Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries. I wish I owned Damon, he's just so HAWT! Or at least Paul Wesley. I do, however, own this story and all the original characters that will appear in it as the story goes on. Thank you.
Chapter 8- Founder's Day: Part 2
Dani walked through the front doors of the boarding house. It was dark inside the large house, and assuming that Mr. Zena had already gone to bed, Dani closed the door behind her without turning on the lights.
She let her eyes adjust to the lack of light before moving towards the kitchen for something to drink before bed. She noticed that there was a light on in the sitting room, but quickly dismissed it. She figured that it was the fire in the fire place.
She quietly made her way to the kitchen, and moved to the stove too turn on the little light above the burners. She turned around and saw a dark figure sitting at the kitchen table.
She jumped and gave a little cry of fright before she recognized Mr. Zena. She sighed with relief and put a hand to her chest to steady her racing heart.
"Oh, Mr. Zena! You scared me. I thought you were in bed already."
Mr. Zena smiled and lifted a glass half full of water. "It was hot in my room, so I came down for a drink of water to cool me down. How were the Founder's Day celebrations?"
Opening the fridge and reaching for the pitcher of milk, Dani answered, "It was actually a lot of fun. I marched in the parade, the concert was awesome and I think everyone else had a really good time too." She opened a cupboard and got a glass. "I'm sorry that you couldn't come though. I just can't believe that your client wouldn't let you have a day off to relax!
Mr. Zena shrugged. "It's ok. I've been living in Mystic Falls for a while, so I've seen it."
Pouring the milk into her glass, Dani nodded in understanding. She put the pitcher away and sat opposite Mr. Zena at the table. They sat there in silence, sipping on their drinks until a loud ringing interrupted the silence.
Mr. Zena pulled out a cell phone from under the table. He opened it and said, "Hello?"
Dani continued to sip on her glass of milk until she was done. She got up from her seat and put the empty glass in the sink. She turned as Mr. Zena was snapping his cell shut.
"Who was that? I mean, not that you have to tell me, but it's pretty late to be calling. It wasn't the client that wanted you to work today was it?"
Mr. Zena didn't answer for a moment, finishing his glass of water. Setting the glass on the table top, he looked at her, his eyes hooded. "Actually, that was my employer."
Dani frowned. "Employer? But I thought that you owned your own firm?"
Mr. Zena traced the rim of the glass with his finger. "Yes, I do. But I have another job that I recently acquired."
"Really? What?"
"Spy."
Dani looked at him, her face saying, 'Are you serious?' "You're a… spy? Who are you spying on? Or is it a secret?"
"It's not a secret. Not anymore. You see Ms. Court, I was sent to live here to spy on Mr. Damon Salvatore."
"Why Damon?"
"My employer wanted to keep an eye on Mr. Salvatore. They wanted to make sure that he still knew what he was and where his loyalties lied. Unfortunately, my employer hasn't been happy with what I've been reporting to them so far."
He got up and put his glass in the sink. Dani took an unconscious step back because she suddenly noticed the dark feeling she was getting from Mr. Zena.
"You see," he continued, "that was my employer on the phone, like I said before. And she wanted me to do a little something for her."
"What would that be?"
Reaching for the knife rack and taking out a large knife, he turned to her. "Kill you."
Dani opened her mouth, but she didn't get a chance to say anything because Mr. Zena suddenly lunged at her, the knife above his head.
Dani jumped to the side, barely dodging Zena's attack. She ran out of the kitchen, terrified as she heard Zena follow her. She saw that the fire was lit in the study, and acting on instinct, she dashed into the room. Dani rushed over to the fire place and grabbed at the iron poker resting against the wall. She whirled around as Zena came into the room.
"Ms. Court, I would advise you to stop this nonsense. I promise that I will make it as painless as possible. But if you continue to fight, I will make you suffer, I promise you."
Feeling tears of fear prick behind her eyes, Dani held the poker in front of her. "Stay away from me."
He laughed and Dani shivered at the sound of it. He grinned maniacally at her from across the room. "You've got to be kidding me. This house is practically in the middle of the woods. No one will hear you, no one will come to help you, and if they do, they'll come too late."
