Chapter thirty two

Katherine sat down behind the professor's desk and turned on his computer while Stefan checked the drawers in the file cabinet and the closet. She frowned when the request for a password came up. She scanned the heavy wooden desk for anything that might give her a clue. Then she pulled out the writing surface above the drawers. "These things always remind me of kitchen cutting boards." She said and smiled "There it is." A 3x5 card was taped into place with a series of names and dates. "You would think someone as intelligent as this guy would be able to remember his kid's names and birthdates."

She began to type them in until finally the right one let her into the computer.

"You'd be surprised." Stefan said coming to stand behind her as she got into Hanlon's email account.

She scanned through them quickly able to read the titles quickly. She paused on any that had no title, included the word book, or merely seemed out of place amongst the endless student emails or reminders of faculty meetings and school policies. "I could never be a teacher. " She said wrinkling her nose. "I would be completely bored and eating my students in a week."

He chuckled, "Let's just find the book and you can complain about Alex on the way home."

"Oh, she is a teacher isn't she. " Katherine said with a grin, not that she fooled Stefan at all. "Okay… anthropology department. " She indicated the email discussing the nature of the book. She turned off the computer and got up from the chair. She paused as the room lit up brightly with a flash of lightening outside, followed instantly by thunder.

"Yeah I know… doesn't feel natural to me either. " Stefan said leading the way out of the room.

Jeremy turned on the television and stared at it numbly. The sudden storm was all that was on any of the local net work channels. The storm was spreading across the state with flash flooding closing many of the roads. He was waiting to see something about the hit and run but there was nothing. Not that he was surprised. It was supernatural related and therefore kept hush hush and would later be spun to be some drunk driver.

Sheriff Forbes had told them that Bonnie was being taken to the hospital but it looked like her mind was gone. Had they done that to her when they'd locked down the witch house? Or was it something Damon had done out of vengeance. It didn't matter either way, he'd lost someone else.

His cell phone rang and he picked it up. "I'm home, I'm fine, don't hover." He told his sister before she could say anything else.

"Why don't you stay at the boarding house with us tonight? There's safety in numbers." Elena said.

"Safety from what? Bonnie isn't going to come after anyone anymore." He said bitterly.

"She was working for Klaus, Jeremy. I don't know why but she was. We don't know who else he has working for him."

Jeremy sighed. "I can't deal with Alex or Damon right now. I'll be fine."

"They aren't here yet. Alex hasn't been released from the hospital yet. Look, at least go to Matt's." She said worriedly.

"I'll think about it." Jeremy said. "Let me know how she's doing when you hear something but… I'm gonna go. Talk to you later." He said and hung up.

Elena sighed and went to sit down beside Avril on the sofa. She had called Meredith earlier. She thought perhaps they could set up Henry the way they had Damon while he was healing with a steady flow of blood and vervain until the worst passed. She was beginning to think the doctor was going to need to give Avril something as well.

Not that she was surprised. She'd not only lost a sister but her twin. She couldn't begin to imagine that. Neither did she want to. Not really. She understood loss. It seemed like it had been her constant companion since her parents had died. She didn't need to truly understand that it could actually be worse.

She dialed Stefan's number again and sighed as it once more went to voice mail. "Why is your phone off" She muttered, and flinched as the thunder clapped directly over head, simultaneous with the lightening flash. "This storm is giving me the creeps."

"I'd say that mother knows…but she's in New Orleans. The storm wouldn't be here." Avril said quietly. "Perhaps Bonnie… "

"Are you saying this storm was created by a witch? But why?"

"It's not always intentional. Vampires aren't the only ones to get out of control when faced with overwhelming emotions. All creatures do. But some vampires and witches have the ability to control the weather. Emotions create energy and it has to go somewhere. "She was numb. Part of her was gone and she kept reaching out for it, hoping to find something there but there was nothing where Yvette used to be.

Liz entered the examination room where Damon and Alexandra were resting. "Bonnie is in the psychiatric ward here for evaluation. We both know she isn't going to get any better." She said to Damon. "Why would you do that?" She asked, trying to understand.

Damon eased his arm out from under Alexandra and then off the bed. "Because she's a witch," He said bluntly. "You can't keep her locked up by conventional means. Even if you could you can't stop her from using her magic. You can't toss rowan into the entire states water supply any more than you can vervain."

"I can't help feeling that it was over kill." She said.

"Why? Because she isn't undead? " He snapped.

"Damon…"

"No I get it. If it's a vampire by all means kill it when it becomes a threat. But anything else we have to protect?" He shook his head. "It was okay for her to get away with murder because she used an SUV instead of fangs?"

"I don't believe that way anymore. You know that." She said sadly.

"I wouldn't have been able to complete killing her with you there so I had to do something to neutralize the threat. I can't remove a witches powers but I can make it a nightmare to use them. That's what I did. It's not my fault that she doesn't take the hint and stop trying."

