Chapter 9
Damon called it "charming the pants off the sexy, redheaded secretary", but Elena preferred to think of the eldest Salvatore as using compulsion to get results. She wasn't about to deny that half the time it wasn't necessary to compel his sex-slaves into getting what he wanted because Damon had the good looks that made women fawn over him.
"Wow. Jealousy for the wrong brother," Jeremy muttered, arms crossed across his chest, as he stood statue-like behind Elena. "First you lie, make executive decisions for people without their consent, and then you have the nerve to be unfaithful to your saintly boyfriend. Setting such great examples, sis."
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, letting the cutting remark roll off her back. Jeremy held grudges for a long time and she didn't expect their relationship to miraculously improve overnight; but she expected Jeremy would act more like an adult and less like a five-year-old that didn't get whatever he wanted.
Couldn't it just be a stalemate already?
"I think he's done."
Jeremy shrugged. "And?"
"And we should follow him, Jer. I know you hate me and aren't about to forgive me anytime soon, but don't you want answers? Don't you want to protect our home? Things are happening all around us, and as sucky as our sibling relationship is right now, I don't want you dead. Or, anyone else. Can't you just try to be civil this once?"
"Damon doesn't need my help, and I'm not about to offer it to you freely - not after I did all that reading earlier for nothing."
"Mr. Saltzman had to go out of town for a few days. We could really use your help, Jer."
"Whatever. I'll do this for Mr. Saltzman, but don't think this is me forgiving you."
Elena couldn't help it. Her heart plummeted. She couldn't take Jeremy hating her for much longer. It was tearing her to shreds, bit by bit.
Time for it to stop.
"Please, Jer. Why can't you just let this go for now? It's not all my fault. I wasn't the one who killed Anna. I didn't set the fire or stake her. Your so-called hero and savior, Uncle John, deserves some of the blame. There's a lot more to what's going on than what you read in my diary. You have to listen to me."
Jeremy scowled. "How many times do I need to tell you, I don't trust anything that comes out of your mouth."
"Jeremy, just let me tell you the whole story," Elena begged with sad eyes. "And, then, you can think however you want."
He threw his hands up. "Ugh, fine, Elena."
She began the complicated story with the discovery of her birth mother, Isobel; about her being a vampire and what she had done to Matt as a threat if the Vampire Incapacitor wasn't given to her. Reluctantly, she explained Isobel's connection to Katherine. Jeremy stopped her right then.
"Wait. Let me get this straight — the vampire that turned Damon and Stefan not only was getting rid of the tomb vampires but she's also your ancestor? Elena, this sounds too far-fetched even for you."
"I didn't say that it was easy to hear. I'm not done yet."
Elena continued explaining Katherine's involvement in past and present events. She breathed heavily as she told him about what really happened to Uncle John. Flashbacks of finding John bleeding profusely on the kitchen floor flooded her. She couldn't speak for a moment until she regained her composure.
"Uncle John had lost his usefulness to Katherine. She couldn't let him live, knowing that he could warn the Founder's Council about her plans. That's why she had to cut off his finger before she stabbed him. His ring, one of a twin set made by Emily Bennett, protected him from dying on other occasions. Without it, he was rendered helpless. And, now you know why he's in the hospital."
She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out John's ring. It had been carefully cleaned of blood by Damon. Elena held it out to Jeremy.
"Take it," she said. "I can't bear the thought of Katherine trying to hurt you to get to me and Damon."
Jeremy stared at it for a few seconds. Thoughts crossed his face; a mix of hesitancy and distrust. Finally, he reached for it and slid the ring out of Elena's outstretched palm.
"What do I do with it?" He asked.
"You put it on one of your fingers. The enchantment does the rest."
Slowly, Jeremy slipped the ring onto his left middle finger. He moved his hand side-to-side, watching as the black stone shone in the florescent light. Letting his hand fall to his thigh, he waited for Elena to continue.
