chapter 5
Damon made it clear that the rendezvous point was the boarding house. He used his deep, don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-rip-you-apart voice, and the end results never failed; he got exactly what he was hoping for.
Elena and Alaric, surprisingly early and chatting about school and history class, were in the kitchen and seated at the counter. It was a place Damon never bothered to go. With his diet, the kitchen was useless in terms of satisfying his hunger.
"Glad to know the gang's all here." He announced in a loud, playful voice. As he entered the kitchen, he lightly swatted the top of Elena's head. "Glad to see punctuality hasn't been lost on either of you."
Alaric gave him a sour look. "I'm afraid I can't say the same about you."
Truer words couldn't have been spoken, but Damon let the words roll off his back as he hopped onto the stool next to Elena.
"Can't argue with the truth." He shrugged, grabbing Elena's sandwich out of her hand and taking a big bite out of it. At her incredulous look, he beamed a show-stopping smile. "Thanks, 'Lena. It was so thoughtful of you to share your lunch with me."
She eyed him through thick lashes. "You're welcome. Personally, I didn't think you were a turkey and rye kind of guy."
"I don't have to enjoy it to eat it," he explained, propping his elbows onto the cool, marble counter of the island. "Now, if you don't mind me skipping this stimulating and entertaining small talk, I'd like to get down to business."
The frailness of Elena's state hit Damon fully as she frowned, her skin instantly turning a sickly pale. Sometimes it was too easy to forget about John. But Damon couldn't skirt around the truth to ease her into the situation. She could handle it. He was sure of it. The Elena he knew was resilient to almost everything.
"I don't like making assumptions without the facts, but I told Alaric the other day that Katherine might be in town."
Elena didn't flinch or exhale sharply. But the terror in her big, brown doe eyes proved that the name was just as damaging to her as it was to Damon. "The message," she breathed, her face masked in understanding. "The blood message on the wall. It was signed 'K'." Elena shook her head. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Alaric, sensing the tension, placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Damon was thankful for the teacher's quick action. As long as he refrained from touching her more than necessary, then he didn't have to worry about dealing with the swell of emotions ballooning inside him.
"You have more pressing matters to attend to," Damon explained. "But I had a little chat with the Sheriff. I clued her in on the possibility of more vampires in town, and as long as I help lead the investigation, I've been promised her tracking equipment."
"Tracking?" She asked. Her face morphed into confusion.
"We can trace your brother's cell phone with the police department's equipment." Alaric explained. "As long as you permit it."
"I'm willing to do anything to find Jeremy." Her eyes shined with determination. She turned her focus back onto Damon who was standing across from her; she wondered when he moved, but laughed to herself. It was too easy to forget that he was a vampire. "But what about Stefan? And the Sheriff?"
"Whoa, slow down. I'm not Jeeves. I can only answer questions I can understand."
"Okay." Alaric pushed the stool backwards, sliding off the chair in a fluid motion. He maneuvered around the island until he was facing Damon and Elena. "The plan is that Damon's going to slip into the station through the back. He'll track Jeremy's phone, meet me at the back of the building, and we'll drive to the location."
The lack of her inclusion didn't go unnoticed. Elena raised her head and gave Alaric a withered expression. "What about me?" She asked.
"Easy," Damon spoke smoothly. "You're staying behind."
Behind? The words burned in her head like a festering wound. She put her life on the line many of times. The situation unfolding was less harmful than any of the life-threatening scenarios she was in before.
With a tight lip and clenched jaw, Elena looked at the shiny, granite counter top. It was one thing for Damon to demand she stay behind, but with Mr. Saltzman on the bandwagon, how was she going to help? She was going mad, sitting around and waiting for any good news about John. And as long as she could help it, she wasn't going to lounge around while Stefan and Jeremy were AWOL.
"Mr. Saltzman has weapons. It's okay."
She reached for Damon's elbow, but he pulled it away. "It's notokay, Elena. We've gone down this same road before. It's not safe. Jeremy could be a vampire. Jeremy could be held hostage by vampires. There are too many unknown variables. That's why Ric will go. He can't die with his shiny, little ring. You, on the other hand, can die."
Elena felt the exasperation growing inside of her. "I'm not a child, Damon!" She argued with heated, rosy cheeks. "I know I could die, but Jeremy's my brother no matter what. And I'll go with no matter what."
Of course, Damon was prepared for Elena's compassion to shine through.