"Did she really put Klaus in Tyler's body?"

Damon nodded. "She was also trying to push Stefan to kill Alexandra; making him think that she was hurting me somehow. She would have succeeded if the Mikaelsons hadn't decided they wanted a closer look at my insides. "

Liz looked at him in confusion.

"Long story. Doesn't matter. Vampire business." Damon said.

"That's something else we're going to have to talk about. You can't shut me out with two words, Damon. Vampire Business doesn't fly. "

"If I'm telling you to butt out it's because there is nothing you can do except get yourself killed. Sometimes there are things out there that are too big for a badge and a gun, Liz. You have to accept that."

"No, I don't." She said. "Because my daughter is involved in all of this so called Vampire Business and that makes it my business."

Damon sighed. "Mothers" He said but gave her a half smile.

"I have to tell Carol." She said after a moment.

Damon nodded. "If Klaus comes around it might put her in danger if she can't pull off absolutely that she believes its Tyler. "

Liz nodded. "I know. I will let her know. Also that she can't tell anyone else. Caroline seems to think that you can put Tyler back in his body, is that true?"

Damon again nodded. "Yes. But we're still working on the details and it will mean setting a trap for Klaus which is not as easy as it sounds."

"Don't underestimate us mere human's Damon. We might be able to help. Especially if he thinks Carol believes him. "

He sighed. "I'll see what we can come up with. The ball might be the best place to lay the trap. But I don't know if they're going to be up to it by next weekend. "He said looking back over at Alex who was stirring restlessly. He stroked her hair and she settled back into sleep.

Liz nodded."In the mean time I'll put out the cover story that Bonnie had been slipped an hallucinogen at a party and that's why she's in the mess she's in." She sighed. "They're just kids, Damon."

"As my brother pointed out recently, at their age I was fighting a war. They're stronger than you give them credit for."

"And more fragile than you realize." She countered.

"That has nothing to do with age."

Katherine knew well where the anthropology department was. Isobel Saltzman's office was still functioning even if the woman no longer existed. "Comparative folklore" she said. "This is where it's most likely to be. "

"Here's hoping the girl taking over the department isn't still around. She came close to perforating Elena with a cross bow thinking she was you."

"If she missed Elena she can't be all that good a shot."

"She didn't exactly miss. Damon got in the way."

"Really? And the girl is still alive? Damon really is slipping." Katherine said disapprovingly.

"Elena brings out the best " He chuckled a little " And the worst in Damon."

"That's exactly the sort of woman he wants. I'd watch out if I were you." She said as she picked the lock and opened the door.

"I don't have anything to worry about." Stefan said. "From either of them. Elena made her choice and Damon has someone else in his life now. "

"Damon isn't in control of himself. Eventually Alexandra will move on and he's going to be alone and hurting and he'll go for Elena. You know I'm right."

"Actually I don't" He said stepping into the office. "well this isn't going to be an easy place to search." He sighed, looking around at the piles of books and papers on the desk and the heavily laden shelves.

"Chances are it's in the top layer somewhere. " Katherine said. "They're insidious you know." She looked through the top layer of papers.

"I presume you are talking about necromancers again. I get that you have prejudices. I think we probably all should. In general they are a threat but she's not like that."

"She's not?" Katherine said. "I didn't just abandon the two of you. I found Damon a little less than a year after you were turned."

1865

Katherine followed the couple through the streets of Portland Oregon. She should have known that Damon would get into trouble if left on his own but she had thought he would be more worried about protecting his younger brother than finding adventure. She had never expected him to get in this deep. She was careful to stay out of line of sight, listening to them as they talked.

"Why are we here?" Damon asked looking around him. "This town is younger than I am. What could you possibly find here that's lucrative?"

Alexandra laughed softly. "The city yes but the settlement has been here longer. We're not here for business. I'm here to meet with an old friend. We won't be long."

"Good. I'm already bored." Damon said.

" Hmmm…Can't have that." She said.

"You're mocking me. Mockery is my job. You're in charge of ghostly research and being commanding. I'm in charge of protecting you and being sardonic. We really need to keep those job descriptions straight. Otherwise everything descends into chaos."

"You like chaos."

"I like causing you chaos." He amended.

"I can fix that." She said in a deceptively neutral tone. One that Damon took as a warning to shut up before he went too far. Alex checked them into the hotel in one room. He was listed as her husband.

Katherine climbed the stairs to the open balcony that ran the length of the second floor of the hotel and waited to hear their voices before moving closer in and watching.

Damon sat on the bed. "So who is this friend we're going to meet?" He asked.

"I'm going to meet a friend of my father's. You can't come with me." She said as she picked out a clean dress from her bags and began to change.

"Why not?" he asked lying on his side and watching her. There were certain perks to his current situation, and he wasn't above taking what pleasure he could.