"Katherine left a message in Uncle John's blood that was directed towards Damon. She's angry and very unpredictable. We haven't seen Stefan since the Founder's Day parade so there's a good possibility that she could have taken him hostage."
"What if he went with her willingly?"
Elena's eyes darkened. "He...he wouldn't do that to me. There's no way."
"How do you know? After all the things that I read about him doing, this wouldn't be a surprise."
"Jeremy! Don't say that! Stefan would never go with Katherine unless he was left with no other option. He hates her!" Elena's fists were shaking as she was overcame with emotion. The thought of Stefan betraying her was sickening. He swore to her that he'd never want to see her again. She had to believe that. She had to.
When she calmed down, she finished summing up the recent discoveries made at the cemetery while they were looking for him. She also spoke of what she overheard about Tyler crashing and his supposed eye change. He raised an eyebrow.
"The Lockwood's? Oh, that's just too rich." Jeremy scoffed.
"What do you mean, Jer?"
"I always knew that there was something wrong with Tyler's family. Do you remember when we got into a fight at Career Night? When we were outside, his father got really weird. It was like he became...animalistic."
"Animalistic?"
"Yeah. He seemed to be like a pit bull — ferocious and wanting bloodshed. He kept telling Tyler and me to fight. What type of dad tells his son to do that? Maybe they're mutants or something."
The side of Elena's mouth quirked. Something had clicked inside of her mind and she desperately needed to talk with Damon. She looked over at Jeremy.
"Hey, Jer. I need to talk to Damon for a moment. I'll tell you the rest when I get back."
He crossed his arms. "Fine. But, you two better not be making out."
"Jeremy! I'm with Stefan! I wouldn't do that to him."
"Sure," he said as Elena walked in Damon's direction.
He wasn't convinced.
X0X0
The trio were crowded in the small room with endless stacks of the town's records surrounding them. Little was spoken as they riffled through page after page of documents, hoping for the slightest bit of answers.
While Damon reveled and worked better in the silence, the awkward, tension-filled room was making it harder to concentrate and make any headway. It hadn't been his first idea to cart Jeremy along, but he couldn't stay locked up in the cell forever. The little brat had to be dealt with.
He skimmed over another page before he sighed angrily.
"Since it seems like none of us can play nice, I thought you'd like to know that Sheriff Forbes' favor turned up some bizarre results.
Elena whipped her head in Damon's direction. "What do you mean?"
"She sent out a new deputy, Something Adams, to investigate a call they received about the cemetery. Liz called him for hours without answer. And that's where I came in. I went to take a look around, not expecting anything." Damon paused. "I found his car. Empty. No trace of him, anywhere. I scoured every acre of the cemetery, too. It wasn't until I was doing a final sweep of the area when I realized there was a decimated headstone in the distance. Low and behold, the last name was Lockwood. Couldn't make out the first name, but I'll say it's not a coincidence that this headstone was targeted."
"I wonder if it's an ancestor of Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood?" Elena wondered. The Lockwood's were a high-class, elusive family. What she knew about them was very limited. Even her parent's had indifferent attitudes about Carol, Richard, and Tyler.
"I don't know Elena. I'll need to get my hands on the council's records, but they're most likely very well hidden and under lock and key."
Damon scowled. It didn't matter how fast, smart, witty, dazzling, or charming he was, Liz wouldn't tell him where or how to find the records. Briefly, he toyed with the idea of compelling her, but even after working for her, Damon realized that the Sheriff was very low on the importance scale when it came to the Founders' Council.
"Maybe I can get them," she suggested, remembering that her family was once thick with the town council. Surely there had to be clues around the house. Aunt Jenna would probably know where to look first.
"No. Very bad idea. The Gilbert's aren't high on the council's priority list right now."
"I thought you said the council split up after the fire?"
"That's what I thought. The Sheriff made it sound that way - as if she's the onlyone not believing that all of this is over - but I don't buy it. She's hiding something big that prevented her from picking up her own daughter from the hospital."