"I said I'd text the location to Ric, Elena. That doesn't include you. This is non-negotiable."
Elena sighed in frustration and pouted. She knew she was acting childish, but she was angry. They didn't know how useful she felt. It was why she didn't stay in the car that day - not even when Damon made her promise. She couldn't sit back, idle and safe, while someone she loved was hurt or dying; she owed it to Stefan and Jeremy.
"I'm not going to let this happen."
Damon's eyes darkened considerably. In less than a nanosecond, he was staring down at her furiously.
"Elena, now is not the time to play the hero because you're feeling guilty. Right now, you have an obligation to be there for Jenna. I promise that Ric and I will find both of them - no matter what it takes."
"What am I supposed to do?" Elena shot back, firing emotion after emotion at Damon. "Bonnie's not returning my calls. I haven't heard from Caroline or Matt."
Damon turned slightly. "Bonnie may be someone you want to avoid right now."
"Why?"
"She threatened me yesterday. She's more determined to eradicate vampires than you can imagine. Without Sheila to help her transition into a witch, she's going to have a lot of problems with control."
"Control?" She choked out, eyes wide. Bonnie was reliable and steadfast. She was levelheaded and always made the best decisions; she was always ten steps ahead when it came to homework or anything else. Her best friend lacking control didn't seem possible.
"Yes. You thought Stefan's love for you was enough to keep him in control of his vampire side, but you can't rely on feelings. People, vampires, and even witches, are unpredictable when power plays its role. Right now, you need to keep your distance. She could hurt you if you don't give her this time."
"We should help her," Elena insisted desperately.
"Damon might be right," Alaric chimed in, shifting on the stool so he could turn to face her. "You can't worry about her right now. She'll kill any of us that breathe near her the wrong way. The best thing to do is to please stay here at the Salvatores' until tonight. After we find Jeremy, I'll take you home. Jenna should be back from classes by then."
Strength was something Elena possessed a lot of, but fighting Mr. Saltzman and Damon was futile. Now that they were teaming up at every opportunity, she didn't stand a chance at winning. But, she didn't want to stay in the dark.
"I can't. I'm sorry."
Damon's patience was wearing thin. He grabbed Elena's arm, pulling her into the middle room. If he couldn't get her to stay put or go home, it left him with one solution: to tell the truth he learned about Caroline.
"Elena, I know there's not a right time to tell you this, but I was talking to the Sheriff. She said that Caroline's in the hospital. Comatose."
"What? How? No one told me anything! It's not possible." Her tone was painfully sharp from her hysterics.
"I didn't mean to upset you..."
Eyes blazing in anger, Elena looked up at him. "Yes you did. It was your Plan B to get me to stay when Plan A failed, right?"
Damon looked uncomfortable. "I didn't know about Caroline. Obviously, for some reason, the Sheriff has been trying to keep the accident under wraps."
"But I'm one of her best friends..." Elena looked completely stricken. "I was at the hospital for all those days. How could I not know? How come we didn't see the Sheriff or Matt or Bonnie or even Tyler?"
The strangeness of the situation had occurred to Damon. Obviously the town was small enough for news to travel, but it hadn't. The only other possibility was that the Sheriff of Mystic Falls was trying hard to cover something up. But there wasn't anything he could do about it right then, so Damon filed the question in the back of his mind. He'd see Liz later and force the information then.
"Didn't you ask any questions?"
A careless shrug was all he managed. "Too many questions warrants suspicion, Elena. The Sheriff is having difficultly trusting me. I'm on thin ice."
She stood perfectly still, her eyes as cold and hard as steel. One hand was on her hip, and she regained control of her breathing, successfully slowing down her rapidly beating heart.
"Why would you tell me this? You know I won't stay."
"I know how much the human means to you," he clarified. "And I told you before, I don't lie and keep secrets. That's not who I am."
"Let me come with." Elena insisted one more time. "Give me the peace of mind I need. Let me help find Jeremy. And I'll wait until visiting hours start tomorrow to see Caroline."
A bargain? Damon arched a brow in her direction. Could he trust her words when she was emotionally driven?
"Elena Gilbert bartering." His blue eyes, full of mischief, turned to Alaric who joined them in parlor. "What do you think, Ric?"
A little surprised, Alaric jumped, snapped from his daze. His plan was to slip right past them and out the front door unnoticed, but that action seemed silly. With cloudy eyes and his lips forming a straight line, he mediated the situation with a neutral tone.
