Cannonball
Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone from The Vampire Diaries.
Everyone take a deep breath...
January 15th 2013.
Tuesday 9:20pm
Mystic Falls
I stand frozen as Katherine winks at me before taking a hold of Stefan's hand and pulling him back towards The Grill, there are more words exchanged between the two boys on their parting but I can't take note of anything, my ears completely closed up to what's around me as I let what just happened fully sink in.
I swallow a lump in my throat and blink, trying to fight back the tears that I can feel creeping up on me as my cheeks heat up and suddenly I feel like I need to be sick.
"Elena? Elena?" I hear Mason saying my name between the ringing of my ears and I shake my head and clear my throat before looking up at him to see that he is peering down at me in a mixture of concern and confusion. "You ok?"
I nod my head immediately but then curse myself before quickly changing my mind. "Actually no…I don't feel too good."
I watch as a look of what seems like realization crosses his features and he lets out a dry bitter laugh. "Is this about Katherine? Because if it is Elena, don't let her get to you! She's a bitch and she just wants to piss me off and she used you to do so. I'm sorry that you got dragged into my mess with her, but it's just Katherine…let's not let her ruin our date."
Oh God. If only he knew how much of a mess I have been dragged into because of Katherine Pierce and that it has absolutely nothing to do with him. No, I have managed to get into this all on my own.
I can barely be bothered to try and think of a reasonable excuse to cut this date short early, all I want to do is run to Damon and warn him about Katherine, to tell him the truth of who knows about us but how can I do that right now without Mason noticing?
"I know what Katherine is like." I reply and at least I can be honest about that. I am very much aware of the she-devil that is Katherine Pierce, Damon has told me snippets about her in the past and I have been there to witness some of her bullying techniques around school throughout the years.
And it seems now I am on the receiving end of her grand finale.
"Ok," Mason holds out his hand. "So let's ignore her and continue?" he offers hopefully and I cringe.
This time he notices.
"You don't want too?"
"It's not that I don't want to…" the lie falls off my tongue because I can't handle the look on his face right now.
I need to get out of here.
"I just…I really don't feel well and I don't want to be terrible company."
Mason watches me for a moment, his eyes flickering up and down as he takes me in and I stand still with bated breath.
"Ok." He gives in and I feel my body sink in relief but it doesn't last long. "I'll take you home."
"No it's ok I-"
"Elena." He cuts me off with a small smile. "This is a date, remember? I'm going to be a gentleman and take you home."
Crap.
"Ok." I give in reluctantly and let him show me into his car. I clench my fingers tightly together, willing myself to not touch my phone right now because it's not worth the risk of Mason seeing what I'm typing, but I need to talk to Damon and I need to do it soon.
The ride back is tense and awkward, mainly because Mason keeps trying to talk to me but I can't pay attention for long enough to take note in what he is saying, which led to him repeating himself only for me to stutter out a lame reply until eventually he just gave up on any attempt of holding a conversation.
I silently curse when he insists on walking me to the door, and I clumsily pull out my keys from my purse and turn to face him with a strained smile.
"Thanks for tonight, Mason."
"You're welcome." He smiles almost sadly at me. "I'm just sorry that it got ruined."
"It didn't." I offer even though we both know otherwise. "I'm just not feeling great."
"Another time then maybe?" he asks hopefully. "When you're feeling better?"
"Uh…yeah sure." I lie, saying anything to just end this night for good. "Thanks for the ride." I awkwardly tap him on the arm before practically running inside, cringing at my own behavior. The second I get inside I go and pull out my phone to see a dozen text messages from Damon probably wanting to know what the hell is going on but before I get the chance to reply or call him my Mom walks out of the kitchen with a steaming mug in her hands and a nosy look on her face.
"Oh hi sweetie." She smiles softly at me. "I didn't expect you home yet?"
"Oh yeah I'm not feeling well." I press my hand against my stomach for good measure. "So I'm just going to have an early night."
She nods slightly, studying me before a giddy smile crosses her face. "So how was your date?"
I roll my eyes and go to head for the stairs. "Mom, I told you it wasn't really a date."
"Oh come on honey! You can talk to me about these things you know that..."
"I know but…Mason is just a friend." I make sure to emphasize the word friend.
"A very good-looking charming friend." She continues not catching my hint that I do not want to discuss this. "Who also just happens to be very sweet on you."
"Mom please." I exhale impatiently. "I'm tired and I don't feel great, I just want to go to sleep."
She sighs loudly and looks at me as I take another step higher. "Ok." She reluctantly gives in but I know that this isn't the end of it. "Your father has had to go on the nightshift so he won't be back until tomorrow morning, Jeremy is staying at a friends and I'm about to hit the hay myself." She explains. "Goodnight sweetheart."