"If she's hiding something, Caroline could be in danger."
"Caroline is perfectly safe," Damon assured her.
"But if she keeps talking about vampires and the sheriff knows about werewolves..."
"I never said anything about the Sheriff and werewolves, Elena." Damon stared at her, unwilling to blink, as he tried to gauge how she was privy to information he hadn't told her.
"Give me a little credit, Damon. I can read between the lines."
"Fine. Whatever. Still, we're left with little to go on. We need to find anythingabout suspicious wild attacks. Maybe cross reference those with full moons."
Elena frowned. "I thought you don't know the exact rules for werewolves."
"Mmm Hmm," Damon muttered, his eyes flitting to hers. He had to admit; he was impressed. She had read the werewolf file Alaric had given him first, and she remembered details clearer than he expected. "However, I'm sure Jeremy here needs to be brought up to speed."
Jeremy grunted, pulling the hood to his sweatshirt tighter around his face. He wasn't in the mood for any of this; he had just battled with Elena in the lobby, and he didn't have the strength to put up his fists and continue fighting.
"Werewolves?" Jeremy scoffed, toying with the ring on his finger. It was beautiful, mystifying, and he was unable to stop looking at it. "Not about to buy into that load of supernatural bullshit. Sorry. Wake me up when you find something realistic." He leaned back into the chair, his head resting against the wall as he forced his eyes closed. When no one was looking, he protectively covered his hand with Uncle John's ring; it meant something to him - especially since he no longer had his father's pocket watch. This time, he wouldn't let the family heirloom out of his sight.
Elena opened her mouth to protest. She had poured her heart out in the lobby, sharing all of the details of everything that had gone down in the recent months. It was about time she was on a level field with Jeremy, but they each stood on unleveled ground; it became clear to Elena that it would take more than the brutal truth and apologies to earn Jeremy's complete forgiveness, but at least he was bearable and had turned down the teenage angst a few notches.
Still, she couldn't let him sleep while she was stuck reading text that blurred into the same words after a while. The same worked for Damon. Too much hard work had been invested into finding answers, and she wasn't about to let her brother slack off like he had the right to do whatever he wanted.
"No, 'Lena. As much as I'd like to put him in his place, we don't have time for these petty arguments. Look." Damon pushed a folder with old, yellowing documents across the table. Elena reached out and grabbed them. "Animal attacks. Pre-dated to when vampires came to Mystic Falls. I think it might be worth looking into."
1841
SAVAGE ATTACKS have fallen upon Mystic Falls. A local family found shredded in their wooden cabin beyond the outskirts of town. Coroner confirms a wild animal is accountable for the deaths.
The words were heavily faded, and Elena failed to translate the old, English text into modern words and phrases she could understand. "I can't read all of this, Damon. I feel like I'm trying to decipher Shakespeare's writing."
Damon laughed a cocky, loud laugh. "The article goes on to explain that an autopsy was performed, but there was no official cause of death or ruling on what happened. Of course medical techniques were limited during those days, so unless the cause of death was obvious, many were left with 'unknown cause of death' slapped onto the files. The case is still left unsolved..."
She bit on her lip, a nervous habit. "What's so special about that? Vampires could have been in Mystic Falls before any of the council knew. Look how long it took them to learn the truth about Pearl and Katherine."
"True, but if that were the case, the bodies would be bled dry. The article clearly dictates that the victims were laying in a pool of their own blood. Now, tell me Elena, what vampire would kill three humans for blood but not drink a single drop?"
"I don't know." She shrugged helplessly. "If we're searching for werewolves, clearly there have to be more than just the Lockwood's..."
Damon realized that much of the day had been counter-productive. First, a bust at the library. And second, nothing solid in the town's archives. If more attacks were left out of the local papers, there was no telling where to start or who was targeted. And while the Lockwood's were a solid lead, there was no way that Damon could obtain that information without help... and superhuman muscle.