He suddenly screamed and rushed at her. Without thinking, Dani jumped to the side again and brought the poker down. Zena blocked it with his arm and grunted as it made contact. He thrust his knife wielding hand towards her. Dani twisted around, but not fast enough because she felt the knife slice into her leg. Hissing in pain and fear, she swung the poker again and aimed for the back of Zena's knees.
She hit him and he went down onto the carpet. She swung again and hit him in the back. He swung out his leg, kicking her in the shin. Crying out in surprise and pain, Dani fell down on her back. Zena jumped on top of her. Dani tried to get away, but Zena was surprisingly strong. His hands found their way around her neck, squeezing. Legs flailing, Dani scratched at Zena's arms, trying to get him to let go, failing.
Feeling her head start to spin, Dani panicked. Turning her head, she saw the poker lying nearby from the corner of her eye. She reached out and grabbed it. Using all of her strength, she brought it up and hit Zena in the head. His hands fell from her neck as he fell on his side. Gasping for breath, Dani rolled on her side. Unsteadily, she got up and looked at Mr. Zena, who was moaning on the ground.
Grasping the iron rod in her hand for support, Dani stood up. She grasped the handle of the knife that was still sticking out of her leg. Crying out, she pulled the knife out of her leg. She threw it to the side. Mr. Zena looked up at her, blood dripping from the cut on his forehead. He glared at her, hate shining in his eyes.
"I will kill you. I'm gonna rip out your throat and gut you like a-"
He never did get to finish his insane ramble, 'cause Dani brought down the poker on his head again, this time though, the hook lodged itself in his head, killing him.
Dani stood there for a moment, her eyes as blank and lifeless as Mr. Zena's. She stumbled back as what she did fully hit her in the gut. She killed a man…She killed a man…She killed a man…She killed…killed…kill…
The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was the pool of blood that was steadily growing under Mr. Zena's head.
Damon paced. He had just left Elena's house, and his mind was reeling. Elena had kissed him! She kissed him! What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was she going to leave Stephen? Was he going to let her? No matter how he acted towards Stephen, he was still his brother. He couldn't take Elena from him. No, that cannot happen.
And what about Dani? He liked Dani. He really liked Dani. He could see himself with Dani, for a while actually. What if Elena wanted to get together? Would he just give up on her? Hey Dani, I know that you're in love with me and everything, but I'm gonna give it a try with Elena first, ok?
He snorted. Yeah, that would go over well. Even though Dani seemed like a nice person, he got the feeling that if anyone crossed her the wrong way, there would be hell to pay. He didn't want to hurt her, but how was he going to go about this new development with Elena?
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was Stephen. He hit the answer button.
"What is it?"
"Damon, Jon's been killed."
Damon's eyes widened slightly. "Really? Damn, someone beat me to it."
"This isn't a joke Damon. Elena found his decapitated body in her kitchen. His fingers had been cut off and he'd been stabbed in the gut."
"Christ."
"That's not all. After Elena found Jon, she went upstairs to make sure that everyone else was ok. Jenna was fine, but they found Jeremy in his room, unconscious on the bed with an empty bottle of Elena's old medication on his bathroom counter. We're at the hospital right now."
"I'll be there in a minute."
Damon walked through the sliding doors of the emergency ward. He spotted Stephen standing outside the waiting area. He walked towards him, Stephen meeting him half way.
"So how do you think that it happened?"
Stephen shrugged. "I don't know. But Jenna told me that you were over the house earlier. What were you doing there Damon?"
"I was talking to the punk brother. I told him that Anna was dead."
Pressing his lips together, Stephen pulled out a small vial from his pocket. "That explains why I found this."
Damon took the vial, inspecting it. The inside was coated with a thick red liquid that looked very familiar. "Is this what I think it is?"
Stephen nodded. "It's blood, and not just any blood. It's vampire. I'm assuming that Jeremy took it right before he overdosed."
Damon cursed. From over Stephen's shoulder, Damon saw Elena approach them. She walked over and took Stephen's hand. Damon looked into her bloodshot eyes. She looked up at him with sadness and questions pooling inside her brown depths. Eyes the same color as Dani's…
"Jenna said that you were over at the house. Did you see what happened? Did you kill Jon?"