"Night Mom." I force a smile and quickly head over to my room, pulling out my phone and ignoring all Damon's earlier texts to send him a new one.
Wait 15 mins then climb up to
my bedroom xxx
I quickly send the text and press my phone against my lips nervously, not knowing how exactly I am going to drop this bombshell on Damon.
I grip my steering wheel tightly as I watch Elena and Mason together on her front porch, reminding myself that this isn't a real date and that there is no way in hell that she will allow him to kiss her goodnight.
If she does, or if he tries, I don't know if I'll be able to just sit here and do nothing about it.
I shake my head at my unnecessary jealousy, knowing that Elena doesn't want to do this but is doing so for me, for us. I just hope that the whole thing wasn't a waste of time and she actually found out something.
I'm also a little curious about the little display I witnessed outside of The Grill with my brother and Katherine, I cringe just thinking about the two of them, wondering how the hell my brother can be so stupid to get involved with that bitch, especially when not so long ago he claimed to hate her himself. I know Katherine enough to know that she was probably goading Mason, and most likely using Elena to do so, which just pisses me off even more than she thinks that Elena is Mason's to mess with.
Because she sure as hell is not.
I just hope that Mason grew some balls and defended my girl if that is what happened.
I let out a breath when I see Mason leave Elena without even as much as a hug and I smirk a little before sending a text to Elena to call me when she can, knowing that I can't exactly just walk up there myself.
I anxiously wait for her reply, knowing that it's risky me even being parked so close to her house and I decide it might be best to go and move the car somewhere else. By the time I park the Camaro a couple of blocks away I see that I have a new text from Elena and I look down to see her telling me to meet her in her room in 15 minutes.
I wait the requested amount of time before I anxiously head over there, using the trellis on the side of the wall to help me climb up before lifting myself into Elena's open window to see her sat on the edge of her bed staring into space, not even noticing that I am here.
"Elena?"
She jumps and stands up, her head snapping in my direction and I instantly feel a pit of worry clench in my stomach from the look on her face.
"What happened? Are you ok?" I close the gap between us immediately, pressing my hand on each side of her face to study her more closely and I am not relieved by the fear in her eyes. "Elena?" I urge her to speak, my thumb softly stroking her skin as I dip my head down so we are eye level.
She shakes her head and I see her physically gulp, tears clouding those beautiful brown eyes of hers and it literally makes my heart tighten.
"Is it Mason?" I ask quietly and I'm surprised when she shakes her head. I feel even more nervous that Mason isn't the reason that she's so upset and all I want to do is take it all away from her. "Baby, tell me?" I press my lips briefly against hers and pull away, my hands still firmly holding her face between my palms, my thumb continuing to run slowly up and down her soft delicate skin.
"It's Katherine." She blurts out with fearful eyes and I freeze, my thumbs stilling as I look at Elena in shock, a moment of confusion taking over me but deep down I know what she is telling me.
"What…Katherine…what did she do?" I don't know why I ask but the words stupidly spill out of my mouth anyway.
"She's the one who knows about us, Damon."
I take a step back and turn my head away because this can't be true.
"How? I don't…how could you possibly know that? Did she tell you herself?" I turn to face her frowning and Elena immediately scowls.
"You don't believe me?" she asks coldly.
"Well did she tell you?" I ask impatiently, needing to know exactly what happened.
It cannot be Katherine.
"Not in words but she didn't need too." Elena takes a step towards me. "Trust me, Damon, it's Katherine!"
"So she didn't actually admit to it?"
"It doesn't matter if she spoke the words aloud or not!" she fires back in frustration before lowering her voice a little, glancing briefly towards her bedroom door and I'm reminded where we are and how risky it is me being here right now. "She wanted to let me know that she knew and she succeeded!" she hisses at me. "She didn't need to speak the words, trust me Damon, you weren't there! It's Katherine!"
"Fuck!" I grunt angrily and run my fingers through my hair as I try to process this new information, turning around to face the open window as I let my thoughts take over me.
If the culprit was Mason I would have been able to figure out a way to keep him quiet, despite his bravado, Mason isn't as tough as he makes out to be and I'm sure if I used the right material I would have found a good solid way to keep his mouth permanently shut.
Katherine however is a complete wildcard. I know from experience that she will do just about anything to get what she wants. She's manipulative, she's conniving, she's completely heartless and she is the worst fucking person to find out about us.
She's the devil.
"What are we going to do?" She asks me nervously, her hand coming to rest on my back. "Damon?"
I slowly turn around to see the fear in her entire body, her features full of worry and concern. I sigh and shake my head, placing both of my arms around her waist and pulling her against me, her head immediately resting in the crook of my neck.
"It'll be ok." I try to sound confident but I fail because we both know better.
There's no room for denial right now.
We're fucked.