Thanks for going off the rails, Stef, Damon thought to himself. Could really benefit from your sorry, melodramatic ass right now.
"The Lockwood's could do us a lot of good, Elena. With the Mayor dead, I'm sure we can expect more of their family to drop into town. One of them will slip up."
"Actually..." Jeremy chimed in, "Tyler's uncle is in town."
Confused, both Damon and Elena spun around to stare at Jeremy suspiciously, trying to figure out how he could know anything when he'd been in the dark and out of the loop for so long.
"Wait. You hate Tyler. The two of you have been at each other's throats since Vicki. How would you know anything?"
Jeremy threw his cell phone onto the table. "I had really good reception in The Pit of Despair. Facebook was a nice waste of time."
"You have Tyler on Facebook?" Elena asked, shocked. Her outcasted, loner brother hardly seemed the type to engage in social networking sites - let alone befriend a high school enemy.
"No. I did hack his account, though. I'll say his password wasn't very creative...Vicki? Seriously. He must've been inhaling that jock strap for too many years and the sickening stench is successfully killing off all his brain cells."
"Okay." Elena tried to regroup and steer the conversation back on track. Her eyes met Damon's in uncertainty. "If what Jeremy said is right and Tyler's uncle is in town, what do we do?"
"Nothing," Damon interjected. "I'll hit the bar. Judging on the Lockwood's places of habits, I'd say the Mystic Grill is a good place to start."
Elena sighed. "So we're back to you playing the Lone Ranger? Great." Sarcasm radiated from her words.
"No offense, 'Lena, but you hardly know how to handle a situation like this. I'm being nice by keeping you in the loop, but this doesn't mean I want you to jump on the bandwagon rashly. Besides, we've been down this road before. I am much more capable of handling the situation effectively without being concerned for your safety."
They continued to argue, neither allowing the other to have an inch. It was enough to skyrocket Jeremy over the edge.
"Damon's right," Jeremy agreed between clenched teeth. "Shouldn't we deal with things like Aunt Jenna, first? I don't want to spend another day in that hellhole."
"Aunt Jenna thinks you're at home, Jer. You're locked in your room but not talking to her. I'm not sure if going back is a good idea..."
His eyes narrowed. "I hardly see that as your call to make. I'm obviously not a vampire. I won't lie and say that I didn't want to become one, but I'm sick and tired of you getting the final say, Elena."
"What do you suggest, then?"
"Let me go home and fix things with Jenna. And let me talk to Tyler. He'll be less suspicious if I show up."
Damon clicked his teeth together, not liking the idea of Jeremy getting involved.
"Not today," Damon finally said. "Not even an hour ago, you were at Elena's throat. I don't care if you've called a truce or decided to play nice, but I don't trust you right now. Maybe prove it and I'll consider."
Jeremy looked miffed. "I wasn't looking for your approval."
"No, but you know shit about werewolves. They'd tear you to bits before your puny, stoner brain could decipher what's going on."
"I don't do that shit anymore," Jeremy protested.
"I know," Damon answered in his cocky, all-knowing voice. "I made sure of that."
"Stop guys," Elena interjected, getting to her feet uneasily. "Right now we need each other. Let's get through this. Once it's over, we'll go back to hating each other. Damon, you stay with Jeremy. And I'll go see Caroline. Maybe I can find a lead about the case there."
X0X0
Caroline Forbes was a shaking, fragile eggshell.
The two sat together on the couch, staring at a blank TV screen. It scared Elena how glazed and empty Caroline's eyes were. The car accident had clearly taken its toll on her best friend. She had been so bubbly, so upbeat when they left the hospital, and it made the wheels grind in her mind.
Had something happened?
"Are you okay, Care?" Elena asked softly, tenderly even. Treading lightly was the only one to approach the situation.
"I... I had a dream," she responded in a shaky voice. "Someone attacked me."
