Chapter thirty nine
Friday evening came far too quickly for Damon's comfort. The plan was far too free form for his taste. Those were usually the nights that everything went wrong. He walked up the steps with Alexandra on his arm, nodding in greeting to Carol Lockwood who welcomed them both to her home.
"I feel like I should recognize this dress." He said quietly as they toured the rooms mingling a little with the other guests. "You're sure it's new?"
Alexandra smiled. "It's new. But I picked it because it reminded me of something as well." She said. "New Years Eve, 1935. Paris."
Damon smiled. "It was almost New Years Day 1936. You were late. I thought I'd been stood up."
"Is that why you were flirting with your dinner so mercilessly?" She said. "I almost turned around and went home."
"But if you had, you'd have never gotten these earrings." He said kissing behind the ear.
"You were spoiling me I believe." Alex said.
"Completely under my own power I might add, so there was nothing you could do about it but enjoy them." He said. "I never understood that rule about not spoiling you."
"I didn't want to take advantage." She said scanning the crowd. "Ah there they are." She said spotting Stefan and Elena.
"Any other circumstances and I might be offended. I'm nibbling on your ear and you're looking for my brother." Damon teased, he too was scanning the crowd spotting Avril and Henry.
"You can nibble all you like when we're done tonight. I promise the last thing on my mind will be Stefan." She said smiling.
"The music is starting. Shall we?" He asked before leading her off to the dance floor. The band was playing a waltz as they moved to the center of the floor, and for the length of one song they forgot about all that hung over their heads. He rested one hand on her waist, the other rested at the small of his own back as they whirled around the dance floor. The looks passing between them heated the room, only breaking eye contact for well practiced turns. They had been dancing together for more than a hundred years and it showed.
Elena rested her head on Stefan's chest as she watched the couple on the dance floor. "Wow." She said softly, wondering what it would be like to be Damon's dance partner once more, even as she stood in his brothers arms. Jealousy reared its ugly head again and there was nothing she could do to quash it. He wasn't supposed to be over her this quickly. It wasn't supposed to end like this, with him fading away into the arms of another woman.
Stefan's eyes were elsewhere, watching Katherine as she slipped up the stairs unnoticed by the others. Another glance around the room showed where Jeremy and Matt were working, serving drinks and making note of people they didn't recognize. Avril and Henry stood at the base of the stairs pretending to be absorbed with one another, but Stefan knew better.
Caroline entered the ballroom as the dance came to an end. She wore her pale hair piled in curls, tendrils framing her face delicately. Black pearls borrowed from Alexandra hung from her ears, and at her neck. The precious pendant was in Avril's keeping. All eyes were on her in that moment including a pair of dark piercing eyes staring down silently from above.
"Fun and games are over, " Damon said. "Back to work." He led his date from the dance floor giving Caroline an appreciative look as he passed her in the door way. A glance up the stairs and his eyes locked with Klaus's just before the vampire pulled away from the balcony railing. He picked up two glasses of champagne from Jeremy's tray and nodded slightly to him.
"Katherine is already upstairs. " Stefan said as the two couples met .
"So's Klaus." Damon said in a soft tone. "He's definitely spotted Caroline.
"She made quite the entrance." Elena said with a faint smile.
"Time for us to steal a little of her thunder." Damon said downing the rest of the champagne in the glass, then traded it out of a highball of bourbon as another tray went past. He made a show of drinking fast and hard. Shifting his body language steadily as he did so even though he was nowhere near drunk. He gave the girls an impish look before he pushed Alexandra away from him. "Damn it woman, stop clinging. " he said impatiently moving away from her.
Alex followed and the argument was on, the volume was kept loud enough to draw attention but soft enough that only the occasional word could be heard until she backed away, with her hand to her face and what appeared to be tears forming in her eyes.