I pull back after a few moments and I press a slow kiss to her lips, her hands sliding into my hair to pull me in closer, deepening the kiss immediately and it takes everything I have to pull away.
"I should go and see her."
"No." she instantly shakes her head, her eyes widening in panic. "You can't."
"I have to find out what she wants from us, Elena. I don't have a choice."
"Please." She pleads with me and I see her eyes start to water. "Not tonight. Stay with me." One of her hands falls from my hair to my face, our roles reversed as she strokes my cheek gently. "My Dad is on nightshift, Jer is gone for the night and my Mom sleeps like a corpse. Stay." She whispers, slowly pressing her lips back against mine and I take in a breath as I kiss her back.
She slowly pulls me backwards, guiding me to her bed and I lower her onto it gently, crawling up her body as she shifts further into her mattress, her lips barely leaving mine as her fingers move to unbutton my jeans. I lift myself up and slide them off, discarding them somewhere onto the floor before doing the same to hers.
"You're so beautiful." I look down into her dark lustful pools, one of my hands slowly gliding up her now bare thigh. "I love you so much."
She responds by pulling my head down to crash her mouth against my own, her tongue instantly battling with mine for dominance as she deepens the kiss and I groan when her hand slides into my boxer shorts, her fingers dancing around my hardening member before she grips it tightly.
"Jesus." I hiss in pleasure before moving my mouth to her neck, my other hand sliding underneath her shirt and I'm reminded that she is still wearing too much clothes.
I slowly remove all of her clothing until she is withering naked below me, my fingers tracing her skin anywhere and everywhere, my movements slow and sensual, knowing that at least we have this one moment while everything else goes to shit.
She kisses my lips, my cheeks, my shoulders, my arms, my chest, my stomach. She peppers slowly hot open mouthed kisses all over my naked body until I can't take it anymore.
I finally enter her, my movements are slow and steady, our breaths are shaky and mould together in our kisses as our eyes grip shut in pleasure as I thrust further and further into her.
When we both reach our climax together, I collapse on top of her in a shuddering mess, my head resting tiredly in the crook of her neck as she wraps her cool arms around me tightly, one of her hands slowly skimming through my hair, her fingernails tracing my skull soothingly with whispered words of I love you echoing into the quiet dark bedroom.
We both know what this is; we both know that this is the calm before the storm. A tornado is going to hit us tomorrow and it may just change everything.
I wake up the next morning with a nervous pit in my stomach and it is the first time that it has happened when I've awoken with Elena in my arms.
It seems though that she is feeling the same, because when my eyes flutter open they are met with her worried ones staring straight at me and I watch as she forces a smile when she sees me slowly wake up.
"Hey." She whispers softly, her hand slowly tracing up and down my bare side.
"Hi." I smile back and lean forward and kiss her gently. "How did you sleep?" I press another small kiss to the side of her mouth before pulling back slightly to take her in.
Her eyes flicker down for a moment before looking back up at me. "Ok I suppose." She replies but I know that she isn't being completely honest. "You?"
"Same." I lie, just like her because what else are we supposed to do? I've gone into this whole thing since Christmas with an attitude of staying strong and that I can fix it, but ever since Elena told me it was Katherine a measure of defeat has slowly been growing into me and I don't know how I am supposed to keep up my composure for Elena's sake when I know that Katherine will not let this go.
It doesn't help that I'm probably the reason for her doing this. An act of revenge, I suppose you could say, for the sex-tape incident.
If I knew this would have come back to bite not only me, but Elena too, in the ass then I never would have gone through with it.
Karma really is a bitch, huh?
"What time is it?"
"Almost six thirty." Elena replies quietly. "My Dad should be home soon."
"Which means I should probably go." I sigh while squeezing her hip gently.
"I don't want you too." She digs her face against my chest and we roll slightly so I am now lying on my back. "I wish we could stay like this forever."
"In our little bubble," I continue for her with a small wistful smile. "Just the two of us with no interruptions."
"No one to bother us."
"Or to see us."
"Or to blackmail us." She says bitterly and I cringe.
"Technically she hasn't blackmailed us." I offer in the midst of a tiny bit of hope but Elena doesn't bite and I don't blame her.
"It won't be long until she does though." She mutters coldly. "You should have seen the smug smirk on her face last night…it sickened me."
"Oh I know exactly which look you mean." I murmur angrily and I hate that Elena has now been on the receiving end to it. "I'm sure I'll see it today."
Elena stays silent for a moment, a nervous look on her face before speaking again. "What are you going to say to her?"
"I don't know." I admit honestly. "I will let her make the first move to see if she admits to knowing about us before I say anything just in case." I do not want to take the risk of Katherine not actually knowing anything, and instead her behavior with Elena last night was in fact just about her being on a date with Mason and nothing else.
But we both know how unlikely that is.