"I think the woods aren't a safe place to wander through for anyone but especially for a girl."
Frustrated, Elena scowled. "You're human too, Mr. Saltzman."
"Give him a little credit, 'Lena. He's a human that's strong and can wield a stake and a crossbow. You," he eyed her, "aren't strong. You're not expendable."
She pursed her lips together. The urge to fight him tooth-and-nail every step of the way still lingered. "We've talked about this before. You say I'm valuable."
"And more. Yadda, yadda, yadda and so fourth." He rubbed his hands together, grinning madly. "Now if you stop holding us back...we have somewhere to be."
"But." The words were lost in translation, a jumble of gibberish in her head. So all she could do was gape at Damon with wide eyes. It killed her on the inside that she had been so close with Bonnie and Caroline. There weren't secrets upon secrets until the Salvatores. She'd be an idiot to think otherwise. "Please Damon," she begged, putting her every emotion on the line. "I feel so out of control. Pleaselet me keep some control. I only want to tag along and find Jeremy."
Damon stalked across the room, filling up a scotch glass with the first bottle he grabbed: vodka. Clearly not his first choice, but he filled the glass anyway and took a large swig. Sometimes it was too damn hard to say no to her.
"I am so going to regret this."
X0X0
With nighttime patrols stationed throughout the town, Damon found it easy to slip in while the Sheriff was away. He located the tracking equipment, entered Jeremy's number, and was surprised when the weak signal popped onto the screen. Using coordinates, he pulled up a map of Mystic Falls and pinpointed the location.
Jackpot.
Turning the equipment off, Damon slipped into the narrow hallway that was lined with doors and plaques on both sides of the wall. He stopped at the door that read Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes, tempted to riffle through Liz's things and dig for the truth. She was too adamant to hide Caroline, and walking through that door was his ticket to jumping ahead in line.
An opportunity this perfect wouldn't reoccur.
His lips set into a straight line.
He reached for the knob but stopped when he remembered he had a promise to uphold. Duty called. Right then, he had to take care of frying the small big fish would have to wait.
Moving at super speed, Damon was at the back door in a flash. Alaric stood at a nearby tree, scowling heavily, while Elena kept furiously texting with her phone.
Damon frowned. That deep, pensive look only met one thing: she was trying to get in touch with Stefan to no avail. He shook his head. She was damn determined, which was a trait he admired about her. They were both relentless.
"I got a hit." Damon broke the silence. "I know, I know. Don't all come showering me with affection at once. I can't stand all the love."
Elena trembled, struggling to put her phone into her pocket. "Where?" She demanded.
"The cemetery."
"A cemetery?" Alaric's eyes widened in alarm. "You sure?"
"No offense to Elena but teenage-angst has a strong hold on the poor sap. He just tried to kill himself. And failed, Ric. Where do you think a suicidal boy would hang?"
Alaric pursed his lips together and glared fire. "If it was so obvious, Damon, then why didn't you think of it?"
The silence swirled around them.
"I neversaid I could think of everything, teach. Now, get your shit together. We're moving in tonight."
Damon led the group towards the woods. Elena appeared directly behind him, struggling to keep up with his fast pace.
"I'm sorry if I was a little harsh," Damon apologized. "Jeremy and I have had more than enough confrontations."
"You and Jeremy?" She asked quietly. "When? About what?"
About you he wanted to say. He couldn't. Some things he purposely kept from Elena. Some things were necessary to keep buried. He couldn't falter for a moment. Elena could neverknow how he felt, or how she was weakening his defenses.
She was bringing out his humanity. Too soon. Too effortlessly. Too lovingly.
"Fine," she snapped in a clipped tone. If he didn't want to answer her, she'd let him enjoy the long walk alone. "If you want to hide the truth, that's your decision..."
By the way she hesitated, Damon swore she was going to add Stefan. That thought along made him angry.
"I'll tell you later, Elena. Stop being such a brat. Tonight is about your brother - not about me."
"You can say whatever your deluded mind makes you think, but I'm done with this conversation. Sorry Damon."
"Hit me with your best shot, 'Lena. Contrary to your belief, I'm not as breakable as you think."
The words were a sucker punch to her gut. Annoyed, she came to a stop and waited until Alaric passed. Maybe she was being a little childish, a little temperamental even, but she worried about so many people in her life. And, Elena felt like that entitled her to be a little testy and selfish.
Alaric gave her a sympathetic look. "Sorry," he mouthed.