"Because you don't behave," She said laughing, "and Alastair isn't one to tolerate a mouthy vampire."

"Another necromancer then?" He asked getting off of the bed to help her with her corset strings. "So are you leaving me behind to protect me or your dignity."

"Both. He's very old fashioned, and I don't feel like crushing your will just to keep you from being bored for an evening. Neither of us would enjoy it." She said as he finished. "thank you."

"So what do I do? Stay here and play watch dog ?"

"You can go out. Just no hunting. The last time I left you to your own devises we had to leave town quickly the following day. So no hunting. "

"I keep telling you it's a bad plan to let me get bored." He said going to sit down again. No hunting meant she gave him what he needed to survive. It meant room temperature blood at best. At worst it meant she'd bring him blood from the butchers and he'd have to gag it down.

"We aren't staying long. I promise we'll find somewhere more fun to go when we leave here." Alex said, picking up her cloak. It was starting to rain. "I'll be back soon."

Damon nodded and lay back on the bed staring at the ceiling. "I'll be here. " He said with a bored sigh.

Katherine waited until she saw the woman leave the hotel and cross the street below. She opened the balcony door and stepped into the room and said his name.

"Katherine…" He said breathed, and moved off the bed to her side quickly. "You're here." He took her face in his hands, a bright smile crossing his face, for the first time in nearly a year. He kissed her hungrily pressing her back against the wall. "You're really here."

"I'm here." She said closing her arms around him. "And you have gotten yourself in serious trouble. How did you wind up with a necromancer?"

Damon rested his head against hers. "Bad choice of entrée," He admitted. "I don't want to talk about her. I don't want to talk about any of it. I just want you."

"Not here." She said and worried at the look of panic that crossed his eyes briefly. Katherine remembered then how young he truly was. She placed her hands at either side of his face. "She said you can leave. So that's what we're going to do. Come on."

"Two things. One, that is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I've done worse to people over the years and making Damon not hunt, not necessarily a bad thing all things considered. Two, Damon was convinced you were in the tomb when he arrived. He came to Mystic Falls to save you from the tomb. " Stefan said sitting down to look through a few things he found on the desk. "Why is it he doesn't remember this tender reunion?"

"You might want to ask his girlfriend about that." Katherine said finding a few things that looked promising toward her own research and put them in a box.

"So what's the rest of the story?" Stefan asked.

"We left. Running as you can well imagine. We managed to stay ahead of her for a week." She said. "And I was hand feeding him the whole time. Their rules don't go away. He wasn't able to hunt again until she gave him permission."Katherine told him. "I don't know how she found us. I've never been able to figure out how they track their victims. But she found us, and forced him to leave with her."

"You couldn't stop her?"

"There were two of them. Her and this guy named Alastair. They cornered us in an abandoned farm house."

"Abandoned? " He raised an eyebrow.

"Well it was after we ate the owners. " She shrugged. "Damon couldn't move. She just said the words be still and he couldn't move. I still remember the look on his face." She shook off the mood like water off a ducks back. "Anyway I couldn't fight both of them. I doubt I could have even successfully fought off one. "

"So you abandoned him… again." Stefan said.

"What would you expect me to do?"

"The same thing you always do, Katherine. Protect your own skin." He said. "Found it." He sighed with relief and put the book as well as any that were in the stack with it, into the box. "Let's get out of here. "

"I didn't just abandon him." She said sensing the sudden return of disapproval in Stefan.

He gave her a disbelieving look. "Can we talk about this in the car?"

1865

It had taken several days to find where they were keeping him. His room was easily located. The windows were boarded up. As if that would keep a vampire secure. Then again one under a necromancers spell was kept secure just by their will alone.

She waited and watched the house and eventually the two necromancers left together. It was then that she moved in, pulling the boards from the window and climbing inside. As expected she found Damon. He was lying on the bed, hands grasping the head board.

"Come on lets go." She said.

"I can't." He said quietly, stunned that she had actually come for him a second time. "You shouldn't be here."

Katherine sat on the side of the bed, her hand on his chest. "What was the command?"

"To hold on to the head board. If the bed falls apart I'm not to leave the room. She knows me too well. She's starting to be more precise and using multiple commands, "he grumbled.

"Fine, I'll incapacitate you and drag you out. It won't be your choice or actions then."

"She has my ring." Damon said. "I just… we… You have to go before they come back. Give me time… she'll trust me again. I'll make her trust me again."

"And you abandoned him… again. No wonder he wasn't willing to be forgiving when you turned up in Mystic Falls." Stefan said as they pulled into the hotel parking lot. They weren't going home tonight. The roads were undrivable.

"Hello, he doesn't remember."

"Funny thing about the brain, the information is still in there. Even if you don't actively remember it." Stefan said "You stay in the car while I get us a room."