She nods her head slowly, her teeth biting on her bottom lip and I lean forward and kiss her gently on the forehead, using one of my hands to push some of her fallen messy hair from her face.
"Be careful." She whispers timidly. "I don't want you to do anything stupid."
"I won't." I move my hand to rest on her face and trail it down her cheek before tilting her chin to look up at me. "I promise I will try my best to fix this."
She nods slowly and turns her head to kiss my palm and I let out a defeated sigh before reluctantly letting her go and climbing out of bed.
I quickly get dressed, Elena staying where she is under her covers only moving to sit up against the headboard as she watches me put my clothes back on. When I'm ready I crawl back on top of her with a smile, dipping my head down to kiss her slowly on the mouth.
Elena's hands immediately wrap around me and pull me closer as her tongue lightly runs against mine and I moan slightly as her hand slides down my back to grab onto my ass, squeezing it firmly and when I reluctantly pull away for breath there is a cheeky smile on her lips that I am happily familiar with.
"I love you." She grins slightly, her first real smile since we found out about Katherine last night.
"And I love you." I kiss her again quickly for good measure before rolling off the bed too my feet. "I'll let you know how it goes, ok? Try not to stress too much about it."
She sighs and the smile falls as we remember our reality. "I'll try."
I nod my head before heading towards the window, sending her one last smile before I climb over onto the trellis and out of her bedroom.
I don't care how early it is, I decide to make my way straight over to the she-devils house. If the bitch is asleep even better, I'll make sure I wake her up.
It's a rare occurrence in my life to feel nerves. I hardly ever feel nervous, I'm a very confident guy, over-confident people would say, so this feeling is so foreign and unfamiliar to me and I hate it.
If Elena is right about this, and to be honest I don't really doubt that she is, then our whole relationship could end really really badly, and I don't mean that we'd break up.
I can't think of anything worse right now than our families finding out about us, not only does Grayson Gilbert despise me and my family, but he is also currently pressing charges against my father, which makes Giuseppe's hatred towards the Gilbert's sky-rocket compared to what it was like before.
Don't even get me started on how my Uncle Zach feels about that family.
Despite Klaus' concerns about our relationship, I wasn't planning on keeping us a secret forever, but I also wasn't planning on us to be become public knowledge anytime soon either. Which is why I need to make sure that I do everything that I can do to stop Katherine from opening that stupid ugly mouth of hers.
I park my car in her large driveway, being reminded of the rich family that Katherine Pierce comes from and it just makes me hate her even more because she really is a spoiled fucking princess.
I take a deep breath before walking up onto her modern porch and ringing the doorbell over and over again, not even caring if her parents are home but if I remember correctly they spend a lot of time travelling to business conferences or vacation homes aka rehab, than being in Mystic Falls anyway.
I continue to ring it over and over again, distantly hearing the tune that echoes around the large house and it takes another ten minutes of me relentlessly ringing the bell before I eventually hear movement.
I take a step back and smirk when a very tired looking Katherine answers the door, a short dressing gown covering her body, not really leaving much to the imagination and I watch as she blinks once against the morning sunlight before realizing that it's me.
Of course, it doesn't take long for her to grow a smirk that matches my own.
"Katherine." I push past her into the house without an invite, turning to face her as she closes the door and crosses her arms in front of her. "As always you look like an ugly troll in the mornings." I eye her up and down in disgust and I watch as her smirk falters only a little.
"Ah Damon, always the charmer."
I shrug slightly and look around. "Is Stefan here?"
Katherine's smirk widens. "Is that really why you're here? To look for your brother?" I shrug and stay silent. "No, Stefan isn't here. He left last night…which was about the time I was expecting you, to be honest."
"Sorry to disappoint."
"That's ok." She grins. "You're here now and we both know why."
"Do we?" I raise an eyebrow at her.
"You don't have to play dumb, Damon." She laughs slightly and starts to walk away towards the direction that I remember being the kitchen and I reluctantly follow her, watching as she starts to make herself a mug of coffee. "Want one?" she asks almost politely but I know better.
"No."
She rolls her eyes. "You seemed to have lost your manners, Damon."
"You seemed to have lost your respect and dignity…a long long time ago, I might add." I glare at her and she yet again rolls her eyes.
"Is this why you're here? To insult me?"
"You know why I'm here." I bark back at her coldly, no longer in the mood to keep playing her stupid games but knowing that she needs to say it first.
And judging from the look on her face, she knows it too.
"To find Stefan, right?" she smirks. "I told you he's not here." She twirls her finger around her hair. "Unless you're really here for another reason?" she closes the gap between us and runs her hand down my chest. I grip her fingers tightly before pushing her away. "Oh Damon, are you jealous?"
I scoff and look away, knowing that she is trying to get some kind of reaction out of me because she thinks that her relationship with Stefan bothers me.