Elena's heart hammered in her chest. It couldn't be... could it? The fresh dam of tears was about to burst through as Caroline sobbed, her lower lip trembling.
"It was soreal, Elena. He'd bite me and look into my eyes. I saw death."
Death. The word caused Elena to shiver in sheer terror. She reached for Caroline's hand and squeezed it tightly.
"What else?"
She shook her head, her blonde locks falling into her face. Her usually tamed hair was frizzy and uncombed, full of knots. She wore an over sized t-shirt that Elena remembered Caroline's father wearing once. It practically fit her like a nightgown.
Caroline was a girl who always looked pretty. She was always on a mission to look perfect. Her best friend didn't wear over sized t-shirts or pajamas. She wore frilly, barely there lingerie or skimpy, cotton mini dresses to bed. This Caroline wasn't her friend; Elena refused to believe it.
"He'd just look at me. He made me do things I didn't want to do..."
Her heart plummeted through the floor. Damon. She was accurately describing what Damon did to her under compulsion. The thought alone shattered her heart into thousands of tiny, unfixable pieces. Those were the times of careless and ruthless Damon. This wasn't him now, but no matter how easily she got over the things he did in the past, she realized that Caroline would be hardly as forgiving. And Elena didn't want her to be.
Elena rubbed soothing circles around Caroline's back.
"Did this happen to you?"
"No," she exhaled shakily, "it happenedto you. I was you. And I know how confusing it sounds, but it wasn't me because she had your face and voice, Elena. The monster came for you."
No matter how hard Elena struggled to keep her composure, the terror was there, shimmering in her eyes. Dating Stefan had opened her up to so many doors. There was little that scared her or made her heart pound uncontrollably, but she couldn't come to grips with the fact that Caroline dreamed of a "monster" finishing her once and for all.
"Why?"
"He wanted to prove he was dangerous. H-he told me he was in control and that I'd be dead because... once a monster, alwaysa monster."
Chills covered every inch of Elena's skin. Was it even possible? Was Caroline dreaming as her and was Damon the monster? She swallowed the lump in her throat; she wasn't ready to believe that Damon was the big, bad wolf. It didn't fit. Why would he be so protective of her if she were expendable?
No. Elena shook the doubts from her mind. She couldn't think of this now - not when she needed to find some clues to the whereabouts of the council's records. Thankfully, Liz Forbes was still at the station, and Caroline was still heavily sedated from her medicine. All she needed was an opening to slip upstairs. She couldn't disappoint. It was up to her to provide a lead.
But how productive could she be when thoughts of Damon, the self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities surfaced and clung to her mind? It couldn't be him... right?
"Care," Elena shifted onto the couch, wincing as pain flooded her lower back. It was the kind of couch you sunk into, struggling to get out of. "I need to use the bathroom. I'll be right back."
The blonde merely blinked and lightly nodded. It was unlikely she'd get anything more out of Caroline for the night. Maybe after a few days of rest, she could ask about those dreams; maybe it was just the painkillers talking because Elena couldn't stomach the idea of a reckless, villainous Damon coming back.
She tiptoed out of the living room, her feet touching the landing of the steps when the front door blew open.
"Elena," the voice spoke, surprise ringing through her tone. "I didn't know you were stopping by."
"It was a surprise visit." Elena choked the words out quickly. She didn't like that all of this "secret keeping" was making her a good liar; she spun around, forcing a smile at a very worn and tired Liz Forbes. "I haven't been the best friend lately. I just wanted to be there for her."
The Sheriff pushed the door closed softly behind her. Liz stepped into the foyer, her eyes trained to the staircase. "Where were you going?"
"I needed to use the bathroom," she answered smoothly. "Then I was leaving."
"Oh." Liz threw her keys onto the small, end table that was positioned in the corner of the foyer by a large, fake foliage plant in a pot. "How is your brother doing? I heard Damon found him."
Elena nodded quickly.