She nodded. At least her history teacher wasn't oblivious to Damon's scathing remarks and bad attitude.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Alaric asked suddenly, shining a flashlight at the back of Damon's head.
"I know the woods better than you, teacher," Damon snapped. "Keep up and stop asking stupid questions."
"Don't forget who has backstage access to vervain, vampire."
Despite the strained situation and the growing need to find and scold Jeremy, Damon laughed. It was a deep, booming kind that reverberated with sincerity. While he had his reservations about Alaric, Damon was realizing that he didn't loathe his company as much as he used to.
Damon stepped over a rotting log covered in shiny, green moss in the middle of the woods, and he looked up. To a human, the tree lines looked the same, but to him they were each different.
"Tell me," Alaric added suddenly, "why we couldn't go through the cemetery at the main gate?"
Elena, who was in the back, started at a light jog, picking up her pace until she was beside her history teacher. "Because it could be a trap," she suggested logically. "And, doesn't slipping through the back door give us the element of surprise?"
Damon grinned, feeling his anger towards Elena melt away. How the hell could she do that in a few, short minutes? It's because you love her, Isobel's voice echoed in his head. Damon just scowled and thought: Shut up you stupid bitch. You don't know the first thing about love.
"Excellent deduction, Elena," he crowed, erasing Isobel's haunting words from his memory. "You might want to take some notes, Ric. It seems you could learn a thing or two from your student."
"Gee thanks," Alaric muttered just as they reached the rusted, iron-wrought fence surrounding the cemetery grounds.
Alaric hopped over the fence, his fingers brushing against the ground as he regained his balance and stood. He wiped the dirt onto the back of his pants and pulled out an oak wooden stake saturated in vervain.
"I'll cover the Civil War and Vietnam areas." Clenching the stake tighter, he gazed at Damon and then Elena. "Be careful."
As he disappeared into the distance, Elena frowned. The cemetery was the largest of Mystic Falls; the back was a steep hill covered in colorful, wild flowers. There was a small flat area about five feet long, and she shivered at the idea of miscalculating the jump and tumbling, head first, down a steep hill.
Elena grimaced. "Maybe now's a good time to tell you that I'm afraid of heights."
Damon raised an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look. He gripped the bars, ready to hoist himself over the other side, when he stopped and held out his hand. "Either let me help you or you can stay here. Alone."
Elena knew it wasn't a real threat. Damon wouldn't leave her alone, but her heart still pumped faster. And fog was rolling across the horizon, blanketing the cemetery. Did she really want to risk counting on Damon's compassion?
Her gaze fell to the ground. "Okay," she told him quietly.
She grabbed his hand, still shaking, and he squeezed it reassuringly.
"Now," he told her quietly, his eyes trained on hers, "I'm going to hoist myself over the top. Hang tight onto the bars and I'll help you over."
Damon moved in a blur, suddenly directly in front of Elena. All that separated them were metal bars.
"One foot at a time, start climbing."
The faster she got down, the happier she would be. Elena followed his instructions, word for word, and she was halfway there until she got stuck at the top. A wave of nausea slammed into her at once.
"I can't swing over. I can't."
"I thought you were fearless," were his arrogant, callous words of encouragement. "This fog isn't going to wait, Elena. And the longer you waste my time, the more we could be lured into a trap."
"Thanks for the encouraging words," she mumbled, clutching onto the fence tighter.
Damon was growing impatient. He told Elena countless times to just stay put, but she didn't listen very well. She was too driven by what she wanted, and in that moment, Damon realized what he sensed from her: pride. She oozed of it - like a leaky faucet. Clearly, she was too proud to ask for help. And Damon couldn't help but further draw the comparisons between the two of them.
"Let's move on," he spoke, grabbing her tightly around the waist.
She shrieked, extremely ticklish, and when she squirmed in Damon's hold, she shifted until her face was pressed against his. He moved backwards, managing the additional weight, and turned to look away as her neck was right beside his mouth; he could envision piercing her milky smooth skin and tasting her blood.
"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, her lips brushing against his ear.
Damon shivered before pushing her away, breaking the spell that had bewitched him.
Not here. Not now. Not ever.
Elena Gilbert was the one human he would neverdrink blood from.
"I'm fine." He wrote it off to nothing and pushed her away. "Ric's already covered twice as much ground as we have. Stay close and don't talk. This could be a trap."