Well she's right, it does bother me but it has nothing to do with me being jealous. It has more to do with my brother making a big mistake and being an idiot.
"Cut the crap Katherine, I don't have time for this. You know exactly why I'm here so why don't you just spit out whatever it is you want from me."
She smiles widely and takes a sip from her freshly made coffee before placing it down on the counter. "Oh…" she taps her chin like she's in deep thought. "You must be talking about me knowing about you and Elena Gilbert then?"
Fuck.
It's true then.
"I have to say, I was very surprised and did not at all see it coming." She pauses for dramatic effect. "You, I can imagine pulling something like that off, but goody two shoes Elena Gilbert? Wow, talk about a major plot twist." She chuckles in amusement while I glare at her. "So tell me…what is it that attracts you to her? It must be her last name surely, the danger, the secrecy, the sneaking around? I mean…why else would you go for her? She's pretty average if you ask me."
Is there any exception where it would be acceptable to hit a woman?
I take a deep breath and count to three in my head, knowing that Katherine will say just about anything to get a reaction out of me and I really do not want to give her that satisfaction, especially when she has enough hanging over my head as it is.
"I'm not going to ask you twice, Katherine." I glare at her in annoyance, my eyebrows pressed together. "You obviously sent those photos to Elena for a reason so just get on with it."
I need to find out what she wants before I figure out a way I can stop it.
She smiles widely and twirls her finger through her hair as she pretends to be in deep thought, her eyes glistening in amusement as she taps her foot annoyingly against the tiled floor and yet again I have to remind myself that it's not acceptable to hit a woman.
Although I could argue that Katherine is most certainly not a lady and is in fact the devil reincarnated so maybe that would make it allowed?
"Maybe I just wanted to give her a sweet and thoughtful Christmas present? You know, she could put those pictures in a pretty little frame and hang it up on her wall. Although I'm sure that would be a bit awkward if her Daddy went into her bedroom to see her kissing a Salvatore." She chuckles slightly. "I'm guessing Detective Gilbert is in the dark about you two then?"
"You know fine well he is." I snipe back coldly. "I'm not in the mood for your games Katherine; just tell me what you're going to do."
"What makes you think I'd do anything?"
"Because it's you." I snarl back, my anger starting to take control of me. "But before you tell me, Kat, I want you to remember who exactly I am and what exactly I'm capable of."
"Ohh…" she laughs. "I don't think you're in a position to threaten me, Damon."
"It wasn't a threat."
"Good." She hits back immediately with a cold tone to her voice. "Because you should know by now that I don't react well to threats, especially from you. So here's how this little thing is going to play out, Damon," she takes a few steps forward so we are standing toe to toe. "You're going to get the hell out of my house and you're going to go back to that pretty little girlfriend of yours and tell her that you both owe me, then you're going to spend the next…I don't know, days? Weeks? Waiting for me to make my next move or to come up with something that will make all three of us happy." She grins and I scoff and shake my head, taking a step back because we both know that whatever she wants from us, whatever she thinks we owe her will not be good, nor will it be the only thing she does.
I know Katherine and I know that she won't let this go lightly.
"Or maybe, something that will make me happy and you absolutely miserable." She chuckles to herself. "Elena I suppose will just be collateral damage."
I squeeze my fist shut tightly as I will myself to stay calm. Reminding myself yet again to not react to her because that is exactly what she wants from me and I'm not going to give her the satisfaction.
"That sound good to you?" she tilts her head to the side.
I tense my jaw and slowly unlock it before forcing an obvious fake smile. "Sure." I hiss sarcastically.
"Great." She grins and I quickly turn on my heel to get the hell out of here but Katherine calls my name again causing me to stop and I have a feeling that whatever else she has to say isn't going to be good.
"Sorry," she smiles almost politely but again I know better. "I forgot one last thing."
"Oh yeah?" I demand impatiently. "And what exactly is that?"
"You're going to break up with Elena." She sneers and I feel my heart fall to my stomach.
"You're out of your fucking mind!"
"Break up with her!" She snarls back firmly. "Or I'll send those photos to Detective Gilbert and your family before the end of this week." She winks and plasters another smirk. "Bye Damon."
I hold back some vicious words, knowing that it won't help my situation before storming out of the house as quick as I can.
"Fuck!" I scream loudly into the quiet morning air as I slam my fist angrily against the wall of Katherine's house once the door slams shut behind me. "God damn it!" ignore the pain from my fist and head towards my car, jumping inside before clenching my hands onto the steering wheel as I try to control my heavy breathing.
I squeeze my eyes shut as I try to think of how I could have handled that whole thing better but I suppose no matter what I did, no matter what I said, Katherine would have done this anyway.
Because that's just the kind of person she is.
She had this planned from the moment she found out about us.