"Yes. He's really upset right now. He's struggling to handle what happened to Uncle John, but I think he'll be okay."
Liz gave her a sympathetic smile. She didn't much about Jeremy Gilbert, but what she did know, he didn't have the cleanest, shiniest reputation. From the way Grayson and Miranda had spoken, Jeremy had always been a handful.
"I'm glad." The sheriff slid out of her jacket and set her gun on the end table beside her. "Hey, Carol Lockwood invited Caroline and I over for dinner. Maybe you'd like to join us? I'm sure one of her best friend's at her side would be comforting."
The Lockwood's? Elena didn't know how to answer that question. She'd barely spent any time inside the Lockwood Mansion for intimate settings. It was parties with crowds of people she could get lost in.
"I'll have to call Aunt Jenna first. I don't know what we're doing for dinner tonight."
The realization hit her in an instant. She wouldn't be digging for any info tonight.
"Oh, right. I'll just use the bathroom and I'll go. Sorry for the inconvenience, Sheriff."
It was hard to be sincere. Damon's impatience and sarcasm and his personality was rubbing off a bit on her.
"Sure." The Sheriff forced a blazing, wide smile. "The Gilbert's are always welcome here."
"Thanks, Sheriff."
Forcing a smile in return, Elena spun around, and hurried up the steps two at a time. She had almost been caught red-handed. A screw up like this had to be avoided in the future; a screw up like this meant she'd have to beg for Damon or Jeremy's help. If she wasn't met by resistance, it would be a miracle.
At the top of the landing, Elena took a stealthy sweep of the upstairs. Everything looked in place and just as she remembered from the last time she visited the Forbes' residence, but something felt off. The feeling that she was being watched made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she hurried for the bathroom, keeping her eyes trained straight ahead. As she was about to close the door, she saw a camera positioned at the corner of the room with a full view of the upstairs.
Elena leaned against the door. She exhaled a shaky breath and dug through her purse for her phone; she had to tell Damon.
What kind of person kept security surveillance of the inside of their home unless they were specifically trying to catch something?
Damon had to be right. Liz was up to something, and she wasn't sharing the details with anyone. But the question was: what was the Sheriff up to and what was she going to such lengths to hide?
The founders' records,Elena thought. It has to be.
She speed-dialed Damon's number. A text would be less suspicious, but a phone call had to suffice. She had to hear his voice and hear the trust in her voice before she was willing to tell him anything.
It rang twice before he answered in his usually, cheery self. "Lena, just how covert were you trying to be? Off the grid? Not very wise."
"Stop." She fought to hold back the laugh. The dream had to be nothing. Clearly, the Damon Salvatore she knew wasn't a monster. A silly, little dream wasn't about to alter her point of view. "I almost got caught by the Sheriff."
Damon tsked. "Sending a woman to do a man's job..."
"Hey, no need for the chauvinistic remarks, Damon."
"Right," Damon's voice rang out, "do continue. I'm all ears."
"She has surveillance set upstairs. I'm in the bathroom right now, but I think you're right. The Sheriff is hiding something."
His tune changed in an instant. "This means you get your valuable ass out of there now before she pieces it together. Capische?"
This time she didn't bother to hide the smile as she promised to leave immediately. She hung up and flushed the toilet. Nearly five minutes had passed. Unless she came up with a convincing story about something upsetting her stomach, there was no knowing what Liz would think.
Washing her hands in record time, she walked as calmly as she could down the steps. Not seeing the Sheriff or Caroline, she took this as a good sign, yelled her goodbye's, and power-walked towards her car.
Maybe it was time to leave the sleuthing to the pros.
.
.
.
.
.
Note: I am so touched by everyone's support and reception of this story. I wrote this entire chapter before the season 2 premiere. I just forgot to upload this in the meantime. Anyway, this story won't be following season 2 except for bits and pieces of the Lockwood Curse. As promised, starting with next chapter, this story will start to cruise along.