Elena silently absorbed his words and followed directly behind him. While she knew Damon was just trying to protect her how she knew, she suddenly missed the comfort that Stefan brought. He was kind and gentle and loving. Elena didn't doubt that Damon couldn't be any of those things, but in stressful situations, he was always the maniacal dictator.
Stefan was Stefan. Despite a few snags in the road, Elena still loved everything about him. But she couldn't deny the transformations of Stefan's personality when Damon came to town. Elena hated thinking that a brotherly hatred could carry on for over a hundred years, and secretly, she wished they'd get along.
Co-exist.
But who was she kidding?
X0X0
Damon and Elena traipsed through the cemetery for nearly half an hour.
Elena was jumpy, her eyes constantly flitting in every direction, but nothing unusual happened. Creatures didn't pop out of the thickets. Booby traps weren't set up like mind fields across the grass. Even the grave markers were perfectly intact.
And Damon was beginning to wonder if the tracking device was faulty. Now that he was suspicious of the Sheriff and what she knew, he couldn't rule out the idea that she tampered with the equipment. But he couldn't understand why she'd want to do that - especially when the Gilberts were a very large benefactor for the council over the years.
"I'm not seeing anything." Damon broke the vow of silence he ordered, but then again, he didn't exactly follow anyorders. "Maybe we've been duped." He scanned the rest of the cemetery, looking for something out of place, but the areas were undisturbed and quiet.
"We could cover more ground if we split up." Elena suggested.
"No." He spoke the word with finality and turned to look into her worried brown eyes. "Don't you watch horror movies, Elena? Don't you pay attention to how the psychopathic killer strikes when the group splits up? Honestly, Elena."
She stepped around a crumbling, algae infested grave marker, her eyes never leaving his. "I just want to find Jeremy."
His blue eyes began swirling with emotion. He put both hands on her shoulder and stared. "I know," he whispered, strained. "But we have to be smart about this. Tell me, where are your parents buried?" Of course Damon knew exactly where they were, but he was feeling a little human this particular night.
She exhaled and moved her eyes towards a plot about a hundred yards away. Hatred, agony, sadness, and defeat swelled within her as she raised her shaking hand and pointed.
But as Damon expected, Jeremy wasn't there. If he was lurking anywhere, he was most likely hiding. It was something Damon could see himself doing because the cemetery was too open, too much of an easy target.
"What about one of the mausoleums? As a kid, we used to visit our grandparents. Jeremy and I used to wander off. One day, we decided we'd sit on top of a mausoleum. We were only six, I think. And we decided to play truth or dare." She swallowed nervously, feeling unnerved by the way Damon was staring at her with eyes full of mischief and lips tugged upwards into a smirk. "I dared him to jump off the mausoleum. He sprained his ankle. I thought he'd never talk to me again..."
"As much as I appreciate the blast from the past into Elena Gilbert's happy childhood, I think we should do less reminiscing and more searching."
"See, you're always like this!" Elena cried out, stamping her foot into the ground. "I'm trying to tell you that we spent the next three summers at that mausoleum, Damon. We never went inside...because neither of us ever had the guts to."
Damon clucked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "And you think he's hiding out in a dark, wet, moldy mausoleum with a corpse?"
"Yes."
Damon bowed and held out a hand. "After the lady."
Elena shook her head and brushed past him. "Do you think we should find Mr. Saltzman, first?"
"Ever the killjoy. Ric is a big boy. Let him look. He might find something worth knowing."
Keeping the group separated seemed like a bad idea, but Elena nodded. She could keep thinking about Stefan and Bonnie and Caroline, but at that moment, her brother was the onlyone she could help. And he was family. Naturally, he'd come first-even if he was being a first class jackass.
"Where is this mausoleum you speak so fondly of?" Damon asked, slipping into a formal tone. He slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. "So where is it?"
"It's been a long time," she squeaked. Her cheeks were a bright red. Sometimes it was hard to be around a vampire. They always seemed to know how emotions-even when she didn't want to broadcast them. "I think it's northeast. Half a mile. Quarter maybe. It's probably surrounded by trees. I remember it being at the bottom of a hill..."
Damon pushed her forward.
"I have a bad feeling about this direction." He told her calmly. Now wasn't the time to scare her or make her heart race. "Don't, under any circumstances, move out of my hold. It's toomuch of a risk. Capische?"
"Fine."
She started walking, nearly out of his hold, when he grabbed her arm and yanked her to him. Her back was flush against his chest.