I pull out my phone to see a text from Elena asking me when I'm going to see Katherine and I clench my jaw before letting out a loud exhale and quickly typing my reply.
Soon X
The lie comes out before I can stop myself and I quickly press send.
I need to find a way to hit Katherine back with something before Friday, to be able to match her threat with a one of my own.
Because there is no way in hell that losing Elena is going to be an option.
"Wait, she wants you to break up with Elena?" Klaus gawps at me in shock and I slowly nod my head.
"Don't look so surprised," I sigh. "This is Katherine we are talking about."
"She's the fucking devil mate." Klaus mutters and I wholeheartedly agree. "So, what are you going to do? Surely you and Elena won't end because of this?"
I take a sip from the bourbon that Klaus poured me as we sit in his lounge, taking advantage of his free house while his parents are at work and Rebekah and Kol at school. "I'm not losing her, especially because of that bitch." I hiss coldly. "But that doesn't mean that I can't do nothing, Katherine isn't one to make empty threats and unless I find something to threaten her with before the end of the week then she will spill about Elena if we don't break up."
"What about from when the two of you were dating?" he questions me and I shake my head because I've thought back to that time already and have come up with absolutely nothing. "When you were sleeping together?" he asks again.
"The only thing I had from then was the sex tape," I mutter. "But I've obviously used that one already." I put my head in my hands, my fingers clawing into my skull in frustration. "Damn it Klaus, I have two fucking days! Two days! That's not enough time!"
"Don't give up just yet." Klaus reaches his arm over and pats me reassuringly on the back but it really doesn't help. "This is Katherine Pierce we are talking about; she's bound to have at least a dozen skeletons in her closet."
"Yeah her closet which is chained shut with absolutely no access too."
"You're a Salvatore," Klaus tells me confidently. "You have access to anything you want in this town, legally or otherwise." He smirks slightly. "Personally, I think you should go for her family." He suggests and I sit up intrigued. "Find something on her parents, her Dad is a respected business man but I'm sure he will have a few secrets he won't want coming out. Find them out and use it against her. The only way to beat Katherine Pierce is to play her at her own game."
I nod my head slowly, an idea suddenly crossing my mind and I grin and stand up. "You're not as dumb as you look, Klaus."
He rolls his eyes and gives me the finger as I nod my head gratefully at him before leaving, pulling my cell phone from my pocket.
"Hey Uncle Zach," I press my phone to my ear once he picks up. "I need a favor." I speak while climbing into my Camaro. "I need some information on the Pierce family, most importantly Craig Pierce, anything that you can find, preferably something incriminating or scandalous."
I hang up the phone and take a deep breath, willing that something will come through that will end this mess.
"For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
I scowl immediately and slam my locker shut loudly, turning around to see Rebekah approaching me with a cheeky smile on her face.
"Seriously?" I glower at her furiously because I am not in the mood for this at all right now. "You're still doing this?"
Ever since she found out about Damon and me she has been quoting Romeo and Juliet to me on almost a daily basis and honestly it's getting really fucking old.
"You're still with Damon?" she questions teasingly and I glare at her before storming away.
"Oh come on Elena!" she chases after me with a laugh. "I'm just trying to have some fun."
"Well you're not funny!"
"I am a little bit." She nudges my side with her elbow but I'm really not in the mood to play along with her pathetic attempts of humour today.
"Just leave me alone, Rebekah." I sigh dejectedly. "Today is not the day."
"Ah…trouble in paradise with lover boy?" she asks curiously, and I'm surprised to see that some of the amusement has actually left her voice. "Come on, you can tell me it's not like you have anyone else to talk too about him." She points out seriously and I frown.
"Why would I talk to you about it?"
"Why not?"
"We're not friends."
"No maybe not…but I do actually consider Damon to be a friend, sort of." She frowns slightly. "And that's as close to a friend you're going to have in this situation and lets be honest, you know you can trust me, I've kept your secret so far haven't I?"
"Not that it matters now." I mutter under my breath, immediately regretting the words spilling from my mouth by the widening eyes of Rebekah. She looks around the fairly crowded hallways before grabbing my arm and pulling me into an empty classroom.
"Someone knows?!" she looks at me in shock and I guess the cat is out of the bag so I slowly reluctantly nod my head.
"Who'd you think the photos on Christmas were from?"
"Klaus said he sent them for a joke…" she trails confused and I briefly remember Damon telling me about Klaus taking the blame to Rebekah to stop her from being any more involved than she got that night already.
"They weren't from Klaus." I confirm. "They were from Katherine."
Her reaction would have been funny if this wasn't so horrible.
"Katherine? As in Katherine?" She actually looks a little worried, especially when I nod my head. "Shit."
"Yeah exactly." I mutter bitterly. "I thought it was bad when you found out, but Katherine…she's the worst person…not only is she a bitch to anyone for no reason other than to be a bitch but she hates Damon, which makes her ten times more frightening with what she might do."