The other two couples converged as did Caroline. Stefan and Henry pulled Damon out of the main room and back toward the kitchen and the service stairs up. Meanwhile the girls led Alexandra upstairs with the appearance of taking her somewhere to comfort her after Damon's cruel words.
"Damon's a Jerk." Elena said with well practiced conviction.
"Believe me, she's right." Caroline said, and the two shared stories of the evils of Damon. "you'd be better off without him.
Avril chimed in, mimicking Yvette with ease. "I can take care of it for you. I know you have some strange sort of affection for the creature, but there is a limit to what you should tolerate. It's embarrassing."
All done for the benefit of hybrid ears.
Alex buried her face into her sister's shoulder and produced convincing silent sobs.
"Can you get her some water?" Avril asked Caroline.
"Of course." She said and left the room. Caroline was now bait. She made her way toward the bathroom to get water when she was grabbed by the arm and pulled into a niche and kissed. Even if she hadn't known that Tyler was locked out of his own body, she would have known it wasn't him. The kiss was desperate and possessive and Tyler had been neither. Still she forced herself to respond. "Tyler." She said breathlessly. "I don't understand.."
"Shhh… not here. " Klaus said.
Caroline made a show of peering out into the corridor, looking both ways, locking eyes briefly with Katherine who stood at the top of the service stairs briefly before ducking down again. Caroline then grabbed Tyler by the hand and led him to the room that had been prepared well in advance.
Trusting in Katherine (god help me, she thought) to bring the others she smiled excitedly at Klaus. "I've missed you so much." She said, putting her hand on either side of his face, kissing him hungrily, keeping up the distraction. "I thought you were dead" She said drawing him into the center of the room. "God I love you."
"I love you too." Klaus told her, reveling in the illusion. He could do this. He could fool her until she came to love him not the boy she thought he was. Then they would leave this place forever. There was so much he wanted to show her, so much he wanted to give to her.
He was distracted by the beautiful woman in his arms but not enough that he didn't sense the others entering the room. Keeping up the charade he pushed Caroline behind him. "What's going on?" He asked looking around at the various couples that entered.
Caroline stepped back from Klaus and Avril and Alexandra spoke the words to bring their spells into play. "It's over Klaus." Caroline said. "You can't have him anymore."
Damon took his place behind Alexandra. His hands rested on her bare shoulders. Henry and Stefan stood to either side of her. Elena and Caroline stood with Avril.
Klaus lunged at Alexandra but came up against the force field the sisters had put in place.
Julianna entered the crypt, Portia walking close behind. The vampire pushed the lid from the sarcophagus and it hit the ground with crash, shattering in two. The women began to pull the willow canes from within and took them outside, tossing them far from the mausoleum.
Julianna set candles around the room and they each lit instantly once placed in position. She lit the incense and drew the symbols on the walls while Portia prepared the body and collected the soul stone and spell book.
Caroline threw the first vervain filled dart. They didn't need a gun to project them. Vampiric strength was more than enough for it to imbed in its mark.
The others quickly followed suit and Klaus stumbled, dropping to his knees. He did the one thing he knew to heal quickly and perhaps lessen the effect of the vervain. He began to change, bones beginning to shift and break in preparation for becoming the wolf.
Alexandra jerked forward out of Damon's grasp, plunging the bone shaft into the hybrid's side, the potion within mingling with his blood and flooding his system. With her free hand she found bare skin under his pant leg and grabbed on tightly, pulling his energy from his body. He was the most vulnerable during the shift.
Damon grabbed the other leg to hold it down as Stefan and Henry each grabbed an arm and pinned it beneath their knees hands on the hybrids shoulder pinning him to the floor.
Klaus's back arched and he howled in rage struggling until the vervain and the necromancer's potion forced him into near unconsciousness.
Madelena Salvatore was as beautiful as she had been in 1859 when she'd been lain to rest in her coffin. Her hair lay in long dark waves over her shoulders, still holding the curl as tightly as the day it had first been set. Her cheeks were blushed, her skin still soft and supple.