Damon looked at Elena with disbelief. His brow furrowed as he frowned. "Yeah I was at the house, but… You saw me there."
Now it was Elena who looked confused. "Damon, I never saw you at the house."
"But…But we…"
Stephen narrowed his eyes. "But you what Damon?"
Damon glanced at his brother before looking back at Elena. "Don't you remember?"
Elena shook her head, totally confused now.
"We…We…" He leaned in close to whisper, "We kissed."
Elena's mouth opened in shock. "What?"
"WHAT?"
Stephen had a look of pure outrage and anger on his face. He made as if he was about to grab Damon, but Elena stopped him, putting her body in front of him.
She glared at Damon. "Damon, this isn't a joke! My brother is in the ER, my father is dead, and you're making up stuff about me kissing you! What is wrong with you?"
To say that Damon was drawing a blank was an understatement. He racked his brain for an answer.
"But, if you didn't kiss me, then who…"
Suddenly it made sense. Jon's death, Elena's sudden change of heart towards him, gods, why didn't he see it before? The moment that 'Elena' kissed him back should have tipped him off.
"Katherine."
Damon looked at Stephen. "It had to be Katherine. She had to be the one that killed Jon, and she was the one that kissed me."
"But," Elena said, "How did she get into the house?"
Damon thought for a minute before remembering. "Your aunt interrupted us, and she said that 'you' had better get inside. Jenna invited her in."
It was Stephen's turn to curse. He drew Elena into his side protectively. "That means that Katherine can get in and out of the house whenever she pleases."
Damon nodded. "But with Jon being murdered, the police will want to search the house for evidence, which means that Elena and her family will have to live somewhere else for a bit. That will give us some time at least."
Damon stood there, arms crossed across his chest as he thought. "Katherine went after Jon, but why? He's a threat to us, but he was just doing what Katherine told him to do right? She wanted all those vampires dead."
"Maybe, but maybe she didn't want us in the crossfire. That would explain why she killed Jon, because he went against her orders. You know how Katherine is. If her plan doesn't go exactly as she wants, she gets mad and people die."
"So she killed Jon because he was a threat to her, because he threatened us," Damon mused. "So who else would constitute as a threat to us?"
The trio thought in silence for a minute before Elena piped up with, "Wouldn't Katherine find me a threat because I look like her? Plus the fact that I'm in a relationship with Stephen and I'm your friend."
"Then that would mean that everyone that we care about would be…"
Damon stood there; stalk still as something dawned on him. "She didn't want Jon to kill us because she still wanted us, she kissed me pretending to be Elena so that I would feel for her, which means that she'll go after anyone who can take us away from her."
Somewhat confused, Stephen studied Damon. "Ok, but she didn't even try to hurt Elena. She wasn't even at the house."
Damon shook his head. "Then she was busy with something else… She was busy with someone else…"
Suddenly, Damon's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Oh crap, Dani!"
Before either Stephen or Elena, Damon ran out of the building and raced to the boarding house. He was almost when he was stopped by a horrifying smell. It was the smell of blood, and it was coming from the direction of the boarding house.
"No…"
He ran as if his life depended on it, bursting through the front door and into the living room. He stared at the scene in front of him. Mr. Zena, with an iron poker sticking out of his head, lay in front of him, blood pooling around his head. It wasn't his body that Damon was concerned about. It was Dani's, which was lying pretty still on the other side of the room.
He jumped across Mr. Zena's lifeless body and knelt beside Dani, pulling her limp body into his arms. It took a second for him to realize that her heart was still beating, making him sigh in relief. It was faint, but at least it was there.
He inspected the wounds in her thigh. She had lost a lot of blood, and he assumed that she had been lying there for close to half an hour. He looked into her pale face, putting a hand to her cheek tenderly.
"You're not going to like what comes next," he whispered. He brought his wrist up and opened his mouth. He bit into the skin, feeling his blood burst on his tongue. He held his wrist up to her mouth, letting his blood drip onto her lips. Some of it slipped into her mouth, and after a few minutes that felt more like hours, Dani's eyelids fluttered open.
