.

"I'm saying that this book scares the hell out of me." Katherine showed him a page "This is a book that needs to be destroyed." She said insistently. "This one here, is a ritual to rip someone open while they're still alive for divination, -"

"I've seen that one. It's not pretty. Damon almost didn't survive it." Stefan said looking into his coffee cup. "It took more than a week to heal."

That caused her to pause a moment. "This one is for bringing the dead back permanently. It requires a sacrifice. A huge sacrifice of dead or undead souls. " She put the sheet in front of him. "This one is for binding a spirit into an item and using them as a portable battery. This one is for-"

"Wait a minute." He said and pushed several pages back to her. "A battery… like they can pull energy from us by touch, they could carry a soul around and just suck the life out of them until they disappeared?" he asked looking it over. He tapped at the sketch of the gem stone. " They call this a soul stone. It looks like the stone that they put Tyler in. And the one we found in the wine cellar. " he chuckled a little seeing the look on her face. "Yes we found it. Damon has it. Don't go after it. "

Katherine gave him a look and sighed. "fine." She said

Stefan's brows knit together. "When Elena and Jeremy found the necklace at Bonnie's it was black. When I saw Caroline later it was dark red. Like the one you hid at my house. "

"So?"

"So, that means someone is in there." He said.

"Yeah well let's leave them there this time. Remember what happened the last time you let someone out of a box? Seriously, leave them be." Katherine said.

"I'd like to find out who's in there before I make a decision." Stefan said.

"I'd like to get it back from Damon." She said. "I'd feel a lot better if he didn't have it. He has the self control of a spider monkey on speed."

"He's not that bad when he's not acting out. " Stefan said with a silent laugh. "Tell me why you really want it."

"I owe someone." She said. "You don't need to know who or why."

"Come on, let's get past this whole secret keeping thing." Stefan said.

"We're not lovers, Stefan. You've made it plain we never will be again. You're not entitled to know everything about me. "

"Glad to see you've come to accept that." Stefan said.

Katherine shrugged.

"There is one more thing I noticed though" He picked up the page looking it over again. "It took a witch to bind the soul and unbind it into the stone. So this isn't purely a necromancer thing. "

"I don't know about that. What I do know is that I don't want this to get into the hands of anyone in that family. I don't trust them. Not even Damon's precious
Alexandra."

"Your green eyed monster is showing." Stefan said shaking his head.