Portia set her on the floor in the middle of the circle and looked up to the stair way as the third party entered the scene. "We're ready." She told the man standing in the shadows.
He nodded silently and stepped into the light. Pale blue eyes took in the scene and he moved quickly to take up the book and find the page for the ritual required.
Damon's blood was poured from the vials to form the circle around Madelena and the new comer. The ends of the line did not quite meet, and Julianna swore.
The man looked to her impatiently and spoke two words, waving his hand in the general arch of the circle and the blood flowed, the line thinning slightly as the circle completed.
Jeremy smiled at one of the young ladies as he handed her a glass of champagne. The smile faded as she began to slump into unconsciousness. They would have to deal with them after the party. Avril had said the potion lasted for two hours. It was a short period of time in the grand scheme of things but it was long enough for them to get them out of the house and Deal with them later during the clean up phase.
He felt a little James Bond-ish as he set aside his tray of drinks and made his way to the front door, one hand on the gun in his coat pocket, preparing to face down the hybrids that approached in response to Klaus's howl.
Alaric stood behind him, and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Let me in." He said quietly, and at the boy's nod, the deceased vampire hunter stepped inside and shared head space with Jeremy Gilbert.
Matt noticed the shift in body language and would have worried if there had been time.
As Klaus howled, Damon brought the fog in from the river, covering the Lockwood property in a thick dense layer giving the boys and Liz Forbes men as much advantage as he could.
Avril turned the key in the lock on the pendant and handed that off to Caroline. She knelt down on the floor at Klaus's head and pressed the soul stone against his chest above the heart. Even as drugged as he was the hybrid fought against her.
Stefan and Henry were out of the reach of Klaus's snapping jaws but it was taking almost everything they had to hold the originals torso in place as Avril canted the ritual.
Tyler left the stone, once more battling with Klaus. He'd lost the fight last time. He was determined not to fail again. There was too much at stake.
Madelena's body twitched and jerked as the energy coursed through it. Julianna's power mingled with that of the new comer lifting her off the ground.
Their words rose in chorus, echoing off of the marble walls, one building a spell the other tearing down the one that had been in place for more than a hundred and fifty years. The blood that encircled them, Damon's blood ignited and the flames rose high around them creating a wall of fire.
The man sliced his wrist allowing the blood to flow, mingling with that of his half brother in the circle continuing to fuel the flames as Julianna picked up the soul stone continuing to chant, placing it over Madelena's heart.
Sheriff Liz Forbes led her men thought the fog. The party guests had been driven inside by the sudden onset, and with two exceptions she knew that anything out moving was a target. The beauty of vervain was that it didn't affect humans badly even if they were mistaken.
She could see Jeremy Gilbert in the distance, wading into open combat with a level of experience that no one his age should have. She couldn't take the time to question or process as they took down Klaus's hybrids and one by one drug their unconscious bodies back to the county's SUVs to be disposed of later.
Jeremy's eyes scanned the scene, and he made one last sweep of the area before being satisfied that their job was done. Alaric eased out of the boy and stood at his side looking him over to make sure he was okay.
"Thank you." He told him.
Jeremy grinned. "It's all good. I enjoyed it." He said honestly.
As the last of the hybrids was drug away Liz approached the boy. "Are you alright?" she asked.
He nodded, still catching his breath. "Let's go find Matt. There's more unconscious inside."
Caroline stood to the back of the room watching anxiously as the battle continued to force Klaus out of Tyler's body. She lifted her gaze to see Carol Lockwood standing in the door, her expression mirroring Caroline's. The two women locked gazes and both nearly fell to tears with each horrible cry that came from Tyler's mouth.
The stone went black in Avril's hand, as Tyler completely forced his way inside the body. He got a foothold and shoved with every bit of willpower he could summon, aided by Avril's incantation just as Klaus was weakened by Alexandra's.