"I definitely wouldn't underestimate her." Rebekah muses fretfully. "Has she spoken to you yet?"
I shake my head. "Not really, but Damon is probably over there now so…" I run a shaky hand through my hair. "I'm not looking forward to him coming back because I know whatever she says won't be good."
"No it won't." she agrees. "Wow Elena, I'm sorry…" she trails awkwardly and for the first time ever I send her a genuine smile.
"There's not much anyone can do right now I suppose."
"Do you think she'll tell someone?" she asks curiously and I shrug, letting out a bitter laugh.
"I want to say no, but like you said, I wouldn't underestimate her and she doesn't owe us anything. I feel sick just waiting for my parents to find out…"
Just the thought of how my parents, especially my Dad will react is scaring the crap out of me. Despite our differing opinions and lifestyle choices, I love my family and I don't know what I would do without them, especially if they hated me too.
"Damon will figure something out, he's smart like that." Rebekah offers with a reassuring smile and honestly I'm actually kind of surprised by her reaction. From all the teasing she has been doing and those damn Romeo and Juliet quotes I really thought she'd find this new twist to be amusing.
But apparently sometimes people can surprise you.
Let's just hope Katherine Pierce is also one of those people.
I almost laugh to myself; I doubt it.
The next few hours at school are agonizing and dreadful and I couldn't stop checking my phone to see if Damon has text me or tried to contact me in some kind of way to inform me on what the hell is going on. Eventually he got in touch, telling me to meet him at his apartment tonight and I just had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that whatever he has to tell me isn't going to be good.
For the first time since Damon and I became exclusive I feel nervous about seeing him. I hesitate as I walk up the steps to his apartment, not even focussed enough to watch out to see if anyone we know can see me here. I stand still outside of his front door, trying to steady my breathing because I just have this feeling that this isn't going to be good.
I take a deep breath, whispering to myself that this is just Damon and that I can do this before raising my fist and knocking on his door.
It doesn't take him long to answer, and when he does, the look on his face confirms my worries.
I feel tears sting in my eyes before he even says anything, and when we're sat on his couch, one of his arms around my waist, the other on my knee as he twists around to face me, I hold back a sob as the words come out of his mouth.
"Katherine told me that if I don't break up with you then she'll tell about us."
His arms are around me instantly, his grip tight and firm and usually this would make me feel safe but right now I am absolutely terrified.
"I'm so sorry." He whispers shakily into my ear. "This is all my fault." He pulls back and the look of guilt that is on his face breaks my heart. "Every choice that I have made in the past, all the bad things that I've done…the awful way that I've treated people," he gulps slightly, his eyes squeezing shut for just a brief moment. "It's led us to this and I'm so sorry."
I shake my head furiously, my hands landing on his face. "No, this isn't your fault, Damon." I ignore the shakiness of my voice and try to sound confident and firm because I need him to believe me. "This is Katherine, no one else." I kiss him slowly on the mouth and its desperate and needy but it doesn't go anywhere and soon I pull away breathlessly. "We'll survive this." I tell him sternly. "We always survive."
He nods his head in agreement and kisses me again and this time it does go further. He takes me into his bedroom and he makes love to me the same way he did last night.
I didn't get it before but I do now.
He's making love to me like it could be the last time that he can ever do so.
"Nothing? So you have absolutely nothing?!" I rant at my Uncle Zach in disbelief as we stand in the parlor of the boarding house.
It's now Friday night, therefore the deadline Katherine has given me to break up with Elena has crept up on me without even as much as a petty rumor about her family.
Her Mom is a borderline alcoholic who loves one too many glasses of wine but that isn't a secret, it's public knowledge in Mystic Falls so it's not like I can even use that against her.
Zach shrugs while pouring himself a glass of whiskey and I feel my blood boil at how casual he seems about this. I stressed to him that it was important for me to have some dirt on this family by tonight but apparently he hasn't bothered to take me seriously.
"I don't know what you want me to say, Damon?" he turns to face me calmly. "I tried my best."
I scoff angrily. "You tried your best?! Like hell you did! I've been pushing you for the last two days to get off your ass and do something! Find something!" I shout at him furiously, my entire body feeling agitated and tense and I feel like I'm about to explode into a million pieces.
I shift from one foot to the other as I wait impatiently for Zach's reply and just like I thought, he doesn't actually give a damn.
"I'm running a business here Damon, I don't have time to deal with your petty high school drama and to be honest neither do you! In case you had forgotten you work for me, not the other way around."
It takes everything in my power to not beat the shit out of him right now.
So instead I knock his glass of whiskey out of his hand before quickly turning on my heel and storming out, ignoring the shattering of the glass as it hits the floor, ignoring his angry shouts from my action and I just slam the thick oak door shut behind me without another word towards him.