"I don't think you need to be that far."
"I don't think we need to be this close."
"Touche," he murmured, both hands firmly planted on her shoulders as he guided her towards the far northeast corner of the graveyard.
This time, Elena didn't argue. They just kept walking forward, stumbling through the thick fog; they reached the far edge of the cemetery that was covered in cobwebs and low-lying branches. A handful of mausoleums were at the bottom of a slippery slope.
Yellow caution tape surrounded the perimeter of crumbling catacombs. A wooden post was driven into the ground with a sign secured on it, but the words were unidentifiable at such a far distance.
"Okay. Close enough." Damon spoke up, holding Elena back. "There are about 10 buildings down there. Any idea which is the right one?"
Elena opened her mouth to say something, but she knew he wouldn't like the answer. No. It was too long, too much of a stretch. She couldn't remember the right building. Maybe if she got closer-maybe if she felt the buildings. Something had to happen. There wasn't a single second of time that could be wasted.
"Right." Damon released his hold on her. "The risk may outweigh the outcome if we go down there, Elena. Just thought I'd throw that out there."
"I don't care about danger nearly as much as my brother."
Damon counted on Elena's bravery. Maybe that was partly why he allowed her to join in on his little adventure with the teacher, but she made him vulnerable. Every twig cracking and every rustling in the bushes had his senses at high alert. He was too concerned with her safety. That fact alone was slowing them down dramatically.
"Stay behind me. Follow my every footstep."
Dryness welled in Elena's throat as she forced a brisk nod. After days of worrying, she just wanted to hug Jeremy tightly. She wanted relief and piece of mind. But more than that, it was one less person she had to agonize about their safety.
"Good. No objections make this easier."
Slowly and stealthily, Damon led Elena to the bottom of the hill. They sidestepped every branch, rock, and leaf that would signal their arrival. Although they hadn't encountered any snags in the road, Damon knew better than to get comfortable or let his guard down.
Even as they reached the first crypt, which was one of the oldest, it was covered with angel carvings and intricate Latin. It was the language of the dead, one Damon surprisingly wasn't familiar with.
"Anything?" Damon asked, his eyes fixated to the Latin text in fancy script above the door.
Elena lightly touched the door, forcing her eyes closed. Minute after minute passed until she let out a sigh and opened her eyes.
"Nothing," she breathed, disappointed.
One down, nine to go, Damon thought as they walked towards the next crypt. It was even worse for wear, half of the stone structure crumbling away. This burial chamber was a lot different than the first.
It was twice the size and a dark ash color. On the roof was a monstrous cross that was hidden by Spanish moss.
Elena brushed her fingers along the surface, digging deeper into her brain. She needed to tap into memories. And just when she was about to give up, a glimmer of a memory flashed.
The cross.
She remembered it now.
Jeremy sat on one side of the cross while Elena sat at the other. They'd let their feet dangle over the edge. And she recalled that night of truth or dare when Jeremy stood up, gripping the side of the cross. But even then, it was unstable, and the cross began to sway, throwing Jeremy off balance. Messing with his equilibrium was enough to send him off the side, landing onto the grass on his back.
"This is it," she whispered, warmth of the memory fading away.
"Finally."
Damon smirked, walking towards the door. He raised his foot, sending his leg crashing into the door with lethal force. The door flew against the back wall, breaking off into pieces.
"Was that really necessary?" She hissed at him. "It's already falling apart."
"You know me," Damon teased. "If there's a fun way to do something, I'll do it."
Elena shook her head. She seemed to do that a lot around Damon.
"Unbelievable. Are you going to go through the door first?"
"I don't think this is exactly safe, Elena. Stay out here. Call Ric and bring him up to speed."
"I'd rather go inside."
"You'd rather be a pain in my ass. I know. But I work better alone. Understand? Have the teach meet you here. And stay armed. Vigil. Something about this feels too easy."
Elena pulled her hair back into a low ponytail. The balmy summer night had her hair sticking to her face.
"Fine, but I still don't like this."
Damon's smile was grim. "Neither do I."
He placed a hand on the stone wall of the crypt, disappearing into the damp, musty building infested with centuries-old cobwebs.
.
.
.
.
.
Note: I apologize for the delay. I was doing more thorough plotting. And I promise, Caroline isn't forgotten, I've just changed a few things that happened to her to better suit the plot I have. If you have any questions or concerns about anything I left out, make sure you sign in and review.