When the body ceased struggling, Damon moved back, and Alexandra placed her other hand on Tyler. He slid behind her, warm, almost feverish hands placed at her bare shoulders allowing her to take from his reserves which were more taxed than he realized. He suddenly felt pulled in two different directions and the world spun briefly.
Alexandra's head lolled back and she leaned back against her lover. Her eyes saw only the two spirits battling for possession of the body beneath her hands. She forced her essence into the body, as her eyes darkened to black. She formed a wedge between the two consciousnesses, protecting Tyler as Avril worked in earnest to pull the older presence from the body and force it into the soul stone.
Julianna canted the ritual, ignoring all else around her. She had no reserves to spare and she didn't need to see anyway.
The man's incantation shifted in tone, becoming harsh and guttural, as he knelt beside them. He placed his right hand at his mother's solar plexis. The flames followed the blood trail to his left hand and he screamed as they engulfed him and passed through him to flood his mother with their energy.
Madelena's chest began to rise and fall and Julianna pressed her power through the stone, forcing the soul back into the body it had long ago vacated. Vibrant blue eyes opened for the first time in more than a century taking in the scene around her. "Marco." She said quietly as she forced herself into seated position with long atrophied muscles. She smiled at her eldest son as Julianna propped her up.
"I'm here mother. " He said raggedly.
"And your brother?"
"is enthralled by another. " he said and held out his hand to Portia who gave her own willingly. He slit her wrist and drank of her blood to heal before placing his hand on either side of her face to draw her energy into himself. He didn't stop until she lay empty and desiccated on the floor before him.
"My daughter." Julianna said. "His will is not broken. She fancies that she is in love with him."
The haze of spirits that Alexandra had detected hovering throughout Mystic Falls answered the call of Marco Andreassi and flooded the mausoleum giving their strength willing or not to restore his mother's energy.
"hmmm." Madelena hummed. "We shall see if this pleases me or not. For now we shall leave them be. I have far too much to learn before I can make my presence known, even to Damon." She smiled up at her son who rose to his feet and held his hand out to her, assisting her to her feet. "I knew that you would never fail me." She told Marco.
"Never." He said smiling brightly.
Avril took the key from Caroline again and looked to her sister once the soul stone was red once more. Alexandra nodded and she locked the stone, handing the key back to Caroline.
Elena handed Avril a glass of water, in exchange for the necklace. "You look like you could use this." She said.
Damon eased his exhausted lover away from the boy on the floor and over to an overstuffed chair. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her brow as she curled up, exhausted, in his arms.
With the sudden silence in the room, no chanting, no screams or growls, he could hear the band again as it played down stairs. As always their drama played out while the rest of Mystic Falls danced blissfully unaware that anything was going on.
Neither Carol nor Caroline wasted any time filling the vacant spaces around Tyler. He was still groggy from the vervain and Alexandra's potion, but Tyler smiled albeit weakly as they both embraced him. "I'm home." He said softly, more than happy to be wrapped up in both of their arms.
"Let's get him to his room so that he can recover." Carol said and the two of them helped Tyler to his feet. She glanced to Damon. "This is over? Completely over?"
Damon nodded. "As over as we can make it."
"Thank you." She said and the three of them left the room.
Henry helped Avril to her feet and over to sit in another chair near her sister and Damon.
"Where's Elena?" Avril asked. "I handed her the necklace, I'd like to get that secured while I still have the energy.
"She went to check on Jeremy." Stefan said. "She'll be back." He said pulling the chair from behind the desk to sit down with the others."How are you two holding up?"
"Tired." Alex said. "But no worse for wear. I'll be fine soon." She said closing her eyes again, as Damon continued to caress her arm, as he held her.
"I'm alright." Avril said. "Tired but good. I'm glad this is over." She frowned a little. "Are you sure she just went to check on Jeremy?"
Damon frowned. "You know who else is conspicuously missing?" He said looking at Stefan.
"Katherine." The brothers said in unison.