I don't even make it to my car which is parked at the bottom of my driveway before the absolute bane of my life comes creeping out of the shadows.
"Someone's not happy."
"Fuck off!" I swing around to face Katherine who walks out of the trees by my house with an amused smirk on her face. "I swear to God, Katherine, if you come one step closer I will not be responsible for my actions!" I shout at her furiously, my entire body shaking with rage.
"That's ok." She grins. "I can say what I have to say from right here." She leans against a tree, her arms folded in front of her as her legs cross by her ankles.
I shake my head, my jaw aching from clenching as I struggle to hold myself together.
"I just wanted to set some ground rules." She continues and my glare deepens.
"Ground rules? What the fuck are you talking about?"
"With Elena, duh." She rolls her eyes. "Still lacking in the brain department I see." She digs at me but I ignore her. "You broke up with her yet? You have about…" she looks down at her watch and her smile widens. "One hour."
"You know that I haven't." I snarl at her angrily, a growl practically spitting out of my lips.
"I didn't think so…" she pulls something out of her slutty back pockets and I scowl when I see that it's a letter and it doesn't take a genius to guess who it will be addressed too. "If you don't follow through Damon, this letter will be posted through the Gilbert letterbox in exactly one hour, it's addressed to our very own towns detective." She lifts it up to show for dramatic effect. "And don't even think about making Elena get to it first because I have plenty of copies, I also have a copy addressed to Giuseppe, and you know…Stefan has been in and out of my bedroom a lot these days, you never know what he may accidentally come across." She smirks wickedly.
"I get it!" I hiss at her furiously.
"Good." She stands up straight, shoving the letter back in her pocket and flipping her hair with her hands. "Now back to those ground rules; if you think you can try and fool me into pretending to break up with Elena just don't bother because I will know and I will make sure that I expose the two of you in the most public and humiliating way possible. No bullshit, no deceptions, you break up with her and it stays that way." Her voice is cold and hard and I actually believe her. "One hour, Damon." She winks at me before strutting away, her hips swinging from side to side and you don't know how hard it was to control my willpower to get into my Camaro and just run the bitch over.
I reluctantly pull out my phone and text Elena.
I can't avoid this.
I have to stop myself from throwing up as I pace up and down in the old grungy Lockwood cellars. It's dark, late and cold and it's the perfect setting for my mood right now and what I'm about to do.
I hate myself.
I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath, knowing that this is the right thing to do and we don't actually have a choice.
I hear footsteps and slowly turn around to see Elena stood at the bottom of the steps with tears streaming down her face.
"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is." Her voice is breaking already, her entire stance shattered and defeated as more tears run down from her beautiful deep brown eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Elena." My voice cracks as I speak and I feel my eyes sting with tears as I will myself not to break down.
"No." she shakes her head furiously, looking at me full of dread "There must be another way!
"There's not…" I look down to the floor. "At least not yet." I tense and squeeze my hand into a ball.
"Damon I know what you're about to do, I love you! Please don't do this to me!" she pleads with me frantically and it shatters my heart into a million pieces.
"I don't want to do this, Elena!" I feel anger taking over my emotions as I try to block out the pain but it's impossible. "I'm not the good guy, remember! I'm the selfish one! I take what I want, I do what I want! I fall for a girl who my family despise, I betray my father, my uncle, my brother! I lie to them all every single day! I don't do the right thing!" I stress angrily before letting out a shaky breath. "But I have to do the right thing by you."
"How can destroying what we have be doing the right thing?!" she questions desperately, another sob escaping from her mouth and it takes everything in me to stop myself from reaching out and brushing away her tears, pulling her against me and holding her in my arms, promising that everything will be ok and that we can fight this together, we can stick together.
But life isn't that easy. It isn't that simple.
"I love you, Elena." My voice cracks again as the words fall from my lips and I feel one lone tear escape and I can do nothing to stop it. "Which is why I need to do this. I'm not saying this is forever but we can't be together right now. Katherine isn't going to let this go, and for now we have to do as she says."
She looks away, her hand covering her mouth as she tries to pull herself together and I know that this is sinking in for her. It's sinking in that we really don't have a choice right now.
This is the only way.
"Promise me," she turns back to face me. "Promise me this isn't permanent, promise me that this is only until you find something to use against her, promise me that you won't meet another girl and fall in love with her and forget about me."
"Elena," I instantly close the gap between us and grip her face tightly between my hands. "I could never forget about you! You're it for me, ok? I don't care how long this will take; I will never stop until Katherine is out of our lives for good." I press my mouth against hers in a searing desperate kiss that will say all the words that I can't find the words to say.
But I can say this.
"I will love you forever Elena Gilbert."
...and exhale.
Thanks for reading :)